Let us now see how the third falling on the kindred was divided.
The one third of the _mentele_ of the kindred (moeg) was divided thus:--
lbs. oz. p. (1) The _brother_, or if none, the _brother’s son_, or if none, the sister’s son 0 12 0
(2) The _uncle_ on the father’s side (fedria) 0 9 0 The _uncle_ on the mother’s side (eem) 0 4 0 Or in default of these the _cousins_ of the slain, or in default the cousins of the uncles.
(3) The _eftersusterbern_ or cousins descendants of grandparents: (_a_) On the side of the father’s grandfather 0 3 8 (_b_) On the side of the father’s grandmother 0 3 8 (_c_) On the side of the mother’s grandfather 0 2 5 (_d_) On the side of the mother’s grandmother 0 2 5
(4) The rest falls on the cousins--the eight stems which descend from the great grandparents The four stems from father’s side 0 7 12 ” ” mother’s side 0 7 8 -------- 4 3 6
This interesting illustration of the payment of a Frisian wergeld, though of later date than the laws, confirms the statement in the laws that in its division the immediate heirs of the slain took two thirds and the _propinqui proximi_ one third. It shows that at a later date the immediate ‘erbsühne’ was two-thirds, and the share of the kindred one third. And it adds the important point that the kindred who paid, and by inference shared in the receipt of the one third, were confined to the descendants of the great-grandparents, both paternal and maternal, of the slayer or of the slain.
[Sidenote: Divisions of the Saxon tribes.]
In turning from the Frisian to the Saxon district, we have again to notice that, as in the Frisian instance, so in the Saxon, the territory over which the law had force was divided into several districts belonging to allied but separate tribes with their own peculiar customs.
The Westfali and the Ostfali and the Angrarii were the chief tribes with which the Lex Saxonum and the Capitularies had to deal. The ‘Saxones Bortrenses’ and ‘Septentrionales’ are also mentioned in one of the Capitularies, but these do not appear to be of much importance to our inquiry.
The stubborn resistance of the Saxon tribes to the Frankish conquest, and the sanguinary character of the Saxon wars of Charlemagne, may well have made a cleaner sweep of local custom from these districts than had taken place in others. And this may explain to some extent the disappointing silence of the Lex Saxonum upon questions of custom which might otherwise have been expected to afford useful and interesting points for comparison with the Kentish and Anglo-Saxon Laws. Moreover, the wergelds as stated in the text are, like those of the Frisian Laws at first sight so misleading that only a very careful regard to the changes in Frankish currency can make their amounts intelligible, and bring them into line with those of neighbouring tribes.