Section I

Chap. IV.

Miscellaneous observations, on the social distinctions, and the general state of the community among the Anglo-Saxons.

State of society at Lynn, and in this country, before the Conquest.

Of the state of Society in this country, as to the different ranks among the inhabitants, the following is thought to be a pretty fair and true representation.—The next rank below that of the royal family was held by the Thanes, which were, it seems, of different degrees, and we are told that the highest order among them went by the name of king’s thanes. These also are said to have been of two different sorts, Eoldermen, and Eorles; the former supposed to be supreme in the administration of justice; the latter comprehended military as well as civil authority, but was not hereditary till the close of the Saxon dynasty. The Ceorles (Churles, or Carles) were next below the thanes. They were free, descended from yeomen, and were chiefly engaged in husbandry. To them the gate of nobility was open, and they might become thanes by five different methods. [254a] Another order, or description of men, in those times, was called Huscarles; (i.e. house-carles:) they were retainers, or domestic dependents of the thanes, and reputed freemen. All the rest of the community, it seems, were slaves, of different descriptions. Of them however, it would sometimes happen, though but very rarely, that some obtained manumission, and they formed a particular class, denominated Freed-men; but we are told that they were few, and little regarded. They could obtain, it seems, no rank in the state; and applying, for the most part, to mechanical employments, seem hardly to have been distinguished from the race which they had quitted.—Slaves were never suffered to carry arms, and the very gift of a weapon conferred freedom. Of the other orders no man went abroad without his spear; and laws were enacted to guard against damages occasioned by the careless bearer. In battle the ceorles who formed the infantry, beside a broad sword, and sometimes a club, bore only a round shield with an offensive pointed weapon in the centre. The cavalry being composed of thanes, huscarles, and the richer ceorles, who could afford to keep horses, was better provided with defensive armour. [254b]

The enslaved part of the inhabitants, and which is said to have constituted by far the most numerous class of the community, went, like the privileged orders, by different names. Of them the chief and most remarkably were the Villani and the Servi. In regard to the former, we are told that Villenage was of two kinds: 1st Pure Villenage, to which some were subject from their birth, from whom uncertain and indeterminate service was due to the lord. The successors of these are our copy-holders; who, though time has dealt favourably with them in other respects, still retain one mark of their original vassalage, or servitude; for as of old the former were not reckoned as members of the commonwealth, but merely as part and parcel of the owner’s substance, no way entitled to the privileges of freemen, so do their successors still continue without any right to vote at elections by virtue of their copy-holds. 2nd Villenage by Tenure, which bound the tenant to perform certain services agreed upon between him and his lord; such as ploughing his ground, reaping his corn, &c.

The lowest, as well as most numerous class of slaves among the Anglo-Saxons were the Servi, who, (as well as all the rest of the unfreemen,) were probably the descendants of the aboriginal inhabitants, who had escaped the general massacre, or whose lives had been spared at the reduction and conquest of the country. These were protected by neither law nor religion, for a very long period; and they consequently suffered the most unfeeling and cruel treatment. Christianity is said to have ameliorated their condition. It certainly ought to have done so; but from such a christianity no material amelioration could well have been expected. Even our own boasted protestantism, how feeble has generally been its influence in such cases! The long and bloody contest between the rival and barbarous houses of York and Lancaster did more, it seems, for the relief and emancipation of those poor English slaves than any thing else; for the contending parties, in order to recruit and reinforce their armies, found it convenient and necessary to liberate great numbers of them: at length they were all manumitted, and Britain now contains no people of that description. It would be well if the same could be said of every other, part of the British dominions. These Servi are often mentioned by Bloomfield and Parkin, and appear to have been very numerous in the parts about Lynn before the conquest, and even long after that period.

Beside the Villani and Servi, we meet with other descriptions of bondmen, whose condition seem to have been less abject; at least, less so than the latter. Of those one sort was called Bordarii, Bordars, or Borderers: they were such as held a cottage, or some small parcel of land, on condition of supplying the lord with poultry, eggs, and other small provisions for his board and entertainment. Such small estates were formerly called Bord-lands, now demesnes.—Coliberti was the name of another description of bondmen among the Anglo-Saxons; and they were, it seems, a middle sort of tenants, between servile and free; they had their patrons, to whom they paid rent, and were manumised as servants used to be, but were not absolutely free. They were such of the Servi as were enfranchised, or liberated in a certain degree, but still paid some duties to the superior lord. They appear to have been held in scarcely any higher estimation than the class to which they had originally belonged.—The Burgaris, Burgenses, or Burgesses, was another order of bondmen among the Anglo-Saxons. They were tradesmen in great towns, and had their patrons, under whose protection they traded, and to whom they paid an acknowledgement; but some of them were in a more servile condition, and altogether under the power of the king, or other lords. [257a] Some of the above descriptions of Anglo-Saxon bondmen, or British slaves, and particularly the Villani, the Servi, and the Bordarii, were very numerous in the parts about Lynn, in the times of which we are now speaking, and long after. [257b] England did then so abound in slaves, and was so much a land of slaves, as to be able to carry on a trade in that commodity with other nations, and especially the Irish, whom English merchants, for a long time, abundantly supplied with that favourite article, out of their home stock, or native produce, with as little shame or remorse as they have in modern times supplied the West Indies and North America with the poor defenceless natives of ill-fated Africa. [257c] And yet the English was then, as well as now, a christian nation, priding herself in the fond idea of the purity and pre-eminence of her goodness, faith, and piety. Alas, for poor christianity! How often hath her venerable name been profaned and postituted on the vilest occasions, and for the basest of purposes!