ANGLO-SAXON VILLAGE COMMUNITY 9 



made, for the benefit of the Church, to a bishop, to a 

 monastery, or to a religious community attached to the 

 worship of a saint. A king on his conversion to 

 Christianity, or maybe on repenting of his sins, would 

 as the form ran * for the love of Almighty God and his 

 faithful servant Saint Peter ' grant to a saint or to a 

 bishop his rights over a score of tuns ; then the saint's 

 representative or the bishop supervised the administration 

 of justice, collected the tribute, overlooked the markets, 

 and exercised the right akin to ownership over the 

 surplus land, giving in return for these rights prayers 

 for the soul of the king and his descendants. These 

 grants were not made to the Church alone : the kings 

 transferred the control of large areas of land to the 

 great nobles, or eorls, whilst the supervision of smaller 

 areas passed to the minor nobles, or thegns, men of the 

 king's household or bodyguard. Such grants were made 

 in return either for services rendered to the king or for 

 promises of future support, and were in many cases 

 subject to tribute or to other obligations. As a result 

 very considerable amounts of landed property passed 

 away from under royal control. Individuals who 

 secured rights from a king distributed them from 

 time to time amongst others, utilizing, perhaps, the old 

 estate boundaries that may have prevailed since Roman 

 times ; thus these rights came to be divided up 

 amongst many persons, women, it may be noted, as 

 well as men. At the same time, small plots of the 

 unoccupied land were often handed over to such of 

 the minor retainers of the kings or of the nobles or 

 prelates as desired to retire from fighting to take up 

 a farmer's life. Thus two new streams poured into 

 the country from the upper class of people, enlarging 

 the village communities : (i) a number of minor thegns 



