We pass on now to clause LXX. of the ‘Laws of Henry I.’ with the heading ‘Consuetudo Westsexe.’
[Sidenote: Wessex wergeld of twyhynde or villanus and twelve-hynde or thane.]
The amount of the wergeld according to Wessex law is thus stated:--
In Westsexa, que caput regni est et legum, twihindi, i. villani wera est iiii lib.; twelfhindi, i. thaini xxv lib.
(lxx. i) In Wessex, which is the capital of the kingdom and of laws, the wer of the twyhyndeman, _i.e._ of the villanus, is four pounds; of the twelvehyndeman, _i.e._ of the thane, twenty-five pounds.
The Anglo-Saxon and Norman lb. of silver was 240_d._, and thus the twelve-hyndeman’s wergeld of 25 lbs. was the same thing as the ancient Wessex wergeld of 1200 Wessex scillings of 5_d._ Four pounds was a rough equivalent of the twyhyndeman’s wergeld of 200 Wessex scillings.
A little further on in the same clause is the following quotation from Ethelred II.’s compact with Olaf.
Si Anglicus homo Dacum occidat, liber liberum, persolvat eum xxv lib. vel ipse malefactor reddatur, et tantundem reddat Dacus de Anglico si eum occidat.
(lxx. s. 6.) If an Englishman kill a Dane--a freeman a freeman--let him pay for him 25 lbs. or the criminal himself shall be delivered up. And let the Dane do the same if he kill an Englishman.
The English and Danish typical freeman of this clause with his 25 lb. wergeld is clearly recognised in these so-called laws as the twelve-hyndeman and not the twyhynde man, who, though free, is identified with the ‘villanus.’
[Sidenote: Wife still belongs to her own kindred in respect of wergeld.]
In further sections of this clause regarding Wessex customs very important statements are made with regard to the position of the wife in case of homicide, showing (1) that if she committed homicide her own kindred were responsible for her crime and not her husband or his kindred; and (2) that in case of the murder of a wife the wergeld went to _her_ kindred and not to the husband or his kindred. In s. 12 of this clause is the following statement:--
Similiter, si mulier homicidium faciat, in eam vel in progeniem vel parentes ejus vindicetur, vel inde componat: non in virum suum, seu clientelam innocentem.
Likewise if a woman commits homicide let it be avenged on her or on her children or _parentes_ or paid for from that side, not on her husband, or innocent connections.