[252] See Schmid’s note on this passage, and see also Liebermann’s translation.
[253] Thorpe, p. 150; Schmid, Anhang i.
[254] The only mark of the geographical position of the district is that in the final clause: ‘Formerly the Went-sætas belonged to the Dun-sætas, but more properly they belong to the West Saxons; there they shall give tribute and hostages.’
[255] Translated in the Latin version by ‘corium,’ the meaning probably being that 12 scillings would buy off a scourging.
[256] In the Laws of Henry I. (lxx. s. 5) the ‘theow-wealh’ is translated ‘servus Waliscus,’ and is worth double the ordinary slave, unless the amount be a double penalty.
[257] The usual explanation of these terms is that they are derived from the number of shillings in the wergeld. Mr. Earle in his valuable Handbook to the Land Charters &c. (p. 1) considers ‘hynde’ to be an old form of ‘ten’ and to refer to the number of soldiers of whom the twelve-hynde and six-hynde men were captains. ‘The former was a captain of 120 and the latter of 60.’ Neither of these explanations seems to me to be satisfactory.
[258] This view that the single oath of the twelve-hyndeman was reckoned as a 10 hide oath is confirmed by the translation in the Latin of the Quadripartitus of Ine’s Laws, s. 46. The Anglo-Saxon ‘þonne sceal he be lx hyda onsacan,’ is translated by ‘tunc debet per lx hidas i.e. per vi homines abnegare.’ And in s. 19 ‘potest jurare pro lx hidis i.e. pro hominibus vi.’ Schmid remarks on these passages: ‘Hiernach würde also jeder Eideshelfer 10 Hiden vertreten.’
[259] Schmid, p. 157; Thorpe, p. 97.
[260] Judicia Civitatis Lundoniæ, c. 8, s. 2; Ath. L. vi.
[261] Decretum Episcoporum et aliorum sapientum de Kancia de pace observanda. Ath. L. iii.