As he did not know the claim, three
thegns were chosen from the meeting [to ride] to the place where
she was, namely at Fawley, and these were Leofwine of Frome and
AEthelsige the Red and Winsige the seaman, and when they came to
her they asked her what claim she had to the lands for which her
son was suing her. Then she said that she had no land that in any
way belonged to him, and was strongly incensed against her son,
and summoned to her kinswoman, Leofflaed, Thurkil's wife, and in
front of them said to her as follows: 'Here sits Leofflaed, my
kinswoman, to whom, after my death, I grant my land and my gold,
my clothing and my raiment and all that I possess.' And then she
said to the thegns: 'Act like thegns, and duly announce my message
to the meeting before all the worthy men, and tell them to whom I
have granted my land and all my property, and not a thing to my
own son, and ask them to be witnesses of this.' And they did so;
they rode to the meeting and informed all the worthy men of the
charge that she had laid upon them. Then Thurkil the White stood
up in the meeting and asked all the thegns to give his wife the
lands unreservedly which her kinswoman had granted her, and they
did so. Then Thurkil rode to St. AEthelbert's minister, with the
consent and cognizance of the whole assembly, and had it recorded
in a gospel book."
Courts controlled by lords of large private estates had various
kinds of jurisdiction recognized by the King: sac and soke
[possession of legal powers of execution and profits of justice
held by a noble or institution over inhabitants and tenants of the
estate, exercised through a private court], toll [right to collect
a payment on the sale of cattle and property] and team [right to
hold a court to determine the honesty of a man accused of illegal
possession of cattle], infangenetheof [the authority to judge and
to hang and take the chattels of a thief caught on the property],
and utfangenetheof [the authority to judge and to hand and take
the chattels of a thief dwelling out of his liberty, and
committing theft without the same, if he were caught within the
lord's property].
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