No. 188. The Treasure Chest.
Among the Anglo-Saxons the lady of the household had the charge of the coffers. In one of the laws of Cnut relating to robberies, it is declared that “if any man bring a stolen thing home to his cot, and he be detected, it is just that the owner have what he went for; and unless it has been brought under his wife’s key-lockers (cæg-locan), let her be clear; for it is her duty to keep the keys of them, namely, her storehouse (hord-ern), and her chest (cyste), and her box (tege).” (Cnut’s Laws, No. 180.)
No. 189. A Miser and his Hoard.
No. 190. Joseph buying up the Corn.
In the old metrical romances, when a town is taken and sacked, the plunderers are described as hurrying to the chambers, to rifle the chests and coffers, which were kept there. Thus, in the romance of the “Mort de Garin,” when Fromont’s town is taken by the followers of the hero of the romance, “the Lorrains,” we are told, “hastened to destroy the town; there you might see many a chamber broken open, and many a hutch burst and torn, where they found robes, and silver, and glittering gold”— Loheren poignent por le borc desrochier.
Là véissiez mainte chambre brisier,
Et mainte huche effondrer et percier,
Et trovent robes, et argent, et or mier.
—Mort de Garin, p. 168.
So in the romance of “Garin,” of which that just quoted is the sequel, on a similar occasion, “there you might see them rob the great halls, and break open the chambers, and force the coffers (escrins),”— Là véissiez les grans salles rober;
Chambres brisier, et les escrins forcier.
—Garin le Loherain, tom. i. p. 197.
Further on, in the same romance, the fair Beatrix, addressing her husband, the duke Begues, tells him that he has gold and silver in his coffers,— Or et argent avez en vos escrins.
—Ib., tom. ii. p. 218.
Money was, indeed, commonly kept in the huche or coffer. In the fabliau of “Constant Duhamel,” when Constant is threatened by the forester, who had detained his oxen on the pretence that they had been found trespassing, he tells him that he was ready to redeem them, as he had a hundred sols of money in his hutch by his bed— J’ai en ma huche lez mon lit,
Cent sols de deniers à vostre oes.
—Barbazan, iii. 307.
In the accompanying cut ([No. 190]), from a manuscript of the fourteenth century in the British Museum (MS. Reg. 10 E. iv.), Joseph is represented counting out the money from his huche, to buy up the corn of Egypt, during the years of plenty.
No. 191. Sitting on the Huche.