VII. to the woods. I take for myself young ones in harvest, and CHAP. tame them." 'And why do you let them fly from you when tamed?'"Because I will not feed them in summer, as they eat too much." But many feed and keep them tame through the summer, that they may again have them ready.'" So they do, but I will not have that trouble about them, as I can take many others."" BOOK IT T is well known that the female sex were much more highly valued, and more respectfully treated, by the barbarous Gothic nations, than by the more polished states of the East. Among the Anglo-Saxons they occupied the same important and independent rank in society which they now enjoy. They were allowed to possess, to inherit, and to transmit landed property; they shared in all the social festivities; they were present at the Witena Gemot and the Shire Gemot; they were permitted to sue and be sued in the courts of justice; their persons, their safety, their liberty, and their property, were protected by express laws; and they possessed all that sweet influence which, while the human heart is responsive to the touch of love, they will ever retain in those countries which have the wisdom and the urbanity to treat them as equal, intelligent, and independent beings. The earliest institutions respecting the Anglo-Saxon mar riages occur in the laws of Ethelbert. According to these, a man might purchase a woman, if the agreement was made without fraud; but if deceit was detected, she was to be taken back to her house, and his money was to be restored to him. It was also enjoined, that if a wife brought forth children alive, and survived her husband, she was to have half his property. She was allowed the same privilege, if she chose, to live with her children; but if she was childless, his paternal relations were to have his possessions, and the morgen gift. The customary forms attendant upon their marriage contracts are more more clearly displayed to us in the laws of 'Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 7. VIII. Edmund: the consent of the lady and her friends was to CHAP. be first obtained; the bridegroom' was then to give his promise and his pledge, to the person who spoke for her, that he desired her, that he might keep her, according to the law of God, as a man ought to keep his wife. Nor was this promise trusted to his own honour or interest: the female sex were so much under the protection of the law, that the bridegroom was compelled to produce friends who gave their security for his due observance of his covenant. The parties being thus betrothed, the next step was to settle to whom the foster lean, the money requisite for the nourishing the children, should be applied. The bridegroom was then required to pledge himself to this, and his friends became responsible for him. This matter being arranged, he was then to signify what he meant to give her for choosing to be his wife, and what he should give her in case she survived him. I consider the first gift to be a designation of his intended morgen gift. This was the present which the Anglo-Saxon wives received from their husbands on the day after their nuptials, as it is expressed in the law. It seems to have been intended as a compliment to the ladies for honouring a suitor with their preference, and for submitting to the duties of wedlock. The law adds, that, if it be so agreed, it is right that she should halve the perty, or have the whole if they had children together, unless proshe chose again another husband. This was an improvement. on the ancient law, which, in the event of no issue, had -directed the morgen gift to be returned. The bridegroom was then required to confirm with his pledge all that he had promised, and his friends were to become responsible for its due performance. The Saxon word is bryd-guma. Guma means a man, which we have perverted into groom; bryd implies marriage. The Welsh for marriage is priodas; priodvab is a bridegroom; priodi to marry; all these in composition change into an initial b. No one can suspect that such a term as this BOOK These preliminaries being settled, they proceeded to the marriage. Her relations then took and wedded her to wife, and to a right life, with him who desired her; and the person appointed to keep the pledges that had been given, took the security for them. For the more complete assurance of the lady's personal safety and comfort, in those days wherein a multiplicity of jurisdictions gave often impunity to crime, the friends who took the pledges were authorized to become guarantee to her, that if her husband carried her into another thane's land, he would do her no injury; and that if she did wrong, they would be ready to answer the compensation, if she had nothing from which she could pay it. The law proceeds to direct, that the mass-priest should be present at the marriage, and should consecrate their union with the divine blessing to every happiness and prosperity." There is an article in one of the collections of ecclesiastical canons, "How man shall bless the bridegroom and the bride."4 The Anglo-Saxon remains will furnish us with some illustrations of the pecuniary contracts which attended their marriages. We will give one document at length, as it may be called an Anglo-Saxon lady's marriage-settlement. "There appears in this writing the compact which Wulfric "and the archbishop made when he obtained the archbishop's "sister for his wife. It is, that he promised her the land at Ealretune and at Rebbedforda for her life, and promised "her the land at Cnihte-wica; that he would obtain it for her "for the lives of three men from the monastery at Wincel"cumbe; and he gave her the land at Eanulfin-tune to give and to grant to those that were dearest to her during life, "and after her life to those that were dearest to her; and he promised her fifty mances of gold, and thirty men "and thirty horses. Now of this were to witness Wulfstan › Wilk. Leg. Sax. p. 75, 76. MS. CCC. Cantab. S..xii, c. 71. 66 VIII. "the archbishop, and Leofwin the ealdorman, and Æthelstan CHAP. bishop, and Elford abbot, and Briteh monk, and many "good men in addition to them, both ecclesiastics and laymen, that this compact was thus made. Now of this compact there are two writings; one with the archbishop at "Wigere ceaster, and another with Æthelstan, the bishop at "Herford."s Without deviating into an exposition of the customs of other nations as to the morgen gift, we will state a few circumstances concerning it from our own documents. It is frequently mentioned in ladies' wills: thus Wynfleda, bequeathing some land at Faccancumb, calls it her morgen gifu.' So Elfleda, in her will, says, "Rettendun that was my morgen gyfu;" and Elfhelm, in his will, has this passage: "And "I declare what I gave to my wife for her morgen give; that 66 is, Beadewan, and Burge stede, and Strætford, and the "three hides at Hean-healem." The same testator notices an additional present that he had made his wife on her nuptials: "And I gave to her when we two first came together, "the two hides at Wilburgeham, and at Hrægenan, and that "thereto lieth." The morgen gift was therefore a settlement on the lady very similar to a modern jointure. It was bargained for before marriage, but was not actually vested in the wife till afterwards. Our conception of the thing will be probably simplified and assisted by recollecting the language of our modern settlements. The land or property conveyed by them is given in trust for the person who grants it "until the "said marriage shall take effect; and from and immediately "after the solemnization thereof," it is then granted to the uses agreed upon. So the morgen gift was settled before the 5 This may be seen in Wanley's Catalogue, p. 302, and Hickes's Diss. Ep. 76. Wulstan died 1023.. • Henry's observations on the marriage of our ancestors are very discursive, and relate rather to other nations than to the Anglo-Saxons. See his vol. iii. p. 393, &c. The reader of Henry will frequently have Hickes's Pref. xxii. See Lye, Sax. Dict. voc. morgen gife. |