718 
SAXON. 
none were ever made; yet it is certain that they had plenty 
of gold, and it perpetually formed the medium of their pur¬ 
chases or gifts. Mr. Turner is of opinion, that, in the course 
of life, gold was used, in an uncoined state, which was some¬ 
times the case with silver: so that there were two species of 
money, the coined and uncoined. Our author thinks that 
the mancus was not a coin, and he considers the two sorts 
of pennies as the only coins of the Anglo-Saxons above their 
copper coinage, and all their other denominations of money, 
as weighed or settled quantities of uncoined metal. That 
money was coined by the Anglo-Saxons in the heptarchy, 
and in every reign afterwards, is clear, as Mr. Turner appre¬ 
hends, from those which remain. Most of them have the 
mint-master’s name; nor does it appear certain, that they 
had coined money before their invasion of England, and 
conversion. The schyllinga, or shilling, our, author pre¬ 
sumes to have been a quantity of silver, which, when coined, 
yielded five of the larger pennies, and twelve of the smaller. 
The sceat denoted a definite piece of metal originally in the 
uncoined state, and the-sceatand the schyllinga seem to have 
been the names of the Saxon money in the Pagan times, 
before the Roman and French ecclesiatics had taught them 
the art of coining. The value of the sceat in the time of 
Ethelbert seems to have been the twentieth part of a shilling. 
About three centuries later it was raised in value, and ap¬ 
pears to be like one of their smaller pennies ; for the laws of 
Athelstan gave 250 sceatta to a pound, or 12f to a schyl¬ 
linga. Perhaps we may justly state the sceat to have been 
the smaller penny, and the pening, properly so called, to 
have been the larger one. The word pening, pfenning, or 
penning, occurs in many countries for coin ; and if we con¬ 
sider the Saxon pening as their only silver coin, it may be 
derived from the verb puian, to beat, which may be applied 
to metal coined. There has been a variety of opinions about 
the value of the Saxon pound. In the time of the Confessor 
it consisted of 20 solidi, or shillings ; but Dr. Hickes con¬ 
tends that the Saxon pound consisted of 60 shillings; and 
other authors assert, that the pound contained only 48 shil¬ 
lings. The styca, the helfling, and the feorthling, were cop¬ 
per monies. The thrymsa is reckoned by Dr. Hickes to be 
the third part of a shilling, or four-pence. From other pas¬ 
sages, the thrymsa and the sceatta appear to have been the 
same. 
The oldest Saxon grants which are now in our possession, 
contain reservations of services which the possessors of the 
land had to perform ; and from these we perceive, that cer¬ 
tain burdens, varying in kind and quantity, were attached 
to estates in every age, with some few exceptions. The 
three common labours, or universal necessities, as they are 
called, were the military service, or “ fyrd-fserelde,” to 
which all the Saxon lands were subject, those excepted 
which the king alone, or the king with the consent of his 
witena, exempted from the obligation; and this service con¬ 
sisted in providing a certain number of armed men, propor¬ 
tioned to the rated quantity of land, who were to attend the 
king or his officers on expeditions made for the public 
safety, or against invading enemies: the “ bryge-geweorc,” 
and the “ weal” or “ faesten-geweorc,” which were the con¬ 
struction or reparation of bridges and fortresses, or walls. 
These three great services have been called by later writers 
the “ trnnoda necessitas;” and besides these, there were 
many other burdens to which the landed interest was more 
or less liable in the hands of sub-proprietors. Accordingly, 
when the original proprietors aliened or demised their lands 
to others, they annexed a variety of conditions to their grants, 
which subsequent transfers either repeated or discharged. 
We may here remark, that the Saxon deeds of conveyance 
had no wax seals; these were introduced by the Norman 
conquest. 
In treating of the Anglo-Saxon government, the first ob¬ 
ject of consideration is the cyning, or king, who, without 
concentrating in himself the despotism of an eastern monarch, 
was yet elevated far above the rest of the nation in dignity, 
property, and power. The first cynings of the Anglo- 
Saxons seem to have been their war-kings, continued for 
life, whose crown was not hereditary, but elective. The 
cyning was elected by the witena-gemot, which was held on 
the demise of the preceding sovereign. In the greatest 
number of instances, however, the witena-gemot, in their 
election, followed the rule of hereditary succession. This 
power of the witena-gemot was terminated by the Norman 
conquest, when the crown was changed from an elective to 
an hereditary succession. The Anglo-Saxon queen was 
crowned, as well as the king, until the reign of Egbert, 
when this honour was taken from her; but it was soon re¬ 
stored, for Ethelwulph, on his second marriage, permitted 
his queen, Judith, to be crowned. In Alfred’s time the 
disuse of the coronation continued ; but by the time of the 
second Ethelred it was restored. The queen’s name is 
joined with the cyning’s in some charters, and it is not un¬ 
usual to find them signed by her: she had her separate pro¬ 
perty, and officers of her own household. The king’s sons 
had land appropriated for them, even though under age. 
The power and prerogative of the Anglo-Saxon cyning 
were progressively acquired: much of his power depended 
at first on his personal character and talents; and this power 
afterwards naturally increased. The crown was a perma¬ 
nent establishment, which it was the interest of every one 
but the superior nobles to maintain and to aggrandize, till 
its power became formidable enough to be felt in its op¬ 
pressions. Its domains were increasing by every successful 
war; and its revenue, privileges, and munificence, were per¬ 
petually adding to its wealth and influence. In process of 
time, when the conversion of the island was completed by 
the zeal of the pope, and an hierarchy was established, the 
kingly power received great support and augmentation 
from the religious veneration with which the clergy sur¬ 
rounded it. The most ancient specimens of legislation 
which remain, are the laws of Ethelbert, the first Christian 
king of Kent, who was converted about the year 600. In 
these the cyning appears already distinguished by superior 
rank and privileges. In the laws of Ina the cyning is men¬ 
tioned in a style of authority very much resembling that of 
subsequent sovereigns. The epithets given to the king by 
the popes, the high titles they assumed, and the preroga¬ 
tives and influence which they exercised, concurred to exalt 
his aggrandizement. On the dissolution of the octarchy, 
his property in every part of England was very extensive. 
His revenues were very considerable; as they were the rents 
and produce of his lands in demesne; customs in the sea¬ 
ports ; tolls in the markets, and in the cities on sales; duties 
and services to be paid to him in the burghs, or to be com¬ 
muted for money; wites, or penalties and forfeitures, which 
the law attached to certain crimes and offences; heriots 
from his thanes, and various payments and benefits arising 
to him on the circumstances stated in the laws. Neverthe¬ 
less, all the prerogatives and rights of the Anglo-Saxon 
cyning were definite and ascertained. They had been esta¬ 
blished by law or custom, and could be as little exceeded by 
the sovereign, as withheld by his people; so that they were 
not arbitrary privileges of an unknown extent. The mili¬ 
tary force, whenever it was assembled, was under the com¬ 
mand of the king, but it was rather a militia than a regular 
army. For an account of the witena-gemot , we refer to that 
article. The official dignities of the Anglo-Saxons were as 
follow. The ealdorman, who was the highest officer in the 
kingdom, but in rank inferior to an etheling: he was the 
chief of a shire, and was one of the witena-gemot : he 
ranked with a bishop, and presided with him at the scire- 
gemot and the folc-gemot: he had great civil powers in ad¬ 
ministering justice, and also enjoyed high military authority. 
The eorl is also a dignity recognized in our earliest laws. 
It appears in those of Ethelbert, who died in 616, and is 
mentioned in a charter, dated 680. He is also noticed in 
the laws of Alfred, Edward, Ethelstan, and Edgar. In 
the latter part of the Anglo-Saxon period, the title ealdor¬ 
man seems to have been superseded by that of eorl. The 
term heretoch implies the leader of an army, and hold is men¬ 
tioned as a dignity in /Ethelstan’s laws. The gerefas were 
officers appointed by the executive power, and in rank in¬ 
ferior 
