(3) If a King’s thane be charged with man-slaying, if he means to clear himself by oath, let him do it with twelve King’s thanes, and if a lesser man than a King’s thane be charged, let him clear himself with eleven of his like and with one King’s thane.
We have seen that the King’s thane is mentioned in the Laws of Ine (s. 45), and that his social position was much higher than that of the ordinary gesithcundman. The bot for his burg-bryce was sixty scillings—i.e. halfway between that of the ealdorman at eighty scillings and that of the gesithcundman having land at thirty-five scillings.
The King’s thane’s oath seems, then, to be what is meant by the King’s oath of thirty hides in the Laws of Ine. But the King’s thane’s oath of thirty hides being the oath of a class higher than that of the gesithcundman, how is it that the oath of the latter could be a 120 hide oath?—i.e. worth four times as much as that of his superior, the King’s thane.
At first the two statements seem to clash, but on reflection a spark of light seems to come from the collision. The King’s thane’s oath in this case is only one oath in the hynden of twelve oath-helpers supporting the twelve-hynde or twy-hynde man. When a King’s thane was himself charged with man-slaying the later law declares that he must clear himself with twelve King’s thane’s oaths. The full oath of the whole hynden, himself and his co-swearers, would therefore be equivalent to an oath of 360 hides—i.e. worth three times the 120 hide oath of—may we not now say?—the twelve oath-helpers forming the hynden of the gesithcundman.
The single oath of the twelve-hyndeman was of 10 hides.
The King’s thane’s official position was sufficient to justify the threefold value of his oath and that of the several oaths of his hynden. And if the 120 hide oath of the twelve-hyndeman be the full oath of himself and his hynden of oath-helpers, then his single oath would be a ten hide oath, which is much more within reason. The analogy would be complete were it not for the necessity of including in the hynden of the gesithcundman a King’s thane’s oath of thirty hides; but this may have been an afterthought. The mention of it in the law of Ine is in itself presumptive evidence that it was a new and an additional requirement beyond what Wessex custom had originally required.[258]
The oath of himself and oath-helpers was of 120 hides.
So far, then, it seems to be pretty clear that the 120 hide oath of the twelve-hyndeman was the twelvefold oath of himself and his hynden of oath-helpers, each of whose single oaths was, like his own, a ten hide oath.
The oath-helpers were kinsmen.
Adhering, then, to the meaning of hynden as the set of oath-helpers, we have next to keep in mind that the oath-helpers were naturally kinsmen representing the slayer’s kindred and their responsibility for the wergeld of the person slain if their kinsman was the slayer, and by this consideration we are once more thrown back upon tribal custom.