[88]. “Facilitatem partiendi camporum spatia praestant.” Tac. Germ. 26. But as the space diminishes, so also diminishes the stability of a form of society founded upon its existence.
[89]. History supplies numerous illustrations of this process. Rome grew out of the union of the Rhamnes and Luceres with the Sabines: and generally speaking in Greece, the origin of the πόλις lies in what may be called the compression of the κώμαι. The ἀγορὰ is on the space of neutral ground where all may meet on equal terms, as the Russians and Chinese trade at Kiachta: but then when the πόλις has grown up, the ἀγορὰ is in its centre, not in its suburbs.
[90]. Most likely as commons are distributed now, under enclosure-bills; allotments being made in fee, as compensation for commonable rights.
[91]. And se mylenham ⁊ se myln ðǽrtó, ⁊ ðæs mearclandes swá mycel swá tó þrim hidon gebyrað. an. 982. Cod. Dipl. No. 633.
[92]. Estoveria. In this case, small wood necessary for household purposes, as Housebote, Hedgebote and Ploughbote, the materials for repairing house, hedge and plough. But timber trees are not included. See Stat. West. 2. cap. 25; and 20 Car. II. c. 3.
[93]. “Silvam auguriis patrum et prisca formidine sacram.” Tac. Germ. 39. See Möser, Osnabrückische Geschichte, i. 57, seq.
[94]. Ἑρμῆς, in this one sense Mercurius, is identical with Wóden. Both invented letters; both are the wandering god; both are Odysseus. The name of Wóden is preserved in many boundary places, or chains of hills, in every part of England. See chap. xii. of this Book. The Wónác (Cod. Dipl. No. 495), the Wónstoc (ibid. Nos. 287, 657), I have no hesitation in translating by Wóden’s oak, Wóden’s post. Scyldes treów (ibid. No. 436) may also refer to Wóden in the form of Scyld, as Hnices þorn (ibid. No. 268) may record the same god in his form of Hnicor, or Hnic.
[95]. Teowes þorn, Tiw’s thorn. Cod. Dipl. No. 174. Tiwes mére, Tiw’s lake. Ibid. No. 262. Frigedæges treów (ibid. No. 1221), the tree of Frigedæg, a name I hold equivalent to Frea or Fricge.
[96]. The boundaries of the Anglosaxon charters supply a profusion of evidence on this subject. The trees most frequently named are the oak, ash, beech, thorn, elder, lime and birch. The heathen burial-place or mound is singularly frequent. Cod. Dipl. Nos. 247, 335, 476. The charter No. 126 has these words: “Deinde vero ad alios monticulos, postea vero ad viam quae dicitur Fíf ác, recto itinere ad easdem fíf ác, proinde autem ad þreom gemǽran.” Here the boundaries of three several districts lay close to a place called Five Oaks. That the trees were sometimes marked is clear from the entries in the boundaries: thus, in the year 931, tó ðære gemearcodan ǽc æt Alerburnan, the marked oak. Cod. Dipl. No. 1102. ða gemearcodan æfse, the marked eaves or edge of the wood. Ibid. Also, on ða gemearcodan lindan. Ibid. No. 1317. Cyrstelmæl ác, or Christ cross oak. Ibid. No. 118. At Addlestone, near Chertsey, is an ancient and most venerable oak, called the Crouch (crux, crois), that is Cross oak, which tradition declares to have been a boundary of Windsor forest. The same thing is found in Circassia. See Bell, ii. 58. The mearcbeám, without further definition, is common: so the mearctreów. Cod. Dipl. No. 436. The mearcbróc. Ibid. No. 1102. Artificial or natural stone posts are implied by the constantly recurring háran stánas, grǽgan stánas, hoary or grey stones. Among Christians, crosses and obelisks have replaced these old heathen symbols, without altering the nature of the sanction, and the weichbild, or mark that defines the limits of a jurisdiction, can, in my opinion, mean only the sacred sign. On this point see Haltaus. Gloss. in voce, whose derivation from wíc, oppidum, is unsatisfactory. See too Eichhorn, Deutsche Staats- und Rechtsgeschichte, ii. 76. § 224 a. note c: with whose decision Grimm and I coincide.
[97]. For example in Manors, where the territorial jurisdiction of a lord has usurped the place of the old Markmoot, but not availed entirely to destroy the old Mark-rights in the various commons.