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  • May 1, 1855
  • Page 17
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The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine, May 1, 1855: Page 17

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    Article Untitled Article ← Page 7 of 7
    Article ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. Page 1 of 5 →
Page 17

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Untitled Article

Political Condition of the English Peasantry . 289 then J I wish your ships would take full slavers rather oftener !"

Grood morning !" . We passed on , and my master coolly observed" There ' s a young fool who thought to make me confess myself owner of the ' Uncle Sam . ' I ' ve not lost much by her , at any rate ; this is the third successful trip she ' s made , and they ' ve only got her empty now !" Here was certainly dishonesty carried on in the most respectable manner . Mr . Darkle , you practised what you preached !

( To be continued . )

On The Political Condition Of The English Peasantry During The Middle Ages.

ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION OE THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY DUBING THE MIDDLE AGKES .

( Continued from p . 205 . ) DimiF & the later Anglo-Saxon period few new laws relating to

theows are found . In the reign of Alfred a severe statute against violence offered to female serfs would imply that it was a frequent crime . A female serf apparently , had no will in opposition to her master , as a law ordains that if a wyln be corrupted by a married man she becomes free .

The theows , unlike the Boman coloni , could be increased by the reduction of free-men to slavery , and diminished by manumission . There were many crimes for which free-men were reduced to the condition of theows . By the forest laws of King Canute , a

freeman who struck one of the king ' s foresters in the performance of his duty , or killed one of the king ' s deer , was equally reduced to slavery , and became thus a wite-theow , or penal serf . A wite-theow stealing himself , or running away , was hanged . The child of the wite-theow remained free .

Another method was by voluntarily selling and submitting oneself to theowdom , either from actual want , or to secure protection against enemies . Yet , by a law of Ina , the serf was not shielded by his theowdom from the penalty of crimes committed when free . "If any

man be a wite-theow , newly made a theow , and he be accused that he had before theowed ere he was made a theow , then may the accused have one scourging at him ; let him follow him to the scourging according to his value . " This theowdom only affected the children born afterwards . A father might sell his children to theowdom under a certain age . After seven the child could not be sold without his own consent , and

after thirteen he had the power of selling himself . The clergy fixed these limits , and endeavoured to destroy the practice itself . Yet it continued down to a late period ; the English just before the Norman conquest selling their children to the Irish , The clergy protested against the sale of Christian theows to Jews or Pagans , and if the YOL . I . 2 Q

“The Freemasons' Monthly Magazine: 1855-05-01, Page 17” Masonic Periodicals Online, Library and Museum of Freemasonry, 6 June 2025, django:8000/periodicals/mmr/issues/mmr_01051855/page/17/.
  • List
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Title Category Page
AMERICA. Article 54
TRAVELS BY A FREEMASON. Article 11
ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY DURING THE MIDDLE AGES. Article 17
LONDON AND ITS MASONS. Article 1
ANIMAL AND HUMAN INSTINCT. Article 21
THE EMPEROR'S VISIT. Article 28
REV. BRO. OLIVER, D.D., VICAR OF SCOPWICK. Article 30
REVIEWS OF NEW BOOKS. Article 31
TO CORRESPONDENTS. Article 63
NOTES AND QUERIES. Article 38
MASONIC INTELLIGENCE. Article 40
METROPOLITAN. Article 43
PROVINCIAL. Article 45
SCOTLAND. Article 51
COLONIAL. Article 52
INDIA. Article 54
TURKEY. Article 56
METROPOLITAN LODGE MEETINGS FOR THE MONTH Of MAY. Article 57
LODGES OF INSTRUCTION. Article 59
CHAPTERS OF INSTRUCTION. Article 60
Obituary Article 60
NOTICE. Article 62
ROYAL MEDICAL BENEVOLENT COLLEGE. Article 62
NOTES ON ANTIQUARIAN RESEARCH Article 6
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Page 17

Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.

Untitled Article

Political Condition of the English Peasantry . 289 then J I wish your ships would take full slavers rather oftener !"

Grood morning !" . We passed on , and my master coolly observed" There ' s a young fool who thought to make me confess myself owner of the ' Uncle Sam . ' I ' ve not lost much by her , at any rate ; this is the third successful trip she ' s made , and they ' ve only got her empty now !" Here was certainly dishonesty carried on in the most respectable manner . Mr . Darkle , you practised what you preached !

( To be continued . )

On The Political Condition Of The English Peasantry During The Middle Ages.

ON THE POLITICAL CONDITION OE THE ENGLISH PEASANTRY DUBING THE MIDDLE AGKES .

( Continued from p . 205 . ) DimiF & the later Anglo-Saxon period few new laws relating to

theows are found . In the reign of Alfred a severe statute against violence offered to female serfs would imply that it was a frequent crime . A female serf apparently , had no will in opposition to her master , as a law ordains that if a wyln be corrupted by a married man she becomes free .

The theows , unlike the Boman coloni , could be increased by the reduction of free-men to slavery , and diminished by manumission . There were many crimes for which free-men were reduced to the condition of theows . By the forest laws of King Canute , a

freeman who struck one of the king ' s foresters in the performance of his duty , or killed one of the king ' s deer , was equally reduced to slavery , and became thus a wite-theow , or penal serf . A wite-theow stealing himself , or running away , was hanged . The child of the wite-theow remained free .

Another method was by voluntarily selling and submitting oneself to theowdom , either from actual want , or to secure protection against enemies . Yet , by a law of Ina , the serf was not shielded by his theowdom from the penalty of crimes committed when free . "If any

man be a wite-theow , newly made a theow , and he be accused that he had before theowed ere he was made a theow , then may the accused have one scourging at him ; let him follow him to the scourging according to his value . " This theowdom only affected the children born afterwards . A father might sell his children to theowdom under a certain age . After seven the child could not be sold without his own consent , and

after thirteen he had the power of selling himself . The clergy fixed these limits , and endeavoured to destroy the practice itself . Yet it continued down to a late period ; the English just before the Norman conquest selling their children to the Irish , The clergy protested against the sale of Christian theows to Jews or Pagans , and if the YOL . I . 2 Q

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