forming FEE-OTH
or FEODUM, denoting stipendiary property. Wacterus states that the word
ALLODE, ALLODIUM, which applies to land in Germany, is composed of AN
and LOT--i.e., land obtained by lot.

I therefore venture the opinion that the settlement of England in
the fifth and sixth centuries was not Teutonic or Germanic, but
SCANDINAVIAN.

The lands won by the swords of all were the common property of all; they
were the lands of the people, FOLC-LAND; they were distributed by lot
at the FOLC-GEMOT; they were ODH-ALL lands; they were not held of
any superior nor was there any service save that imposed by the common
danger. The chieftains were elected and obeyed, because they represented
the entire people. Hereditary right seems to have been unknown. The
essence of feudalism WAS A LIFE ESTATE, the land reverted either to the
sovereign or to the people upon the death of the occupant. At a later
period the monarch claimed the power of confiscating land, and of giving
it away by charter or deed; and hence arose the distinction between
FOLC-LAND and BOC-LAND (the land of the book or charter), a distinction
somewhat similar to the FREEHOLD and COPYHOLD tenures of the present
day. King Alfred the Great bequeathed "his BOC-LAND to his nearest
relative; and if any of them have children it is more agreeable to me
that it go to those born on the male side." He adds, "My grandfather
bequeathed his land on the spear side, not on the spindle side;
therefore if I have given what he acquired to any on the female side,
let my kinsman make compensation."

The several ranks were thus defined by Athelstane:

"1st. It was whilom in the laws of the English that the people went by
ranks, and these were the counsellors of the nation, of worship
worthy each according to his condition--'eorl,' 'ceorl,' 'thegur,' and
'theodia.'

"2d. If a ceorl thrived, so that he had fully five hides (600 acres) of
land, church and kitchen, bell-house and back gatescal, and special duty
in the king's hall, then he was thenceforth of thane-right worthy.

"3d. And if a thane thrived so that he served the king, and on his
summons rode among his household, if he then had a thane who him
followed, who to the king utward five hides, had, and in the king's hall
served his lord, and thence, with his errand, went to the king, he might
thenceforth, with his fore oath, his lord represent at various needs,
and his and his plant lawfully conduct wheresoever he ought.