The Anglo-Saxons were divided into three classes, viz. the thanes or noblemen, who were the owners of land; the ceorls or freemen, who were chiefly engaged in husbandry; and the villeins or slaves who performed all the servile duties.

The Wittenagemot, was an assembly, which consisted of the king, the dignified clergy, the greater thanes, and occasionally even of cnights or milites. Electors were limited to persons who possessed forty hides. The council itself came together on summons from the king, at any place appointed by him, and generally at the seasons of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. The king opened the session with a speech, after which the Wittenagemot proceeded to the dispatch of business, which included church as well as state affairs. At the death of the king, if there was no direct heir, they elected a successor; if the throne was occupied, they aided the king in establishing the laws, and contracting treaties with foreign powers. The condition of the churches and monasteries was under their care; and they received appeals from the decisions of inferior courts, in both civil and criminal causes. Taxation was also regulated and commanded by them.

The Sheremot was a provincial or county meeting, consisting of the bishops, the earl or ealdorman, the earl's son, and two persons as bearers of the king's writ, (by whose authority it sat,) of the gerefa or sheriff, and the thanes. It tried all civil and criminal causes, in which the landowners were parties. Pleadings were heard and evidences taken, to decide upon the merits of which was the business of a jury, consisting of twelve members, and sworn to give a verdict according to truth.

The Folkmot only differed from the Sheremot, in dealing chiefly with merchants, burghers, and persons of lower degree.

The Ordeal was a trial adopted when the guilt or innocence of a prisoner was considered doubtful. The accused either walked barefooted and blinded over heated ploughshares placed at a certain distance, took red hot iron in his hand, thrust his arm into boiling water, or was thrown into a river having his feet and hands tied. If in any of these cases he escaped unhurt he was considered innocent, if not, guilty.

A party accused of any crime was allowed to produce Compurgators, or a certain number of witnesses, according to the measure of the offence; and if these declared upon oath their belief of his innocence, it was held a sufficient exculpation. Seventy-two compurgators were required to acquit a murderer or an incendiary. The fragrant perjuries occasioned by this absurd practice probably gave rise to the trial by ordeal, which was termed, as it was believed to be, the judgment of God.

The Danegelt was a tax imposed by the state, either for payment of tribute exacted by the Danes, or for defending the kingdom against them.

By the custom of gavelkind, the land was divided equally among all the male children of the deceased proprietor. Bookland was that which was held by charter; and folkland, that which was held by tenants removable at pleasure.

The king's revenue, besides the fines imposed by the courts, consisted partly of his demesnes of property-lands, which were extensive, and partly in imposts on boroughs and sea-ports.

Existing Memorials and Institutions derived

from the Saxons.

From some of their gods, we derive the names of the days of the week, e. g.

Sunday, from the Sun which they worshipped on that day. Monday, from the Moon.

Tuesday, from Tuisco, who was at first deified as the father and ruler of the Teutonic race, and afterwards worshipped as the son of the earth. Wednesday, from Woden or Odin, who was the chief god among the northern tribes.

Thursday, from Thor, the eldest and bravest of Odin's sons, and who was the most revered object of superstitious adoration.

Friday, from Frea or Friga, the wife of Odin and next to him the most honoured deity.

Saturday, from Seater, another of their divinities.

G

Of Architectural Monuments, we have

Edward the Confessor's Chapel in Westminster Abbey.
Lindisfarne Abbey.

Earl's Barton and Brixworth Churches, Northamptonshire, and Bamborough Castle, Northumberland. Many of our Cathedrals were founded during the AngloSaxon period.

We still possess many of their MSS. which are of a quaint and remarkable character.

We trace among the Saxons, as among the other Germanic tribes, the germs of three great institutions, from whose well-balanced and co-operative development we derive the leading features of our present government :

(1.) Assemblies of freemen, in which affairs of national importance were debated;

(2.) Kings, hereditary or elective;

(3.) The principle of aristocratic leadership, either of a military chief over his companions in arms, or of a landed proprietor over his dependants.

Tithings, hundreds, and counties, or shires, were territorial divisions of the Saxons. From the earl or alderman of the shire we have our lord-lieutenants; and from the deputies of the alderman our sheriffs.

The Wittenagemot was the original of our Parliament.

Trial by Jury is considered to have existed among the Saxons, but grave objections are advanced against the opinion, chiefly on the ground of the well-known paramount ascendancy of the ordeal.

Until comparatively recent ameliorations were effected in our criminal code, it bore strong traces of its derivation from the old Anglo-Saxon legal punishments, among which were fines, death, imprisonment, outlawry, banishment, slavery, transportation, whipping, branding, the pillory, amputation of limb, mutilation of the nose, ears, and lips, plucking out the eyes, and tearing off the hair.

DANISH AND NORMAN PERIOD.

Nothing of sufficient importance, either as influencing our future government, or as forming interesting memorials worthy of mention, belongs to the Danish Period, other than is noticed in the Chronological Tables.

The Norman Conquest marks a new era or epoch of the greatest importance in English History.

The causes which led to it may be thus briefly stated.Harold the son of Earl Godwin, immediately on the death of Edward the Confessor, was proclaimed king, in an assembly of the nobles of Edward's court, and of the citizens of London.

William, duke of Normandy, asserted that, during a visit at his court, Edward the Confessor had bequeathed to him the crown of England, adding that Harold himself had, when shipwrecked on the coast of France, sworn fealty, and promised to assist him in the succession. The Saxon king replied, when reminded of his oath, that it had been extorted from him by force; and a promise to give a crown, which did not belong to him, could not be binding; and as he had been elected king by the free suffrages of the people, when it came to the trial, he would prove himself worthy of their choice.

William had, however, cunningly contrived that the oath in question should be taken upon an altar, under which were concealed the relics of more than one saint. This circumstance in so superstitious an age gave a great advantage to William, who, on his appeal to the Pope, not only received a sentence in his favour, but also a consecrated banner, which was considered as a conspicuous proof that his cause was just, and a certain sign that it would triumph.

THE CRUSADES.

The Crusades (from the French croix a cross) were wars undertaken by the Christian European princes, with a view to the recovery of the Holy Land, which had fallen into the hands of the Turks.

Peter the Hermit, a French monk, used his powers of oratory, to incite the princes of Europe to take up arms in this cause.

The Crusades to the Holy Land are commonly reckoned as having been seven in number, though some writers enumerate more, and others give different dates to the seven.

The first Crusade was that commenced in 1096, at the instigation of Peter the Hermit, and in which Godfrey de Bouillon afterward took the command. Robert, duke of Normandy, joined in this war, Edgar Atheling being one of his train. The army succeeded in capturing Jerusalem after a siege of five weeks, A. D. 1099, and Godfrey de Bouillon was elected King of Jerusalem.

The second was preached by St. Bernard, in 1145, and led by the Emperor Conrad III. and Louis VII. King of France. Louis is said to have entered on this enterprise to atone for an act of cruelty which he had perpetrated.

The third was that in which Richard I. Philip Augustus, King of France, and Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, set out in 1190. It was undertaken for the recovery of Jerusalem, which Saladin, king of the Saracens, had captured. Frederick being drowned, and Philip returning to France, the sole command fell upon Richard, who after capturing Jerusalem, Acre, &c., made a truce with Saladin, and was arrested in Germany on his way home, and released only on the payment of a very heavy fine.