[338]. Cod. Dipl. No. 1289.
[339]. I cannot otherwise account for the mention of “ðæs ealdormonnes lond, ðæs ealdormonnes mearc, gemǽro,” etc. which so often occur. The boundaries of charters not being accidental and fluctuating, but permanent, it follows that “the alderman’s mark” was so also.
[340]. “Dovere reddebat 18 libras, de quibus denariis habebat rex Edwardus duas partes et comes Goduinus tertiam.” Domesd. Chenth. Whether all the estates of folcland were charged with payments to the duke is uncertain, but yet this is probable. The monastery lands appear to have been so; for in 848 Hunberht, ealdorman, prince or duke of the Tonsetan, released the monastery of Bredon from all payments heretofore due from that monastery to himself, or generally to the princes of that district. Cod. Dipl. No. 261. Again in 836, Wigláf of Mercia granted to the monastery at Hanbury perfect freedom and exemption from all demands, known and unknown, save the three inevitable burthens: the ealdormen Sigered and Mucel, whose rights were thus diminished, were indemnified, the first with a purse of six hundred shillings in gold, the second with three hundred acres at Croglea. Cod. Dipl. No. 237.
[341]. The highest rank, that is the ealdorman’s, appears to have implied the absolute possession of land to the amount of 40 hides, or 1200 acres. See Hist. Eliens. ii. 40: “Sed quoniam ille 40 hidarum terrae dominium minime obtineret, licet nobilis esset, inter proceres tunc nominari non potuit,” etc. The charters show what large estates were devised by many of these ealdormen.
[342]. Cod. Dipl. No. 279.
[343]. Ibid. No. 339.
[344]. This would follow from their original nobility, which made them of equal birth with the king: but there is a case which seems to show that the rank itself of ealdorman sufficed to give this privilege. Eádríc ealdorman of Mercia, who is said to have been of low extraction, married a sister of Cnut; and Eádweard the Confessor had a daughter of earl Godwine to wife. The other case was common: “And Æðelflǽd æt Domerhamme, Ælfgáres dohtor ealdormannes, wæs ðá his cwen,” i. e. Eádmund’s. Chron. Sax. an. 946. “Eádgár cyning genam Ælfðrýðe him tó cwene; heó wæs Ordgáres dohtor ealdormannes.” Chron. Sax. 965. The Anglosaxon kings were in fact very rarely married to foreign princesses, though several of their beautiful daughters found husbands on the continent.
[345]. Thorpe, i. 187. An ealdorman or bishop = 8000 thryms: a ceorl only 266.
[346]. Thorpe, i. 182.
[347]. Leg. Æðelst. iii. § 6, but seven days Æðelr. vii. § 5; iv. 4.