j6 THE STATUS OF PEASANTRY IN PORTLAND. 



in these early days must have accentuated these differences, but in 

 spite of this some general system must have prevailed, the clue 

 to which is first clearly obtained from the laws of ^Ethelbert, 

 king of Jutish Kent, which show us the division of people into 

 three classes, namely, earls, ceorls, and lats. Later the enact- 

 ments of Ine and Alfred show a similar division in Wessex, but 

 the l&ts there give place to the wealhs. These ivealhs, as well as 

 ceorls, appear to have been able to attain to the rank of king's 

 thane, but it has been suggested that the thane of Welsh 

 extraction (wealK) was only appraised at half the value of the 

 English thane ; in fact that the twelvehyndman with his were of 

 i, zoos, was the English thane, and the sixhyndman with the were 

 of 6oos. the Welsh thane. The ceorl seems to have originally 

 come from free stock, though he afterwards fell into dependency 

 in many parts, owing to later influences. 



When we come to the Danish and Scandinavian invasions, we 

 find a special distinction claimed for the Northman, betraying 

 his pride, independence, and love of freedom. This is, that even 

 as late as Alfred's treaty with Guthrum, every Northman is placed 

 on the same footing with the Englishman of high rank (the 

 thane) with the were of 1,2003., meaning that every professional 

 Danish and Scandinavian soldier, no matter of what status in his 

 own country, claims equality with the Englishman of rank. His 

 value as a warrior may have been a factor in the case, but it 

 shows the haughty claims of superiority advanced by the Viking. 



These northern invaders appear to have shown special favour 

 occasionally to Jutish settlements. This is easily explainable on 

 the hypothesis that the Jutes and Goths were originally identical, 

 having come from Gothland, in Sweden. If this be correct, with 

 the strong claims of kindred among these northern nations (the 

 Norse family claims were recognised to the sixth cousin, i.e., to 

 the ninth generation), the fact of the Jutes obtaining a special 

 meed of favour is easily explained by ties of affinity. The 

 settlement of the various tribes in Britain had been largely 

 affected by kindred, land being evidently allotted according to 

 families. This was not without influence later. 



