APPENDIX I.

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to disturb the execution of the laws , we may Appendixjudge of the authority, acquired by the aristocracy j.in England. When earl Godwin besieged theConfessor in London, he summoned from all partsbis huscaries, or houfeceorles and retainers, andthereby constrained his sovereign to accept of theconditions , which he was pleased to impcfeupon him.

The lower rank of freemen were denominatedceorles among the Anglo-Saxons; and wherethey were industrious, they were chiefly em-ployed in husbandry : Whence a ceorle , and ahusbandman, became in a manner synonymousterms. They cultivated the farms of the nobilityor thanes for which they paid rent: and theyseem to have been removeable at pleasure. Forthere is little mention of leases among the Anglo-Saxons: The pride of the nobility, together withthe general ignorance of writing , must haverendered those contracts very rare, and must 'navekept the husbandmen in a dependent condition.

The rents of farms were then chiefly paid in kind ".

Rut the most numerous rank by far in thecommunity seems to have been the staves orVillains , who were the property of their lords,and were consequently incapable, themselves, ofpossessing any property. Dr. Brady assures us,from a survey of Domesday - book '', that, in

’* LL. Inæ. § 70. These laws fixed the rents for ahide ; but it is difficult to convert it into modern measures.

General preface to his hist. p. 7, 8,9, etc.

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