[343]. Hist. Dan. lib. v. p. 85.
[344]. The following proverbs are founded upon this legal custom:—
“Trittst du meine henne, so wirst du mein hahn.”
“Die unfreie hand zieht die freie nach sich.”
“En formariage le pire emporte le bon.”
[345]. Such may also have been malefactors, who sought an asylum in church or other privileged lands, and who sometimes formed a very considerable number of dependants or retainers: thus, “Contraxit universam iuventutem Houlandiae [Holland in Lincolnshire] strenuissimus comes Algarus, ... unà cum cohorte Croylandiae monasterii, videlicet CC bellatoribus robustissimis, eo quod maxima pars illorum de fugitivis fuerat.” Hist. Ingulf, p. 865.
[346]. “Si liber homo spontanea voluntate vel forte necessitate coactus, nobili, seu libero, seu etiam lito, in personam et in servitium liti se subdiderit.” Lex Fres. xi. 1. “Ut nullum liberum liceat inservire ... quamvis pauper sit, tamen libertatem suam non perdat nec hereditatem suam, nisi ex spontanea voluntate se alicui tradere voluerit, hoc potestatem habeat faciendi.” Lex Bajuv. vi. 3. The Anglosaxon law gave this power of voluntary surrender to a boy of thirteen. See Theod. Poenit. xxix. Thorpe, ii. 19.
[347]. Gregor. Turon. vii. 45.
[348]. “Interea fames dira ac famosissima vagis ac nutabundis haeret, quae multos eorum cruentis compellit praedonibus sine dilatione victas dare manus, ut pauxillum ad refocillandam animam cibi caperent.” Hist. Brit. cap. xvii.
[349]. “Ealle ða men ðe heónon heora heáfod for hyra mete on ðám yflum dagum.” Cod. Dip. No. 925. The instance is, I believe, a solitary one in our records, but the cases must have been numerous.