Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 1.djvu/94

80 neighbour's wife was obliged to pay him a fine, and buy him another wife.

In exceedingly difficult or doubtful cases, the judges had recourse to the trial by ordeal. One method, the decision by the cross, was practised in the following manner:—

When any one was accused of any crime, before he was allowed what was emphatically called the appeal to the judgment of God, he was compelled first to make oath of his innocence before the magistrates, and was attended by eleven friends, who, in some respects, were answerable for him; they were called compurgators.

He next took two pieces of wood, one of which was marked with the sign of the cross, and wrapping both up in wool, he placed them on the altar, or on some celebrated relic. After solemn prayers for the success of the experiment, a priest—or, in his stead, some inexperienced youth—took up one of the pieces of wood, and if he fixed upon that which was marked with the figure of a cross, the person was pronounced innocent; if otherwise, guilty. This practice, as it rose from superstition, was abolished by it in France. The Emperor Louis the Debounaire prohibited that method of trial, not because it was uncertain, but lest that sacred figure, says he, of the cross should be prostituted in common disputes and controversies.

The ordeal was another established method of trial among the Anglo-Saxons. It was practised either by boiling water or red-hot iron. The former was appropriated to the common people, the latter to the nobility. The water, or iron, was consecrated by many prayers, masses, fastings, and exorcisms; after which the person accused either took up a stone sunk in the water to a certain depth, or carried the iron to a certain distance; and his hand being wrapped up, and the covering sealed for three days, if there appeared, on examining it, no marks of barring, he was pronounced innocent; if otherwise, guilty. The trial by cold water was different. The person was thrown into consecrated water; if he swam, he was guilty; if be sank, innocent. It is difficult for us to conceive how any innocent person could ever escape by the one trial, or any criminal be convicted by the other. But there was another usage admirably calculated for allowing every criminal to escape who had confidence enough to try it. A consecrated cake, called a corsned, was produced; which, if the person could swallow and digest, he was pronounced innocent.

From the general ignorance of the age, deeds and writings were exceedingly rare; and in order to obviate this inconvenience, the court of the hundred was the place where most civil transactions took place, in order to preserve the memory of them by having as many witnesses as possible. In the same courts slaves were manumitted, sales concluded, and sometimes, for greater security, a record of such transactions was inserted on the blank leaves of the Bible.

The Saxons appear to have been exceedingly fond of dress. Ladies of rank wore necklaces, bracelets, and rings, set with precious stones. Mantles, kirtles, and gowns were also in general use; and rouge was not unknown to them.

In the men this taste for finery degenerated into effeminacy. They wore golden collars, and not unfrequently precious stones round the neck; and the wealthy wore costly bracelets and rings. They had silk, linen, and woollen garments. Silk, from its costliness, was only used by the wealthy. The fashion of their garments of course varied. They had large mantles, which were ornamented with gold and gems; close coats or tunics, girded with a belt, which Strutt represents as having been put on over the head like a shirt. Many Englishmen are not aware that the smockfrock of the husbandmen of our own day is a pure piece of Saxon costume; and if it were well made, tightened with a broad belt, and worn by a man of good carriage, it would form a much handsomer dress than the-unmeaning stiff-cut coats of our time. Socks and stockings, and other covering for the legs, are mentioned by Saxon writers.

Their furniture was most probably heavy, rude, and ill-fashioned. Whatever invention of this kind they possessed was gained from the clergy, whose communication with Rome gave them the means of introducing many of the mechanical arts.



Games and exercises of strength and agility were common among the Anglo-Saxons. St. Cuthbert is stated by Bede to have excelled in running, wrestling, and other athletic sports. Feats of juggling were performed by the gleemen, who were the most important characters in the festivals and other popular gatherings. Some of the gleemen seem to have performed tricks, gambols, and feats of all kinds, while others were harpers, or bards, and ballad-singers.

The in-door sports were various, and suitable to different ranks. The games of chess and backgammon were both known, or at least games very similar to them. Backgammon is said to have been invented in the tenth century.

Hangings for rooms, to supply the defects of their coarse carpentry, were among the first of their articles of furniture. Benches and stools, with coverings, are mentioned as their seats. These appear to have been much ornamented with devices of animals and flowers. Their tables were occasionally very costly, being sometimes of silver and gold, but generally of wood; they were sometimes inlaid with gold, silver, and gems. Candlesticks of various sorts were used, as also bells, both large and small; mirrors of silver; beds and bed-hangings, and coverlets of bear and other skins.

Their naval architecture was of the simplest kind, their vessels being of small size, propelled with a single sail, assisted by oars.

The Saxons erected temples for the worship of their gods, but of what form or materials is not now known. The introduction of Christianity led immediately to the erection of churches, which at that period seem to have been built of timber. Some centuries later, under the reign of Edgar the Peaceable, architecture, as an art,