CHA P. III. The Dignity and Prerogatives of the Anglo-Saxon Cyning. THE III. HE authorities already adduced on the nature of the CHA P. government of the Saxons on the continent, lead us to infer, that when Hengist, Ella, Cerdic, and Ida invaded Britain, they and the other chiefs who succeeded in establishing themselves in the island, came with the rank of war-kings, whose power was to continue while hostilities existed. But to rule a territory extorted by violence from angry natives, who were perpetually struggling to regain it, could scarcely admit of any deposition of the kingly office. The same power and dignity which were requisite to obtain victory, were equally wanted, while the hostility lasted, to preserve its conquests. It is, therefore, probable, that the first Anglo- : Saxon chieftains and their successors were, from necessity and utility, continued on the throne till the kingly dignity became an established, a legal, and a venerated institution. The circumstance, that these war-kings and their associates invaded and conquered the dominions of petty British kings, was also favourable to the establishment of continued royalty. When the British king fell, or retreated before the Saxon warking, all his advantages became the spoil of his conquerors. The Saxon chief naturally succeeded to the British, the Saxon nobles to the British nobles, and the other invading warriors to the possessions of the free part of the native community. It is certain, that in the earliest periods of the AngloSaxon history, we find the cyning, or king, and all the four orders of noble, free, freed, and servile. Their conversion to Christianity introduced another class, of monks and clergy.' The power and prerogatives of the Anglo-Saxon cyning were progressively acquired. As the nation had no written X. BOOK Constitution, their government was that of ancient custom, gradually altered from its original features by the new circumstances which occurred. In the course of time, the augmentation of the power of the cyning became indispensable to the happiness of the nation. What could arrange the contentions of right, property, and power, between equal nobles, or between them and the free, and afterwards between them and the church;-what could protect the infant state from British hostility, ever jealous, ever bickering, and ever to be mistrusted, but such an institution as continued royalty—as a eyning, raised in dignity and power above all the other chieftains; who could see the laws of the society executed, and their various rights adjusted; to whom every rank could effectually appeal, and who was the protector of every order of the state from violence and wrong? We have seen that the land swarmed with independent land proprietors of various denominations, whose privileges were not uniform; but whose jurisdictions were generally peculiar and independent. What but a king could, in their age, and with their customs, have rescued the nation from a New Zealand state of general warfare? The institution of the cyning was, therefore, an admirable device, adapted to promote the common interest. It maintained peace between the turbulent chieftains. It insured to every order the enjoyment of its immunities. It was the source whence legal justice was administered to all; and perhaps no single incident tended more to accelerate the Anglo-Saxon civilization, than the character and prerogatives of the cyning, moderated by the continuance of the witena-gemots, and the free spirit of the people. It is extremely difficult to describe accurately his privileges and power. As a child of warfare, he must at first have been often arbitrary, acting with no rule but his own judgment and will, wherever he had the power. As the supreme chief of many other chieftains, whose rights were as sacred as his dig III. nity may have been popular, his authority must have been CHAP. extremely circumscribed. Much of his power at first depended on his personal character and talents. Thus Eadbald had less authority in Kent than his father;' while Edwin, in Northumbria, attained to such power that he had the banner carried before him, not only in battle, but also in his excursions with his ministers through his kingdom, which seems to have been an assumption of dignity and state unknown before. So, Oswin was so beloved for his amiable conduct, that the noblest men of his provinces came from every part to attend and serve him.' The growth of the kingly prerogatives was favoured not only by the energy and talents of the prosperous sovereigns, but also by the natural tendency of such a power to accumulate. The crown was a permanent 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 oppressions. Its domains were increasing by every successful war, and its, revenue, privileges, and munificence, were perpetually adding to its wealth and influence. When the zeal of the popes had completed the conversion of the island,. and an hierarchy was established, the kingly power received great support, and augmentation from the religious veneration with which the clergy surrounded it. That the church, in its weakness, should support the crown, which was its best protector, was a circumstance as natural as that it should afterwards oppose it, when its aggressions became feared.. The laws of Ethelbert, the first Christian king of Kent, who was.converted about 600, are the most ancient specimens of the Anglo-Saxon legislation which remain to us. In these,* the cyning appears already distinguished by a superior rank and privileges. While the mund-byrd of a ceori was valued Bede, 1. ii. c.6. Ib.. c. 16. 3 Ib. 1.iii. c. 14. 4 Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 1-7. BOOK X. at six scillinga, the king's was appointed at fifty. The mulct on homicide in an eorle's residence was twelve scillinga; in a king's fifty. A double penalty was inflicted for injuries done where the cyning was drinking. An offence with his female was punished by a fine of fifty scillinga, while the eorle's occasioned only twelve, and a ceorl's but six. So, though a freeman's theft from a freeman incurred a treble satisfaction, his purloining the king's property was to be nine times compensated. if Another impressive and profitable token of superiority was, that some of the mulcts on offences were paid to him. Thus, any harm was done to the leode, or people, when the king called them together, the compensation was to be double, and fifty scillinga were to be paid to the king. 'If any one killed a free man, the king had a similar sum as his lord. If a free man stole from others of the same condition, the penalty was to be the king's. If a pregnant woman was forced away, the king had fifteen scillinga. In the laws of Ina we see the cyning mentioned in a style of authority very much resembling that of subsequent sovereigns. He says, "I Ina, by the grace of God king of "the West Saxons." He uses the phrase "my bishops." He calls the nobles" my ealdormen," and "the oldest sages of my people." He adds, "I was consulting on the health of "our soul and the establishment of our kingdom, that right laws, and right cyne domas (kingly judgments), through "our people, might be settled and confirmed, and that no "ealdorman, and none of our subjects should violate our laws.' The laws then are introduced with "We command." 225 One of the provisions in these laws shews the king in the same authoritative and dignified features. "If any one fight "in the king's house, he shall forfeit all his property, and is “shall remain for the king's decision whether he shall have "his life or not." The difference between this offence and Ibid. p. 16 Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 14. III. quarrels elsewhere was very great; for a battle in the church, CHA P. and in an ealdorman's house, was punished by a fine of 120 scillinga only. 66 66 The epithets given by the pope to the first Christian king of the Anglo-Saxons were, "the glorious," and "the most glorious.". In several of their letters, the phrase "Your glory" is used as synonimous with our expression of “ your majesty." The same epithet of "most glorious" is applied by Aldhelm, the king of Cornwall, and by an abbot, to the Frankish king. But this epithet was rather the complimentary language of the day, than a phrase appropriated to royalty; for Alphuald, king of East Anglia, writing to Boniface, styles the mitred missionary, "Domino gloriosissimo." A pope, in 634, addresses the king of Northumbria as Your Excellency. Boniface, to the king of Mercia, says, "We intreat the clemency of your highness." On another occasion, his superscription is more rhetorical: "To Ethelbald, "king, my dearest lord, and in the love of Christ to be pre"ferred to other kings, governing the illustrious sceptre of "the empire of the Angles." Another address of the samesort in Saxon occurs in a monk's dedication of a saint's life; "To my most loved lord above the earthly kings of all other men, Alfwold, king of the East Angles, ruling his kingdom: "with right and with dignity." 66 9 The titles which the ancient Saxon kings assumed in their charters may be briefly noticed I, Æthelbald, by the "divine dispensation, king of the Mercians." The powerfulOffa simply writes, " Offa, king of the Mercians." Another; Kenulph, by God's mercy, king of the Mercians." Witlaf's, Burtulph's, and Beorred's, are as unassuming. In the same spirit, Ethelwulph calls himself merely Rex West Saxonum. The style, in which Edgar chose to be mentioned, is usually very pompous and rhetorical. 7 Bonif Letters, 16 Mag. Bib. 65, 85. Bönif. Letters, 16 Mag. Bib, MS. |