| [144] | That is, with a linen garment or kirtle (Sax. cyrtel), fitted with tight sleeves down to the wrists, and over that a wide loose robe or gown (gown is a Keltic word retained from ancient times—Welsh, gŵn,) long enough to reach to the feet—this robe was kept close to the body by a girdle at the waist. The upper class of women wore a mantle over the above dress—this was somewhat like a chasuble or priest’s habit,—they had also gold ornaments and bracelets. The head-covering (Sax. wæfels), was a long veil of linen or silk wrapped round the head and neck. The feet were covered with a woollen wrapper or sock (Sax. socc); shoes (sceós) tied with thongs. (Saxons never went bare-footed except as an act of penance.) |
| [145] | There are no such foul quagmires or pools near Crowland in these days. The old Abbey is surrounded by fine arable and pasture ground. |
| [146] | This river, so called, may have been the car-dyke, seeing Ivo came from Stamford. The Catts-water, the old water-course between Peterborough, Spalding, and S. Holland, lay a mile or more to the east of Eye. (See [Map].) |
| [147] | An is frequently used in the text as the equivalent of if or and if (in sentences expressing condition or purpose), so in this passage from Shakespeare:— “He can’t flatter, he! An honest mind and plain he must speak truth, An they will take it so; if not, he’s plain.” The two lines show a nice distinction in the use of the article and of the conjunction by the older writers. |
| [148] | Æthelstan and Eadmund gained a great victory over the Danes and Scots (in all five kings and seven earls leagued) at Brunanburh (supposed to be in the north of Lincolnshire), in 937. |
| [149] | Here are the first few lines of “Æthelstan’s Song of Victory.” Æthelstan cyning Æthelstan king eorla drihten of earls the lord beorna beah-gyfa rewarder of heroes, and his brothor eac and his brother eke, Eadmund Ætheling Eadmund Ætheling ealdor langyne tyr, elder of ancient race, geslogon æt secce slew in the fight sweorda ecgum with the edge of their swords ymbe Brunan-burh the foe at Brunanburh. |
| Æthelstan cyning | Æthelstan king |
| eorla drihten | of earls the lord |
| beorna beah-gyfa | rewarder of heroes, |
| and his brothor eac | and his brother eke, |
| Eadmund Ætheling | Eadmund Ætheling |
| ealdor langyne tyr, | elder of ancient race, |
| geslogon æt secce | slew in the fight |
| sweorda ecgum | with the edge of their swords |
| ymbe Brunan-burh | the foe at Brunanburh. |
| [150] | Afterwards, in 941, Eadmund recovered “the five boroughs” from Danish rule, i.e., Lincoln, Stamford, Leicester, Nottingham, and Derby. |
| [151] | Will what remains of the un-Saxon laws yet be repealed or modified in the interest of declining agriculture? |
| [152] | In [note], page [62], the laws of Eadward are referred to, but as the assemblage of the Witan is here specially named in the text, we may remark that the Norman Conquest checked the growing power of the eorldermen and prevented them from forming such a distinct and powerful order as might have crippled the rights and liberties of the people. The Norman invasion threw the nobles back upon the aid of the people, which could not have been obtained without the promise of political and social concessions. |
| [153] | Dooms, see [note] p. [214]. |