Anglo-Saxon Laws and Charms Relating to Theft

Abstract

THE psychology of our Anglo-Saxon ancestors and their mixing of the practical with what to our minds was totally unpractical is well illustrated by their attitude towards theft. Laws to prevent theft occur in the earlier as well as in the later codes. These all show the practical aspect, since they were designed to warn the countryside against the approach of anyone who might prove to be a thief. Thus the laws of King Wihtred of Kent, which date from 695, say: If a man from afar, or a stranger, quits the road, and neither shouts, nor blows a horn, he shall be assumed to be a thief, [and as such] may be either slain or put to ransom.' Practical also is the following law of Ine of Wessex, which is contemporary with the last, in that it encourages a man to take care of his property. To the Anglo-Saxon an inanimate object could be a thief just as much as a human being. If anyone destroys a tree in a wood by fire, and it becomes known who did it, he shall pay a full fine. He shall pay 60 shillings, because fire is a thief. If anyone fells a large number of trees in a wood, and it afterwards becomes known, he shall pay 30 shillings for each of three trees. He need not pay for more, however many there may be, because the axe is an informer and not a thief. If, however, anyone cuts down a tree that can shelter thirty swine [i.e. a large tree], and it becomes known, he shall pay 60o shillings.2 This idea is further exemplified in a passage in the laws of King Edgar: A cow's bell, a dog's collar, and a horn for blowing (bl1eshorn)--each of these three shall be worth a shilling, and each is reckoned as an informer (melda).3 So much for laws designed to prevent theft : other laws were framed so as to aid in tracing goods, especially cattle, after the crime had been committed. Many of these enable us to envisage the hue and cry after a cattle-thief.