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From The Annals of Roger de Hoveden, Comprising the History of England and of Other Countries of Europe from A.D. 732 to A.D. 1201, Translated from the Latin with Notes and Illustrations by Henry T. Riley, Esq., Volume I, London: H.G. Bohn, 1853; pp. 538-552.
In the same year, Henry, king of England, the father, appointed Ranulph de Glanville chief justiciary of all England: by whose wisdom were enacted the laws underwritten, which we call the “Anglican Laws.”
Of the Laws and Statutes of England, after the Conquest by William the Elder.
1 “Here are set forth the enactments made by William, king of the English, and his principal men, after the Conquest of England. In the first place, before every thing, he desired that one God should be worshipped throughout his kingdom, that the one faith of Christ should always be kept inviolate, and that peace, security and good will should be preserved between the English and the Normans. ‘We do also enact, that every free man shall on his word and oath affirm, that, whether in England or out of it, he is willing to be faithful to his lord, king William, to preserve his territories and honors to him with all due fidelity, and to defend the same against his enemies. We do will also, that all men whom we have brought
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with us, or who shall have come after us, shall be under our protection. And if any one of them shall be slain, his superior lord, if he can, is, within fifteen days, to arrest his murderer; but if not then, he is to begin to pay to us forty-six marks of silver, so far as the property of the said lord shall last. But where the property of the lord shall not suffice, then the whole hundred, in which the murder took place, shall pay in common what remains unpaid. Also, every person who is a Frank by birth, and was in the time of Edward, our kinsman, residing in England, and subject to the customs of the English, which they call ‘Anlote’ or ‘Anscote,’2 is to pay the same according to the laws of the English.’ This claim was made and confirmed in the city of Gloucester.3 ‘We do also forbid that any live stock shall be sold or bought except within cities, and then in the presence of three faithful witnesses, and that anything second-hand4 shall be sold without a security and warranty for the same. And if any person shall do otherwise, he is to pay back the money, and then a penalty [to the king].’ It was also here enacted, that if a Frank by birth should accuse an Englishman of perjury, murder, theft, homicide, or ‘ran,’5 whereby is meant open robbery, which cannot be denied, the Englishman was to defend himself in such manner as he should think best, either by judgment by iron,6 or by wager of battle. But if the Englishman should happen to be infirm, then he was to find some one to do so in his stead. If either of them should be conquered, he was to pay to the king a penalty of forty shillings. ‘But if any Englishman shall charge a Frank by birth [therewith], and shall be ready to prove the same by the judgment or by duel, then our will is, that the Frank shall clear himself by oath, not [by the judgment] by iron. This also we do command, that all shall observe the laws of king Edward in all respects, with the addition of what we have for the benefit of the English enacted. Every man who shall assert himself to be free, shall be on suretyship,7 in order that his surety may produce him
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for trial, if guilty of any offence; and if any such person shall run away and escape, then the sureties are to see that they pay the amount claimed, and make proof that they have been privy to no fraud in the person who has escaped. The same summons shall be made of hundreds and counties, as our predecessors have enacted: and those who ought in justice to appear, and shall be unwilling so to do, shall be once summoned. And if on a second summons they shall not appear, then one ox shall be taken, and on a third summons, another ox, and on the fourth occasion, the amount claimed shall be paid out of the property of the said person, by way of what is called ‘scapgeld,’ besides a penalty to the king. We do also forbid any person to sell a man out of the country. We do also forbid that any person shall be put to death or hanged for any crime: but his eyes may be put out, and he may be deprived of his virility.8 And this command is not to be violated, on pain of plenary penalty to ourselves.’
“King William, in the fourth year of his reign, by the advice of his barons, caused the nobles and wise men among the English, and those who were learned in their laws, to be summoned throughout all the earldoms of England, in order that he might hear from them their laws, ordinances, and customs. Accordingly, twelve men, elected from each county throughout the whole kingdom, first gave assurance by oath, that, so long as they could, proceeding in the right path and swerving neither to the right nor to the left, they would disclose the enactments of their laws and customs, neither omitting nor adding, nor by prevarication changing anything. Therefore, making a commencement with the laws of Holy Mother Church, inasmuch as through her alone both king and kingdom have a firm and lasting foundation, they set forth her laws, liberties, and rights of protection, to this effect:9
Of Clerks and their Possessions.
“Every clerk, and all scholars10 as well, and all their property and possessions, are everywhere to enjoy the protection of God and of the Holy Church.
Of the Times and Days of the King’s Protection.
“From the Advent of our Lord until the octave of Epiphany there is to be the peace of God and of the Church throughout all the kingdom: and, in like manner, from Septuagesima until the octave of Easter. Likewise, from the Ascension of our Lord until the octave of Pentecost. Likewise, on all the days of the Four Seasons,11 and on all Saturdays, from the ninth hour until Monday. Likewise, on the vigils of Saint Mary, Saint Michael, Saint John the Baptist, of all the Apostles, and of those Saints whose days are announced by the priests on the Lord’s Day, and of All Saints on the calends of November, always from the ninth hour of the vigil and during the subsequent festival. Likewise, in parishes in which the day of dedication is kept. Likewise, in parishes, when the festival of the Saint of the church is celebrated. And if any person comes devoutly to the festival of the Saint, he is to have protection12 in going, staying, and returning. Likewise, for all Christians, when going to Church for the purpose of prayer, there is to be protection both in going and returning. In like manner, those who are coming to dedications, synods, and chapters, whether they have been summoned, or whether they have themselves to perform any part therein, are to enjoy full protection. Also, if any person who has been excommunicated shall resort to the bishop for the purpose of absolution, in going and returning he is to have the protection of God and of the Holy Church: and if any person shall do him any injury, the bishop is to do justice upon him. And if any arrogant person shall refuse to make amends on judgment given by the bishop, then the bishop is to make the same known to the king: and in such case the king will compel the offender to make amends to the person to whom he has done such injury, that is to say, in the first place to the bishop, and then to the king; and thus, in such case, there will be two swords, and the one sword shall aid the other.
Of the jurisdiction of the Holy Church.
“Wherever the king’s justice shall hold his sittings, or whoever the person whose cause he shall be occupied with, if a person sent by a bishop shall come there and open a cause of the Holy Church, the same is to be first brought to a conclusion; for it is just that God should be everywhere held in honor before man.
Of all who hold of the Church.
“Whoever shall hold anything of the Church, or shall have a tenement upon the lands of the Church, he shall not, though he may have committed an offence, be forced to plead out of the ecclesiastical court, unless, which God forbid, there shall have been a miscarriage of justice in such ecclesiastical court.
Of the accused who take refuge with the Church.
“Whatever accused or guilty person shall flee to a church for the sake of protection, from the time that he shall have reached the porch of such church, he shall on no account be seized by anyone pursuing him, except only by the bishop or by his servant. And if, on his flight, he shall enter the house of a priest or his court-yard, he is to have the same security and protection as he would have had in the church, supposing always, that the priest’s house and court-yard are standing upon the land of the Church. If the person is a thief or burglar, that which he has wrongfully taken, if he has it in his possession, he is to restore, and if he has entirely made away with it, and has anything of his own by which to make restitution, he is to make restitution in full to him whom he has injured. And if the thief has thus acted according to his usual practice, and shall happen to have frequently made his escape to churches and priests’ houses, then, after making restitution of what he has taken away, he is to abjure that county, and not to return thereto; and if he does not13 make restitution, no one is to presume to harbour him, unless with leave granted by the king.
Of breach of the Protection of the Church.
“If any person shall by force violate the protection of the Holy Church, the same belongs to the jurisdiction of the bishops. And if the guilty person shall, by taking to flight or by arrogantly slighting it, despise their sentence, then complaint is to
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be made against him before the king after the expiration of forty days, and the king’s justice shall exact of him surety and pledges, if he can give the same, until he shall have made satisfaction, first to God, and then to the king. And if for one-and-thirty days he shall not be able to be found, either by his friends and acquaintances, or by the king’s justice, then the king shall outlaw him by the word of his mouth. And if he shall afterwards be found, and can be taken, he is to be delivered alive to the king, and if he defends himself, then his head. For from the day of his outlawry he has the head of a wolf; which in the English language is called ‘Wulvesheofod.’14 And this is the common and universal law as to all outlaws.
Of the Tithes of the Church.
“Of all yearly produce of the earth the tenth sheaf is due to God, and ought therefore to be paid to Him. If any person has a stud of mares, he is to give the tenth foal: he who has only one or two, is for each foal to pay one penny. In the same manner, he who has a number of cows is to give the tenth calf; if only one or two, he is to pay for each calf one penny. He also who makes cheese is to give the tenth thereof to God, and if he does not make it, then he is to give the milk every tenth day. In like manner, the tenth lamb, the tenth fleece, the tenth of the butter, and the tenth sucking-pig is to be given.
Of small Tithes.
In like manner, as to the tenths of the profits of bees. Moreover, out of forests, meadows, waters, mills, parks, preserves, fisheries, shrubberies, gardens, merchandize, and all other things which the Lord has given, the tenth part is to be restored to Him who has bestowed the other nine parts together with the tenth. The person who withholds the same must be compelled to make payment thereof by judgment of the bishop, and of the king, if necessary. For thus did Saint Augustin teach, and these things were conceded by the king, the barons, and the people. But since then, by the instigation of the devil, many have withheld the same, and rich priests, becoming negligent, have not taken care to undergo the trouble of seeking them, because they had sufficient necessaries for the
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support of life. But in many places there are now three or four churches where there was then but one, and thereby their means have become diminished.
Of those who have been adjudged by the king’s justice to undergo the judgment of iron or of water.
“On the day on which the judgment is to be held, the bishop is to come thither with his clergy, and in like manner the king’s justice with lawful men of that county, who are to see and hear that all things are done with equity. Those whom the Lord in His mercy, and not through their own merits, shall think fit to save, are to be unmolested and to depart at liberty, and the king’s justice is to pronounce judgment on those whom the iniquities of their crimes and not the Lord has condemned. As to those barons who have jurisdiction over their homagers in their own courts, they are to see that they so act towards them, that they neither incur guilt before God, nor offend the king. And if a trial takes place in any of their courts of those who are homagers of other barons, then the king’s justice must be present at such trial, inasmuch as, without his presence, the said trial may not be brought to a conclusion. But if any baron shall happen not to have jurisdiction in the hundred where the trial takes place, then the matter is to be brought for judgment to the nearest church where the king’s court is held, saving always the right of such barons.
Of Saint Peter’s Penny, which in England is called Romescot.
“Every person who shall have live stock to the value of thirty pence on his property belonging to himself, shall, according to the law of the English, give one penny to Saint Peter, and according to the law of the Danes, half a mark. The said penny is to be mentioned on the feast of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, and to be collected on the feast which is called that of ’Saint Peter ad Vincula,’15 so as not to be withheld beyond that day. If any person shall withhold the same, then the claim is to be brought before the king’s justice, inasmuch as this penny is the king’s alms; and the justice is to cause the penny to be paid, as also a fine to the bishop and to the king. And if any person shall chance to have more houses than one, then as to that one in which he shall be residing at the feast of the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul he is to pay the penny.
What ‘Danegeld’ is, and under what emergency it was first levied.
“The payment of Danegeld was first exacted by reason of the pirates. For, harassing this country, they used their utmost endeavours to lay it waste. In order to check their ravages, it was enacted, that Danegeld should be paid yearly; namely, twelve pence for each hide of land throughout the whole country, for the purpose of hiring persons to resist the incursions of the pirates. From this Danegeld all the Church was free and exempt, and all the land which belonged to the Church as of its own demesne, wherever situate; it paying nothing whatever towards such a tax, because more trust was put in the prayers of the Church than in its defence by arms. [And the English16 church enjoyed this exemption down to the times of William the Younger, who was surnamed Rufus, when he required aid from the barons of England in order to regain Normandy and retain possession of it against his brother Robert, surnamed Curthose, who was setting out for Jerusalem. It was conceded to him, though not sanctioned or confirmed by law; but by reason of the necessity of the case, he caused four shillings to be paid to him for every hide of land, that of the Church not even excepted. While the collection of the tax was being made, the Holy Church protested against it, demanding her exemption, but she availed nothing thereby.]
Of the various kinds of the King’s Protection, along the Four Streets or Royal Roads, and along rivers, by the navigation of which provisions are carried.
“The king’s protection is of various kinds. One kind is given under his own hand, which is called by the English ‘Cyninges hande sealde grith.’ One kind is that which lasts for a period of eight days from the time of his coronation. There are also eight days at the Nativity of our Lord, eight days at Easter, and eight at Pentecost. Another protection is that given by his letters. Another, that which the Four public Roads possess, Watlingstrete,17 Fosse,18 Ikenildestrete,19
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and Ermingstrete;20 two of which extend along the length and two along the breadth of the kingdom. Another is that which the waters of certain rivers known by name possess, by the navigation of which provisions are carried from different places to cities or boroughs. This protection under the king’s hand, on the day of his coronation, and under his letters, is to be observed under penalty of a fine: in like manner a breach of the protection on the four public roads and the principal rivers is to be deemed equal to assault. If any building is erected [on the said roads or rivers], the same shall be destroyed, and one half of the expenses of the repairs thereof shall be paid. And if a person shall knowingly have committed such breach, the fine is to be paid by the eighteen hundreds,21 in places subject to the Danish laws,22 and his body shall be at the king’s mercy. According to the law of the English, his were,23 that is to say, the price of his ransom is to be the same as the manbote payable to the lords for those of their men who have been slain. The manbote, according to the Danish laws, for a villein or a sokeman, is twelve oras;24 but for free men, three marks. But manbote, according to the law of the English, is three marks to the king, and to the archbishop, for the men who belong to them; but to the bishop and to the earl of the same county, and to the king’s seneschal it is twenty shillings; and to other barons, ten shillings. Also, a recompense is to be paid to the relations of the person slain, or the duel is to be waged with them, as to which the English proverb says, ‘Big spere of side other bere.’25 Protection, however, upon the Four public Roads and the before-mentioned rivers lies under a higher jurisdiction than what we have mentioned as to assault. Also, if a mill, or fishery, or any other work that is an obstruction to them is in preparation, the said works must be immediately destroyed, and the public
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roads and rivers must be placed in their former state of repair, and a fine to the king must not be forgotten. The lesser roads, however, leading from one city to another, and from borough to borough, and along which merchandize is carried and other business done, are to be subject to the laws of the county; and if any person erects any work to their detriment, the same is to be levelled with the ground, and the roads are to be at once put in repair, and reparation is to be made, according to the law of the said county, to the earl and sheriff thereof. The same is to be done likewise as to the lesser rivers. As to the lesser rivers which carry vessels with the things that are necessary to boroughs and cities, wood, at least, and things of that nature, reparation of them is likewise to be made as prescribed by the law relative to the lesser roads.
Of the Divisions of the Shires.
“The divisions of the king’s Shires properly belong to the same jurisdiction as the four Royal public Roads. The division into Hundreds and Wapentakes, with their jurisdiction, belong to the earls and sheriffs of the counties. Treasures found in the ground belong to our lord the king, unless they are found in a church or in a burial-ground. And even if found there, the gold belongs to the king, and a moiety of the silver, and the other moiety to the church where it is found, whatever church it is, whether rich or poor.
Of the Laws as to Murderers.
“If a person was murdered anywhere, the murderer was sought throughout the vill where the person murdered was found. If he was found, he was to be delivered up to the king’s justice, within eight days after the murder. If he could not be found, then a period of a month and a day was given for making search for him; and if within the given period he could not be found, then six and forty marks were levied upon the vill. But if it was not able to make so great a payment, then the amount was to be paid by the hundred which the vill was unable to pay. But when the boundaries of the vill were utterly confused, then the barons were to see that it was collected throughout the hundred, and was sealed with the seal of some baron of the county, and then carried to the king’s treasurer, who was to keep the same under seal for a year and a day. If the murderer could be found within that time,
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then he was to be delivered up to the king’s justice, on which they were to have back the forty-six marks that had been deposited with the king’s treasurer. But if he could not be apprehended within the said time, then the relations of the murdered person were to have six marks and the king the remaining forty. If his relations could not be found, then his superior lord was to receive them, and if he had no lord, then his fellow,26 that is to say, the person who was tied to him by bonds of fidelity. But if there were none of these, in such case, the king of the realm, under whose safeguard and protection they all live, was to take back the six marks together with his own forty.
“The law of murder was first enacted in the time of Canute, the Danish king, who, after gaining possession of England, and reducing it to a state of peace, at the request of the English barons, sent his army back to Denmark. The said barons, however, became surety to the king, that as many of his people as he should wish to retain with himself should enjoy assured protection in all respects; and that if any of the English should happen to slay one of them, and could not defend himself against the charge, by the judgment of God, that is to say, by judgment of water or of iron, justice should be executed upon him; and that if he should take to flight, then payment was to be made as mentioned above.
Of the Duties of the King.
“The king, as being the viceregent of the Supreme King, is appointed for the purpose of shewing due respect to and protecting the worldly kingdom, and the people of God, and, above all things, His Holy Church, and of ruling and defending it from those who would injure it, and of removing from it, and crushing and utterly dispersing all evil-doers; and if he does not do so, then the name of king will not belong to him, pope John truly testifying that he loses the name of king who does not act as king. [On Pepin27 and his son Charles, who were not yet kings, but only princes under the king of the Franks, hearing this definite opinion, pronounced as truthfully as prudently on the name of a king, quoted by William the Bastard, king of England, they foolishly wrote to the pope to enquire if on those terms the kings of the Franks
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were to remain contented solely with the name of king. On which they received for answer that those ought to be called kings who watch, defend, and govern the Church of God, and His people, in imitation of the Royal Psalmist, who says, ‘He that worketh vanity shall not dwell in my house.’28]
Of the guilty condemned by Law who have recourse to the king’s mercy.
“If a person guilty of a capital offence shall ask the king’s mercy for his crime, in his fear of death or of loss of limb, the king may, by the law of his dignity, pardon him if he pleases, even though he be deserving of death. The malefactor, however, shall make redress, so far as he shall be able, for the offence of which he has been guilty, and shall give sureties that he will keep the peace and observe the laws; and if such sureties shall not be forthcoming, he shall be banished the country.
What those are to do whom the king shall think proper to deliver from death.
“The king has also another prerogative of mercy as to those who are under arrest. For wherever he shall come, whether into city, borough, castle, vill, or even in the road, if a person shall be under arrest, it is in his power, by a single word, to release him from such arrest. The person released shall, however, make satisfaction to the person against whom the crime was committed. But as to a murderer, traitor, or criminal of the description, although the king shall pardon them as to life and limb, they shall on no account with the sanction of the law remain in the country; but shall immediately make oath that they will go to the sea-shore within a time prescribed to them by the justice, and will immediately, as soon as they find a ship and a fair wind, cross the seas. And if, being forsworn, they shall afterwards remain in this country, whoever shall be able to find them, may execute summary justice on them without judgment pronounced; and if any person shall gratuitously harbour them for a single night only he shall be fined according to the greater law of the English or of the Danes, on the second occasion twofold, and for the third offence he shall be adjudged to be the associate and accomplice of malefactors.
Of the wives of malefactors and their children.
“If any such shall have wives living in this country, and any one of the relatives of the person murdered shall say that they were accomplices in the crime, they shall make proof of their innocence by the judgment of God; and if the mercy of God and their own innocence shall save them, they may continue to be lawful persons with their dowries and marriage portions. But children, who, before commission of the crime, were born or begotten, are not to lose their lawful rights for a crime committed after they were begotten, nor are they to be deprived of their right of heirship.
What “Frithborg” means, or the oath of the Ten Men, which the people of York call “Tenemental.”
“There is likewise one great and especial institution, by means of which all people are kept in a state of the greatest security, namely, where each person giving that pledge for himself on a certain security, which the English call ‘Freoborger.’29 The people of York, however, and they only, call it ‘Tien manna tala,’30 which means ‘The number of ten men.’ This surety was exercised in the following manner: Inasmuch as all men in all vills throughout the whole kingdom were bound to be divided into frank-pledges of ten, if one of the ten were guilty of an offence, there would be nine to force him to make redress; and if he took to flight, a term of thirty-one days by law was granted them. On the person being sought for, and found, he was taken before the king’s justice, and out of his property reparation was instantly made for the injury he had done; and if after that he was guilty of an offence, then justice was executed upon his body. But if within the time before-mentioned he could not be found, then, as there was in every frithborg one head man whom they called ‘Freoborger heofod,’31 this head man would choose two of the best men of his own frithborgers, and then of the three frithborgs that were nearest, he would take the head man of each and two of
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the best men of each of those frithborgs, if he could find them, after which, himself being the twelfth, he would purge himself and his own frithborg of the offence, if he could, and of the escape of the said malefactor. If he could not do this, then he and his frithborg were to make good the loss out of the property of the malefactor so far as it would go, and on that falling short, make up the amount from the property of himself and his frithborg, and so account to the justice for the amount legally adjudicated against them. Then last of all the nine would swear by themselves that they had been unable to make satisfaction therein according to their oath, by means of the three nearest frithborgs, and that they would in nowise be guilty thereof, and that if they should ever be able to capture him, they would bring him to the justice, or inform the justice where he was.
That all persons are to establish Frithborgs for their servants and dependants.
“Archbishops, bishops, earls, and barons, are also to have their own knights and yeomen, their sewers, butlers, chamberlains, cooks, and bakers, each in his own frithborg. They are also to have their own esquires, or other servants, each in his own frithborg. And if these persons shall commit an offence against any man, and a charge shall be made by the neighbours against them, they are to compel them to make redress in their own courts; that is to say, those who have the right of sac, and soc, and thol, and them, and infangthefe.
“Sac, is when any person charges another by name with any offence and he denies it; on which the fine levied on proof or disproof thereof, if there is one, belongs to the lord.
“Soc, is when any person searches for anything on his lands, in which case, even though it be stolen it belongs to him, whether found or not.
“Thol, which we call ‘Tholonium,’ is the privilege of him who has the right of buying and selling on his own lands.
“Them, is where any person lays claim to property in the hands of another, in which case the party so challenged shall produce his warranty,32 and if not, he shall be fined, and the penalty shall go to the lord; and similar justice shall be dealt to him who makes the charge, if he shall fail in his proof.
“That person has the right of ‘infangthefe,’ who has the right of taking cognizance of robbery in his own court in the case of his own homager, if such person shall have been taken on his lands. But those who have not those customs, are to have justice done before the king’s justice in the hundreds and wapentakes, or in the shires.
1 The numerous defects in the text of Hoveden have here been corrected by a reference to the more full copy of these laws in Wilkins’s “Leges Anglo-Saxonicæ.” London, 1721, p. ;228; et. seq.
2 This was a tax which was to be paid in equal shares, one scot and one lot.
3 In civitate Claudiâ.
4 Lambarde suggests “necessaria,” “necessaries;” Wilkins has “vendita,” “things already sold.” “Vetusta,” as in the text, is most probably correct.
5 This Saxon word is still perpetuated in our saying, “To take all one can wrap and rend.”
6 Holding red hot iron in the hand unharmed.
7 Alluding to the institution of Frank-pledge.
8 Wilkins adds, “or feet or hands, that in his maimed state he may remain a living sign of his treachery and wickedness.”
9 The following translation is from the text of these laws found in Wilkins, p. 197, et seq., which is far more correct than that found in Hoveden.
10 Probably novices in the schools of monasteries.
11 These were the four seasons for fasting prescribed by the early Roman church, styled the Vernal, Æstival, Autumnal and Hiemal fasts, or the fasts of the first, fourth, seventh, and tenth month; March being reckoned as the first month .
12 In these latter cases, “pax,” “peace,” or “protection,” means merely protection from legal process.
13 The “nisi” in the text of Hoveden is preferable here to “si forte” in that of Wilkins.
14 Also called “Wolfeshead,” or “Wolferheued.” This state of outlawry was so called, from its resemblance to that of the wolves which inhabited England, for whose heads a reward was offered.
15 Saint Peter in prison.
16 This must be an interpolation, if these laws belong to the time of Edward the Confessor and William the Conqueror. The more general opinion now is, that they belong to the time of William II.
17 From Devonshire to Chester.
18 From Caithness, in Scotland, to Totnes, in Devonshire.
19 It extended from Saint David’s, in Wales, to Tynemouth, in Northumberland.
20 Extending from the south of England towards Carlisle.
22 The ‘Denelega,’ or law established by the Danes for those parts inhabited by their own nation.
23 The ‘were,’ or ‘wergeld,’ was paid by a murderer, partly to the king for the loss of a subject, partly to the lord whose vassal he was, and partly to the next of kin of the person slain.
24 The “ora” was a Danish silver coin, probably about ten shillings in value.
25 “Buy a spear for your side, or wield it yourself,” meaning, “Either hire a person to wage the battle for you, or fight yourself.”
26 “Felagus.”
27 Probably an interpolation. It is more full in Hoveden than in the text of Wilkins.
28 Psalm ci. 7. Our version has it, “He that worketh deceit.”
29 Frank-pledge, or surety given by ten men for the good behaviour of the eleventh.
30 Or “Tenemental.” It was also called a “Decennary,” and each person bound for himself and his neighbour, was called a “decennier.”
31 “Head of the frithborg.” He was also called the “deciner,” or “doziner.”
32 The seller.