[140]. Cod. Dipl. No. 106. After mentioning one ship, relieved from toll in London, he continues: “Alterius vero ... omne tributum atque vectigal concedimus, quod etiam a thelonariis nostris iuste impetitur publicis in locis, qui appellantur Forduuíc et Seorre.”
[141]. Cod. Dipl. No. 726. “Ita habeant sicut Siuerthus habuit in vita, in longitudine et in latitudine, in magnis et in modicis rebus, campis, pascuis, pratis, silvis, theloneum aquarum, piscationem in paludibus.”
[142]. Cod. Dipl. No. 737. “Eorum est navicula et transfretatio portus, et theloneum omnium navium, cuiuscunque sit et undecumque veniat, quae ad praedictum portum et ad Sanduuíc venerint.”
[143]. Cod. Dipl. No. 758. The story is altogether so good, and so well told, that it may be given here entire.
“This writing witnesseth how Harold the king caused Sandwich to be ridden about to his own hand: and he kept it for himself well nigh a twelvemonth, and at any rate fully two herring-seasons, all against God’s will, and against the Saints’ who lie at Christchurch, as it turned out ill enough for him afterwards. And during this time there went Ælfstán the abbot of St. Augustine’s, and got, with his lying flatteries and his gold and silver, all secretly from Steorra who was the king’s redesman, a right to the third penny of the toll at Sandwich. Now when archbishop Eádsige and all the brotherhood at Christchurch learnt this, they took counsel together, that they should send Ælfgár, the monk of Christchurch, to king Harold. Now the king lay at Oxford very ill, so that his life was despaired of; and there were with him Lýfing, bishop of Devonshire, and Tancred the monk. Then came the messenger from Christchurch to the bishop; and he forth at once to the king, and with him Ælfgár the monk, Osweard of Harrietsham, and Tancred; and they told the king that he had deeply sinned against Christ, in ever daring to take back anything from Christchurch which his predecessors had given: and then they told him about Sandwich, how it had been ridden about to his hand. There lay the king and turned quite black in the face at their tale, and swore by God Almighty and all his saints to boot, that it never was either his rede or his deed, that Sandwich should be taken from Christchurch. So it was plain enough that it was other peoples’ and not king Harold’s contrivance: and to say the truth, Ælfstán the abbot’s counsel was with the men who counselled it out of Christchurch. Then king Harold sent Ælfgár the monk back to archbishop Eádsige and all the monks at Christchurch, and gave them God’s greeting and his own, and commanded that they should have Sandwich, into Christchurch, as fully and wholly as they had ever had it in any king’s day, both in rent, in stream, on strand, in fines, and in everything which any king had ever most fully possessed before them. Now when abbot Ælfstán heard of this, he came to archbishop Eádsige and begged his support with the brotherhood, about the third penny: and away they both went to all the brotherhood and begged the Convent that abbot Ælfstán might be allowed the third penny of the toll, and he to give the Convent ten pounds. But they refused it altogether throughout, and said it was no use asking: and withal archbishop Eádsige backed him much more than he did the Convent. And when he could not get on in this way, he asked leave to make a wharf over against Mildðrýð’s acre, opposite the ferry (?) to keep, but all the Convent decidedly refused this: and archbishop Eádsige left it all to their own decision. Then abbot Ælfstán set to, with a great help, and let dig a great canal at Hyppeles fleót, hoping that craft would lie there, just as they did at Sandwich: however he got no good by it; for he laboureth in vain who laboureth against Christ’s will. So the abbot left it in this state, and the Convent took to their own, in God’s witness, and Saint Mary’s, and all the Saints’ who rest at Christchurch and Saint Augustine’s. This is all true, believe it who will: abbot Ælfstán never got the third penny at Sandwich in any other way. God’s blessing be with us all now and for ever more! Amen.”
[144]. The following is the tariff of tolls levied at Billingsgate. Æðelr. iv. § 2. “De telonio dando ad Bylingesgate. Ad Billingesgate, si advenisset una navicula, unus obolus telonei dabatur: si maior et haberet siglas, unus denarius. Si adveniat ceól vel hulcus, et ibi iaceat, quatuor denarios ad teloneum. De navi plena lignorum, unum lignum ad teloneum. In ebdomada panum telonium tribus diebus, die dominica, et die Martis et die Jovis. Qui ad pontem venisset cum uno bato, ubi piscis inesset, ipse mango unum obolum dabat in telonium, et de una maiori nave, unum denarium. Homines de Rotomago, qui veniebant cum vino vel craspice, dabant rectitudinem sex solidorum de magna navi, et vicesimum frustum de ipso craspice. Flandrenses et Ponteienses et Normannia et Francia, monstrabant res suas et extolneabant. Hogge et Leodium et Nivella, qui per terras ibant, ostensionem dabant et teloneum. Et homines Imperatoris, qui veniebant in navibus suis, bonarum legum digni tenebantur, sicut et nos. Praeter discarcatam lanum et dissutum unctum et tres porcos vivos licebat eis emere in naves suas; et non licebat eis aliquod foreceápum facere burhmannis; et dare telonium suum, et in sancto Natali Domini duos grisengos pannos, et unum brunum, et decem libras piperis, et cirotecas quinque hominum, et duos caballinos tonellos aceto plenos, et totidem in Pascha: de dosseris cum gallinis, una gallina telonei, et de uno dossero cum ovis, quinque ova telonei, si veniant ad mercatum. Smeremangestre, quae mangonant in caseo et butiro, quatuordecim diebus ante Natale Domini, unum denarium, et septem diebus post Natale, unum alium.”
[145]. Eichhorn, Deut. Staatsr. i. 813, § 199.
[146]. “Lucos et nemora consecrant.” Tac. Germ. ix.
[147]. As early as 825 we find questions of pasture contested by the swángeréfa as an officer of the ealdorman. Cod. Dipl. No. 219. The scírholt mentioned in this document would seem to have been the shire-forest or public wood of the county; hence probably a royal ban-forest, subject to the royal officer, the ealdorman.
[148]. See these in Thorpe, i. 426.