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Roger De Hoveden The Annals vol.1., From A.D. 732 To A.D. 1180.

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Roger De Hoveden
The Annals vol.1., From A.D. 732 To A.D. 1180.
page 566



whom we may call 'centurions' or 'centeners,'because they exercised jurisdiction over a hundred frithborgs. Of Wapentage, and how those acted who accepted Wapentage. "Warwickshire, Lmcolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, and Northamptonshire, as far as Watling Street extends and eight miles beyond, are under the law of the English. And what the English call a ' Hundred,' the counties above-named call a 'Wapentake.' And not without a reason ; for when a person received the headship of a wapentake, on a day named, at the place where they were accustomed to meet, all the elders went forth to meet him, and, on his dismounting from his horse, they all closed around him ; on which, raising his spear erect, in the usual manner, he received the assurance of all. Then all, as many as had come, with their lances touched his spear, and thus by touching arms gave assurance, publicly granting him their protection. Now, in the English language, arms are called ' wœpnu,' and 'taccare' means 'to assure,' and the phrase, as it were, means ' the assurance of arms ;' or, if we may more explicitly explain the word ' wapentake,' in the English language it means, 'the touching of arms,' for 'waspnu' means ' arms,' and ' tac' is ' touch.' Therefore, we may conclude that for this reason all such assemblage was called a wapentake; I it being the fact that by touching arms they were leagued ι together. What the difference is between a Wapentake, a Trihing, and a Hundred. " There were also other jurisdictions, above the wapentake, which were caEed 'Trihingas,'because they consisted of the third part of a county. Those who truled the trihings were called ' ïrihingerefas ; ' and before them were brought the causes of the trihing which could not be settled in the wapentakes, and thus, what the English called by the name of hundreds ; they called ' wapentakes ; ' and what the people of England called, 'three' or 'four hundreds,' these people called 'trihinga.' In some counties, in the English language, what they called 'trihinga,' was called 'lethe.'99 Causes that could not be ι settled in the trihing were taken to the shire. Now known as " lathe."


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