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the " Gravio," equivalent to the Saxon " Gerefa/' preserved 

 in our boroughreeve and shirereeve, or sheriff. The Saxons 

 thus, as they spread their conquests over England, brought 

 with them the principle of an organization immediately 

 applicable to their new circumstances, subject, of course, to 

 such modifications as the nature of the case might require. 

 Two circumstances especially existed which would, of ne- 

 cessity, affect the structure of the social system. The 

 Prankish "villa" was a little republic of free men owning 

 no superior but one of their own choice. The Saxons, as 

 bands of invaders, were of necessity led by a chief possessing 

 considerable authority; and, on the settlement of the newly- 

 acquired territory, he would naturally continue to occupy 

 the same position. The Saxons, again, acquiring the land 

 by right of conquest, the enslavement of the few aboriginal 

 inhabitants who might fall into their power would follow as 

 a matter of course. Hence proceeded the difference of 

 rank which prevailed from the earliest Anglo-Saxon times. 

 There was the eorl or noble, and his kindred the eorlcundmen, 

 the plain freeman or ceorl, and the slave or theoWy or thrall, 

 who had no rights, and could be sold as property. This 

 is, in brief, an outline of the Saxon organisation at the 

 period of their settlement in England. 



Each settlement thus planted — the simplest form of the 

 aggregation of individuals — was called the " Mark.^* This 

 is a term, as applied in this particular way, long since 

 grown obsolete and fallen into disuse in England, though 

 it is incorporated into our language in many secondary 

 and derivative forms. Abundant evidence exists of the use 

 and application of the term in this sense in early Anglo- 

 Saxon times. The term is common to every dialect in the 

 Teutonic language, and was applied both to the cultivated 

 settlement itself, and to the belt of waste or forest by 

 which it was surrounded ; and, by a figure of speech, was 

 also transferred to the society by which it was occupied. 



