[832] Const. Hist. i. 70, 71, 111.
[833] I give a list of the more important terms:—heretoga = dux, 148; ealdormen ⁊ heretogan = duces regii, 236; ealdorman, which in some applications is equivalent to heretoga, is a vaguer and more general term, and represents a considerable number of Latin expressions; thus ealdormen = duces, 134, 158, 302; = maiores natu, 136, 158; = maiores, 348, 442, 450; = principes, 198, 240, 316, 334; = satrapae, 414; = subreguli, 298 (bis); ealdorman = maior domus regiae, 256 (of Ebroin); þegna aldormon = primus ministrorum, 264; gerefa = praefectus, 194, 256; tun gerefa = uillicus, 344, 414; geþeahteras = consiliarii, 136, 454; witan = consiliarii, 134; = seniores, 452; in gemote heora weotona = in conuentu seniorum, 162; þegn = minister, 134, 146, 158, 196, 294, 462; cf. þinen = ministra, 318; þegnung = ministerium, 196; cwene þegn = reginae minister, 330; cyninges þegn = minister regis, 328; = miles regis, 150; = miles, 222, 302, 326 (bis), 418, cf. 436; þegn = miles, 194; gesið = comes, 194, 228, 274, 292, 326, 394; gesiðmann = comes, 22 (bis); æðelingas = nobiles, 138, 240, 242 (this is important as showing that æðeling was not restricted, as in later usage, to members of the royal house, though it is used of them, as the following examples show); æðeling (of a king’s brother), 324; se geonga æðeling = regius iuuenis, iuuenis de regio genere, 130, 306; æðelingas þæs cynecynnes = nobiles ac regii uiri, 140; here = hostilis exercitus, 54; = exercitus, 356; fyrd = exercitus, 102; = expeditio, 30; fyrd ⁊ here = bellum, 168, 208; cynelic tun = uilla regia, 140; cyninges bold = uilla regia, 140; ham = uicani, 180; tunscipe = uicani, 416; wiic = mansio, 332, 388; sundorwic = mansio, 262; boclanda æht = praediorum possessiones, 236; heowscipe = familia (hide), 332; hiwisc = familia (hide), 456 (bis); hired = domus (household), 144; higna ealdor = pater familiae, 180; geferscipe = domus (household), 264; = clerus, 248, 398; cf. mid his geferum = cum clero suo, cum clericis suis, 364, 402; his preost ⁊ hond þeng = clericus illius, 456; ealdordom = primatus, 368; aldorbiscop = metropolitanus episcopus, 408; regolweard = praepositus, 362; so: prafost ⁊ regolweard, 360; prafost ⁊ ealdorman = propositi 232 (these three examples refer to the prior or provost of a monastery). In the Orosius we have æðelingas = regii iuuenes, 44; ealdorman = praefectus, 60, 84; but the most interesting instance is: Asiam [he] hæfde Romanum to boclande geseald = traditam per testamentum Romanis Asiam, 224; cf. the Soliloquies, p. 164: ‘ælcne man lyst siððan he ænig cotlyf on his hlafordes læne myd his fultume getimbred hæfð, þæt he hine mote hwilum þaron gerestan, … oð þone fyrst þe he bocland ⁊ ece yrfe þurh his hlafordes miltse geearnige.’ At p. 176 of the same work is a passage which perhaps illustrates the date of the use of seals in England, for I do not think there is anything corresponding to it in the original: ‘geþene nu gif ðines hlafordes ærendgewrit ⁊ his insegel to ðe cymð.’ Another interesting passage illustrating the meeting of the Witan, the gathering of the fyrd, the king’s household, &c., is at p. 187: ‘geðenc nu hweðer awiht manna cynges ham sece þer ðær he ðonne on tune byð, oððe his gemot, oððe his fyrd’ &c.; cf. also pp. 200, 204. It is worth noting that the word ‘carcern,’ ‘prison,’ occurs first in Alfred’s Laws (see Schmid, Gesetze, Glossary, s. v.), and is also of frequent occurrence in his works, Past. p. 329; Oros. p. 214; Boeth. i. (pp. 7, 8), xviii. § 4 (p. 45), xxxvii. § 1 (p. 111); Solil. pp. 202, 203. In the Psalter, which is possibly by Alfred, we have mention of the two shires of Judah and Benjamin, ed. Thorpe, p. 113; cf. ibid. 29 for an interesting reference to measurement of land with ropes. In the Dialogues we have the following: geréfa = praefectus, 340; = tribunus, 220; geréfman = primarius, 222; = curialis, 308; geréfscír = locus praefectorum; práfost = praepositus (in monastic sense), 344; ealdorman = comes, 220, 301. An interesting word is wlíte-weorð, literally ‘face-price’ = ransom, 179.
[834] See Stewart’s Boethius, p. 172; Moore, Dante Studies, i. 279-83; it may be noted that Augustine, Orosius, Gregory, Bede, and Boethius, all occur in Alcuin’s catalogue of the York Library, De Sanctis Ebor. vv. 1535 ff. Still more interesting is the fact that Augustine, Orosius, Boethius, Bede, are mentioned within a few lines of one another, Paradiso, x. 118-32.
[835] On Boethius generally, see Boethius, an essay by H. F. Stewart, 1891, a book from which I have learnt much. See also the article on Boethius in Dict. Christ. Biog.
[836] Stewart, p. 54.
[837] ibid., 78.
[838] Mr. Stewart, p. 106, puts it the other way; but I think the above statement does fuller justice to Boethius.
[839] Henry of Huntingdon and Petrarch among others wrote treatises De Contemptu Mundi. Boccaccio, as Mr. Archer reminds me, wrote a treatise De Casibus illustrium uirorum, on which Chaucer’s Monk’s Tale with the same title is founded.
[840] From a poem De Contemptu Mundi by Jacopone; Trench’s Sacred Latin Poetry, 3rd ed., p. 270. The Rhythm of Bernard of Morlaix, from which come ‘Jerusalem the Golden,’ ‘Brief life,’ &c., has the same title.
[841] Stewart, p. 203.