[314]. Leg. Ælfr. Introduction, and § 4.
[315]. This is necessary in a country where the materials of which weapons are fabricated are not abundant, which Tacitus notices as the case in Germany, “ne ferrum quidem superest, sicut ex genere telorum colligitur.” Germ. vi. Adventurers, ever on the move, are prone to realize their gains in the most portable shape. Kings, gems and arms are the natural form, and a Teutonic king’s treasury must have been filled with them, in preference to all other valuables.
[316]. Relief, relevium, from relevare, to lift or take up again. It is a sum paid by the heir to the lord, on taking or lifting up again the inheritance of an estate which has, as it were, fallen to the ground by the death of the ancestor.
[317]. Fleta, lib. iii. cap. 18.
[318]. Montesquieu has seen this very clearly, when he considers even the horse and framea of Tacitus in the light of beneficia. From a charter of Æðelflǽd, an. 915-922, it would seem that in Mercia a thane required the consent of the lord, before he could purchase an estate of bookland: “Ego Æðelflǽd ... dedi licentiam Eádríco meo ministro comparandi terram decem manentium æt Fernbeorgen, sibi suisque haeredibus perpetualiter possidendam.” Cod. Dipl. No. 343. About the close of the ninth century, Wulfhere, a duke, having left the country, and so deserted the duties of his position, was adjudged to lose even his private lands of inheritance: “Quando ille utrumque et suum dominum regem Ælfredum et patriam, ultra iusiurandum quam regi et suis omnibus optimatibus iuraverat, sine licentia dereliquit; tunc etiam, cum omnium iudicio sapientium Geuisorum et Mercensium, potestatem et haereditatem dereliquit agrorum.” Cod. Dipl. No. 1078. The importance of this passage seems to me to rest upon the words “sine licentia.”
[319]. “Þegenes lagu is ðæt he sý his bócrihtes wyrðe; taini lex est ut sit dignus rectitudine testamenti sui.” Thorpe, i. 432. And with this Ælfred’s law of entails is consistent. Leg. Ælf. § 41. Thorpe, i. 88.
[320]. Toward the end of the tenth century, Beorhtríc, a wealthy noble in Kent, devised land by will to various relatives. He left the king, a collar worth eighty mancuses of gold, and a sword of equal value; his heriot, comprising four horses, two of which were saddled; two swords with their belts; two hawks, and all his hounds. He further gave to the queen, a ring worth thirty mancuses of gold, and a mare, that she might be his advocate (forespræce) that the will might stand, “ðæt se cwide stondan mihte.” Cod. Dipl. No. 492. Between 944 and 946, Æðelgyfu devised lands and chattels to St. Albans, “cum consensu domini mei regis.” The king and queen had a very fair share of this spoil. Cod. Dipl. No. 410. Between 965 and 975, Ælfheáh, an ealdorman, or noble of the highest rank, and cousin of Eádgár’s queen Ælfðrýð, left lands, a good share of which went to the king and queen: the will was made, “be his cynehláfordes geþafunge,” by his royal lord’s permission, and winds up with this clause: “And the witnesses to this permission which the king granted (observe, not to the will itself, but to the king’s permission to leave the property as he did,) are Ælfðrýð the queen and others.” Cod. Dipl. No. 593. Æðelflǽd a royal lady, left lands, some of which went to the king: she says, “And ic bidde mínan leófan hláford for Godes lufun, ðæt mín cwide standan móte,”—and I beg my dear Lord, for God’s love, that this my will may stand. Cod. Dipl. No. 685. In the time of Æðelred, Wulfwaru, a lady, commences her will in these words: “Ic Wulfwaru bidde míne leófan hláford Æðelred kyning, him tó ælmyssan, ðæt ic móte beón mínes cwides wyrðe;” i. e. that I may be worthy of my right of devising by will; that I may enjoy my right of making a will. Cod. Dipl. No. 694. Ælfgyfu the queen in 1012 commences her will in similar terms: “Dis is Ælfgyfe gegurning tó hire cynehláforde. Dæt is ðæt heó hine bitt for Godes lufun and for cynescipe ðæt heó móte beón hyre cwides wyrðe.” Cod. Dipl. No. 721. Æðelstân, king Æðelred’s son, made also a will, from which I take the following passage: “Now I thank my father, with all humility, in the name of Almighty God, for the answer which he sent me on the Friday after Midsummer day, by Ælfgár Æffa’s son; that was, that he told me, upon my father’s word, that I might, by God’s leave and his, grant my realty and chattels, as I thought best, whether for spiritual or temporal ends. And the witnesses to this answer are Eádmund,” etc. Cod. Dipl. No. 722. Lastly, Ælfhelm concludes his will with these words: “Now I entreat thee, my dear lord, that my will may stand, and that thou permit not that any man should set it aside. God is my witness that I was ever obedient to thy father, to the utmost of my power, and full faithful to him both in mind and main, and have ever been faithful to thee, in full faith and full love, as God is my witness.” Cod. Dipl. No. 967.
[321]. “Libertini non multum supra servos sunt, raro aliquod momentum in domo, nunquam in civitate; exceptis duntaxat iis gentibus, quae regnantur: ibi enim et super ingenuos et super nobiles ascendunt: apud caeteros impares libertini libertatis argumentum sunt.” Tac. Germ. xxv.
[322]. By this step, the crown became the real leader of the hereban, or posse comitatus, as well as of the gesíðas and their power: and thus also, the head of the juridical power in the counties, as well as the lords’ courts. Moreover it extended the powers and provisions of martial law to the offences of the freemen.