Saxons
Gnomic Verses
Les rangs de la société
A Saxon does not describe himself as a German, Saxon, Angle or Jute, or as a member of a certain profession or being from a certain place. A Saxon describes himself by reciting a list of his ancestors, which implies all this data, and more, to informed listeners. The invading chieftains Hengist and Horsa, for example, were the sons of Wihtgils, who was the son of Willa, son of Wecta, son of Wotan, who was a god. This tells other Saxons that Hengist and Horsa are great men, from a great line, with a great history to live up to.As a Saxon, your lineage connects you to your cynn (your family, often extending to first cousins), which is the primary social unit. Your lineage acts as your letter of introduction when you visit another cynn: if the cynn's men have heard of your ancestors, you may have already earned their respect. Recite your lineage with pride, knowing that you come from brave and honorable men.
Nobles et Théods
The Saxon word theod refers to a group of cynns who acknowledge a common leader, ancestor, or origin. Depending on the size of that group, theod can describe a small tribe, a kingdom, or an entire nation. The following simplified and standardized titles describe different ranks of theod leader. All can also be referred to as hyrds ("well born", noble)Thegn
A land owner expected to fight for his lord, the Saxon equivalent of a Knight or Banneret. The lesser men who inhabit his lands may call themselves his theod if they serve no higher authority.Ealdorman
An important noble, the equivalent of a duke, earl or baron. He may have been an aetheling before he was forced to swear an oath to serve a neighboring cyning. Several thegns serve him. They and their people are his theod.Aetheling
An independent king or prince, the equivalent of the Pennath in British society. Like the ealdorman, he rules one theod, and may want to conquer more in an effort to become a cyning.Cyning
A king; the head of a Saxon cyningdom ("kingdom") composed of several theods. Kent, for instance, is a cyningdom of six theods: Wilmingas. Wincelingas, Weowara, Limenwara, and Eastrige.Bretwalda
Literally "Wielder of Britons", the nominal over king of all the Saxons in Britain, equivalent to the British Pendragon and the Irish Ard Ri. There can be only one bretwalda at a time.Many theods were founded by adventurous aethelings who staked their claim in Britain during the invasions of 446 510. Crowded by later settlers and attacked by Britons and rival Saxons, most of these early theods had to consolidate under a cyning though there was always room for expansion, into the lands of the British ! Some independent theods last up to the Battle of Badon in 518, although all Saxons at that date are nominally under Bretwalda Aelle.
By 518, nine men claim to be cynings : Cwichelm of Anglia, Yffi of Deira, Aescwine of the Est Saexe, Aesc of Kent, Byrhtnoth of Lindissi. Ossa of Nohaut, Cerdicof the West Saexe,Port of Gewissa (he claims to be a cyning, but may only count as an aetheling), and Aelle of the Suth Saexe. Aelle is the first cyning to declare himself BretwaIda.
Rank
There are various levels of responsibility and rank within a theod. Directly below the theod leader himself are his gesiths ("companions") -the ealdormen and important thegns who followed him when he conquered the area. They are his shoulder men, rewarded with land and rank in the kingdom. With the rewards come responsibilities: military service, counsel, and support with food, money and labor.Gerefa
The gerefa is an officer who administers, but does not own, some important part of the cyningdom; a burh, the villages of a farming valley. or a royal manor. Gerefas are generally thegns or ealdormen of proven character and responsibility. One important officer is the wigfruma ("war leader," field marshal), who is often the cyning's younger brother or son. He can call up the fyrd ("militia") to repel invasion.Thegn
Thegns form the main military might of the Saxons. Each must own at least five hides: enough land to support a full time warrior. A thegn should have armor, helmet, sword, shield, and several spears. He may know how to ride a horse, but he does his fighting on foot. A thegn's household usually consists of his immediate family, house and farm servants, and possibly a heorthgeneat ("hearthcompanion," a bodyguard) or two. The heorthgeneats may perform the duties normally assigned to Cymric squires in addition to guarding their thegn.On the battlefield, the thegn is expected to fight in the front rank, along with his heorthwerod (unit of heorthgeneats) if he has one. Besides serving his lord in battle, the thegn may owe other duties: naval service, bodyguard for the cyning, fortifying a burh, or equipping a ship. Some later Saxon lords let their thegns pay the value of their duties in bord bot or shield tax, a custom known to lazy Cymric knights as scutage.
Ceorl
The lowest class of free Saxon is the ceorl, the farmer or craftsman. Most own a little land, but some are merely tenants of a thegn.g in either case, most ceorls farm for their lord as well as themselves; others provide messenger. heorthgeneat, escort, or hunting services in lieu of farming. A few ceorls wander from place to place practicing a special talent, including professional scops (poets) and wryhtas (artisans), who make fine things for the nobility. Like all free Saxons, ceorls can conduct trade, and a few enrich themselves brokering goods between Britain and the continent.All ceorls belong to the fyrd, the military levy of the theod, and must own at least a spear and shield. If a ceorl acquires five hides of land, or makes three trading voyages in his own ship, he is raised to the status of thegn.
Laet
Below ceorls are the semifree laets.A laet is a Briton or other foreigner in Saxon conquered territory who has surrendered to a theod, becoming a tributary dependent of its cyning, If the cyning agrees, the lead may be made a heorthgeneat, or may even be granted the land he held before the invasion. Most laets, though, rarely own more than a hide or two. Some Romano British communities survived the Saxon invasions by adopting laet status en masse. Conquered Britons who neither become acts, nor manage to run away, are enslaved. So common are British slaves that the word wealh ("Briton" or "Welshman") is often used for slave. Other slaves, called theows, may have been captured in raids or born to the status. Some ceorls sell themselves into slavery to pay wergilds or damages, or to save their families from starvation. Whatever their origin, slaves are chattel, the property of their owners.
The wergild for a laet is generally half that of a ceorl. A laet can gain greater status by becoming temporarily, or permanently, the sworn man of a lord. His wergild then belongs to his protector. A lord who collects wergild for a laet need not pass it on to the man's family, wherever they are.
Foreigners
Foreigners in Saxon lands have no cynn. If a theod wants them around, they are classed as laets. Traders from a foreign kingdom, even if Saxon, need temporary laet or sworn man status from the locals. Indeed, if a man houses a trader for more than three days, he becomes the trader's guardian. In return for Saxon protection, traders must obey trade laws. They must not stray from the roads without blowing a horn or shouting, thus indicating their peaceful nature. They need a local man to vouch that their trade goods were not stolen from locals. In deals between Saxons and Welsh, each side must trade suitable hostages at the beginning of the negotiations, to prevent cheating on the part of the merchant or theft on the part of the buyer.
Slaves
At least a laet is not a slave. A man may kill his own slave at no penalty under the law, and may demand the slave's purchase price from another party who kills or steals him. Owners may choose to pay boot for the crimes of their slaves. If they do not, offending slaves are nogged for minor crimes: they are stoned, hung, or mutilated for greater ones. Attempted runaways are stoned, with lesser penalties for free people who abetted their escape or who gave a weapon or a horse to a slave for any reason, since these things are forbidden to slaves. Nonetheless, many slaves escape every year, and a few others are freed by their owners for the favor of Christ or Wotan. In the latter case, a slave may be freed. blessed, and then ritually slain.
A freed slave's (laet sized) wergild always belongs to his former owner. Even if the slave moves to China and becomes a king, his Saxon ex owner is still legally entitled to his wergild (in Saxon minds, at least).
Theod Defection
Saxons unhappy with their theod can defect, either individually or in cynn groups, by gathering their chattel property and walking away. This is a matter of will and negotiation, not law. Because the Saxons are always expanding, the defectors can found a new theod (or, more likely, join one that needs workers and warriors) in the weald ("wilderness") or on the British frontier.
Defection is a rare and dangerous move. The defectors may have no guarantee that another theod will accept them at their former status, or at all. Their old theod may dispute the loss of their goods, labor, or talent, forcing the defectors to fight their way out, which can end in the destruction of the theod. The most common and tolerated defectors are excess nobles, whose status demands mom property than the theod can share. These young men often found their own theods.
The Renounced, the UtIaga. and the Nithing
If a man's cynn tire of paying for his crimes, they may renounce him. They no longer need pay for his crimes, but neither can they claim wergild or vengeance on his behalf. This decision usually rests with the oldest of the cynn, but he is expected to follow the majority. A renounced man has no cynn. In theory, he still has a wergild and a lord, but most renounced men become thieves, or serve as heorthgeneats in another theod.
A man renounced by his whole theod becomes an utlaga ("outlaw"). This is the automatic result of conviction for a bootless offense. An utlaga has no wergild. If not immediately executed, the utlaga must flee his theod, perhaps with the help of cynn or friends who still value his life. Many stories tell of utlaga5 who adopt new identities and become valued mercenaries under foreign kings. Such stories usually end when the utlaga's accusers catch up with him, and the foreign king must either Justly put the urtlaga in their hands or Arbitrarily fight them off. Rarely, an utlaga redeems himself in foreign lands and comes home covered in gold and glory.
A man renounced by cynn, kings, and gods is a nithing ("nothing or "nobody"), rejected by his fellow Saxons for the murder of guests, hosts. cynn, or lord; for desertion in battle (under any circumstances, if a heorthgeneat): or for becoming an utlaga. In game terms, a Saxon is in danger of nithinghood if his Honor or Hospitality falls below 6. Mining is an accusation cast in the miscreart's face in front of other warriors. Unless other men vouch for his innocence, or the cyning permits a trial by wmbat, this charge is proven. The nithing loses all his friends, has nowhere to go but down. and should be retired from play: his descendants will be lucky to become ceorls.
Becoming a Theod Leader
Any Saxon may attempt to become aethelingor even form their own cyningdoms ! A leader of Saxons needs to be honest and generous above all. He must be loyal to his men, in order to gain their loyalty. These qualities, and a reputation for leading successful raids, are needed to recruit a band of gesiths.
A leader's first gesiths will probably be inside their own cynn.. As his power grows, so will their power and wealth grow in proportion. The fame and loot that leaders gain by raiding should attract their cynn, as well as landless warriors and mercenaries. A shipload or three of these warriors can overwhelm a British district by a series of raids followed by a decisive skirmish. If the Saxons win, they will displace the British landlords and reduce their people to slaves or laets. The cynn of the winning warriors will join their new theod, pushing its borders further into British territory. The new leader must assess the revenue of his lands, and perhaps fortify them against British counterattacks.
The leader is now an aetheling, or petty king. To form a true cyningdom, the aetheling must make his neighbors accept him as their overlord - perhaps by aid, marriage, outright conquest, or bootless treachery and bribes. Eventually, the new cyningdom's borders will be tested by its Saxon neighbors and by vengeful Britons.
Whatever the new Saxon leader accomplishes will be swept away by the Battle of Badon. Even if individual leaders disobey the command of Bretwalda Aelle and do not fight at Badon, the victorious Britons will attack all Saxon kingdoms.
Saxon Law
The Saxons have an extensive oral tradition of customs and laws. Saxon knowledge of these laws is measured by the Courtesy skill.
Saxon laws are concerned with violence, theft, and other crimes that cry out to be avenged. Most crimes are punished by bot (boot, "compensation”), which pardons the criminal if promptly and fairly paid. The victim, or accuser, must sue the alleged lawbreaker, or defender. The damages at stake in the suit derive from the victim's wergild ("man worth"), which ranges from 5£ for a laet to 2100£ for a king, and can be multiplied and divided among the victim's injured property, honor, dependents, and body parts. Victorious accusers collect boot from the defenders, using their own means, but within certain customary limits on vengeance and mayhem. Only when this system breaks down (when. for example, a defender refuses lawful boot) will a cyning step in to enforce the law with his warriors, and then only if the lawbreaking really threatens the cyningdom.
Your Wergild
Your wergild is a monetary value based on your rank. Criminals who hurt you or rob you must pay you your wergild in coins or goods, or some fraction of that value. To assess small offenses, a judge may divide your wergild into healsfangs ("neck price"), or tenths, A man who Cuts off your finger owes you 1/10th wergild or less; for a limb, the price might be six healsfangs (60% of wergild) or more. Stolen property is usually not worth more than six healsfangs, or its exchange value, whichever is greater.
Your liege and your cynn can collect wergild on your behalf. Your cynn are also collectively liable for wergild fines you incur, unless they renounce you (below).
If you are somebody's legal ward (a child under seventeen, an unmarried daughter, a wife, a hostage, a heorthgeneat) you have no inherent wergild. To give testimony in court, you must use your guardian's wergild or, better, let him speak for you. For compensation, your wergild equals your guardian's (or double that if you are female or underage) and is your guardian's to claim. A gerefa has his own wergild, but may use his cyning's wergild while doing the cyning's business.
Boot Crimes
There are two levels of pardonable crime: those for which the accusers must accept a wergild payment or other fine, and those for which the accusers can refuse it. If accusers accept payment whether by choice or by custom, they have settled the case and may take no vengeance. If they legally refuse payment, or if the lawbreaker does not pay promptly (for violent death, the offender must pay 20s at the funeral and the balance within forty days; lesser crimes might have twenty days' grace), then the accusers can pursue vengeful mayhem against the lawbreaker's cynn up to the level of the wergild refused.
Accusers must accept wergild for persons killed in war or other cyning-sanctioned combat, or in defense of self, others, or property, or by accident. They must accept it for petty theft and for goods illegally seized in a property dispute, from a trader who sold them stolen goods or who sold a weapon to a murderer, and for other kinds of minor or unintentional property damage. They must accept it for the battery or rape of their ceorls or other servants ("rape" in this sense means unauthorized sex; the woman may or may not have consented). They can pursue a feud only if the fine is not paid.
Accusers have the option to accept or refuse wergild for deliberate, unsanctioned killing, major property crimes, and battery or rape against their guests, hosts, or cynn. Cattle theft , which is epidemic among Saxons and freely practiced against Britons, is theoretically in this category, but byrde can often raid the cattle of lesser men on the pretext that they are collecting delinquent feorm, wergilds, or supplies needed for a campaign. Accusers who refuse wergild for these crimes are signaling the start of a blood feud.
Wergild and vengeance are family obligations. It is the gravest dishonor to let a cynnsman lie unavenged. Failure to pursue wergild (one way or another) reduces your Honor and Love: Family
Bootless Crimes
Beyond ordinary standards of compensation are bootless ("unpardonable") crimes against Cynn and theod. Fighting over goods or grievances is pan of public life, but some men steal goods by sneaking into another's house, or murder their enemies by ambush and then hide the bodies. Others carry a woman away from her father's house by night, or kill with poison, arson, or sorcery, or even slay their own brothers. Still others attack the theod itself, by attacking the liege or by betraying him to enemies.
Such men turn their backs on the theod, so the treed turns its back on them. A man's cynn has no claim to wergild if he is caught and slain while committing a bootless crime. If he flees, his own cynn must hunt him. if brought to trial, he will probably be renounced by his cynn, reduced to a nithing, and then exiled or perhaps hung from a dead tree and buried in an unmarked grave.
Folkmoot and Court
The folcgemot ("folkmoot", gathering) is the gathering of all free Saxons of a district, Here, marriages and trades are arranged, and matters of Saxon law are argued at the local level. Most lawsuits never go beyond the level of the folkmoot, both sides agreeing to the doom (judgment) of the moot. A cyning may want cases heard a specified number of times by the folkmoot before he will hear them, to keep from being bogged down in legal disputes.
The folkmoot may be the gathering of all men of a small theod, or the gathering of a district in a cyningdom. The folkmoot meets once a month in the same place. often a well known landmark like a barrow or a local leader's house. A small trading fair might accompany the moot, as traders must be vouched for by local men before wandering the land. Lawsuits about land, cattle, debts, or wergild may be heard. The moot is overseen by a gerefa, an ealdorman, or the aetheling himself in a new theod.
When a lawsuit comes before this moot judge, the accuser summons the defender. If the defender does not come to a specified number of folkmoots (three or fewer, depending on local custom), then the accuser wins by default. Otherwise, the accuser faces the defender, swears "not out of hatred or malice or wrongful covetousness" to the defendant's guilt, and demands some boot. The defender swears his innocence. Both sides have until the next folkmoot to gather athfulturn ("oath helpers"; like modern character witnesses), who will back their claims. A man's cynn and lord are his most likely athfultum, but the more times a man is accused of crimes, the fewer athfultum he will be able to muster, as even his family gives up on him. Customarily, neither side brings more than twelve athfulturn.
The judge decides the case by totaling the "oath weight” of the accuser, the defender, and their athfulturn. A man's oath weight equals his wergild, which is modified in Pendragon, by Glory and skill use. Besides the total oathweight of the accuser, defender. and athfultum, a judge may consider the oath weight of witnesses he himself summons, or the value of circumstantial evidence, but unless such evidence is overwhelming, oath weight will carry the day. The accuser wins the case unless his side's oath weight is exceeded (not just tied) by the defender's. The judge may assign more or less boot than the accuser asked, according to his Generosity, his Mercy, and his understanding of the law.
A defender who can't muster enough oath weight may request trial by ordeal. His accusers choose whether he will endure the ordeal by cold water, by hot water, or by iron. Other ordeals may be allowed by the judge. Ordeal by combat is rare but acceptable, usually between cynings or ealdormen. Each man may have a champion fight for him, rather than risk death or injury over a trivial case.
Did the Saxons obey their own laws?
Like most barbarians, the Saxons used "compensation" laws to limit vendettas. Like most barbarians, their sagas and chronicles are nonetheless full of bloody vendettas. One can dismiss these as amusing or cautionary legends; still, instance, of barbarian law, enforced with a happy outcome, or of barbarian restraining their behavior for fear of the law are hard to find. Players should remember that right and wrong in these societies was decided by which side brought me, resources to a wit, that there were no police to enforce such decisions, that the rich could buy justice and the well-armed could ignore it, and that by our standards a high level of violence was openly tolerated.
On the other hand, Saxon legal decisions were sacred rituals. Witnesses put their hands on a holy thing (an altar to Wotan or Tiw ; later on, a Bible), forfeiting their souls as well as their wergildsif they lied. One Saxon lawbook calls perjury a sin, equal to murder, sorcery, and incest. The stohas that seem to treat vendettas lightly also display a real dread of bootless crime, and of the ultimate Saxon punishment: being renounced or outlawed as a !thing.
Literate Saxon cynings had their laws copied and distributed to every ealdorman, thegn, and (later) abbot in their lands, reflecting a Saxon expectation that each of these men should knew the law and uphold it among his followers. That expectation applies to Saxon characters in Pendragon. Player thegns and eladormen should know their own cyning’s laws. They should also consider the advice of later Saxon cyning, Alfred the Great: "Do not judge one judgment for the rich ,d another for the poor; nor on, for the more dear and another for the more hateful ... A me, can think , this ,, sentence lo,,, that he judges each one rightly ; he has need of no other w bcsov."
Saxon Virtues
By Dark Age standards, Saxon communities are orderly and harmonious. The Saxons prize cooperation and favor sharing over hoarding. They love courage, honor, and hospitality. They hate cowardice. treason, and crime. They are sexually restrained and very protective of women and children. They are reluctant to waste warriors in blood sports and duels. As lavish and courteous hosts, they have few equals. A theod can be a nice place to live.
These customs extend to other Germanic tribes, to whom the Saxons are tied by gods, runes, and centuries, of intermarriage. However, the Saxons have no so to the weird and wicked Britons, who are unworthy of Saxon hospitality and honor. Britons are shown the savage face of Saxon culture: the frenzied blood rites of battle and human sacrifice. Thus the Saxons and the Romanized Celts are strangers to each other's virtues.
Saxon Flaws
Hengist’s Saxons were an army of poor but well armed and desperate warriors turned loose in a country of rich, ill-defended cities and farms. They overran that country and eclipsed its native culture more thoroughly than did the Romans. Common sense (and not just the evidence of cities left to ruin, civilians enslaved, trade and Christianity smothered, and Latin literacy ignored) tells us that the first Saxons in Britain were a ruthless bunch.
Cruel Saxons
The Cruel trait is a point or two higher among Saxons. Even Saxons who avoid excessive cruelty are still callous compared to Arthur's knights. Visitors to Saxon lands may see horses ridden to death, slaves treated worse than horses, body parts taken as trophies, and other examples of the Cruel trait in action. Saxons even boast about their dark deeds. The occasional finger or hand sacrificed for rune lore shows that the Saxons are Cruel even to themselves.
Truly Cruel Saxons
God help the Christians captured by a truly Cruel Saxon, like Sir Turquine of the Dolorous Tower. They may be fortured and raped for amusement, then bound and thrown to wolves, bears, or snakes. They may be crucified in a parody of Christ or Wotan, or have their ribs cracked open and their lungs flung out, in the sacrifice of the Blood Eagle (a clich6 of the Vikings, but a favorite of the author). Such sadists are feared by other Saxons and will likely end up as nithings as soon as they are no longer needed against the Britons, that is.
Greedy Saxons
Pendragon knights are not out for financial gain. Many players do not keep track of money, which is just as well, since money is beneath the notice of a real knight. This helps distinguish Pendragon from the "hack ‘n slash, grab 'n run" mentality of first generation role playing games. The Saxons, however, play by those old rules. Loot draws them into British lands, and the promise of dragon hoards and magic weapons sends them into the Othernanarld. Invading a keep or a less-defended place, killing its inhabitants, and running away with their treasure is a worthy adventure for a band of thegns. Saxons should keep track of their money, both as an index of success and to pay the gesith gifts and wergilds that go along with it.
Slave taking Saxons
Slavery is universal in fifth century Europe. By the Apogee phase of King Arthur's reign it has vanished from Logres and is waning in other lands where Arthur has influence. Slaves are replaced by the peasants, who are in many ways equally powerless; yet they are not laboring animals to be hurt or killed, bought or sold, and raped or bred at their owner's whim. Between Arthur's moral leadership, the rise of serious Christianity, and the bitter memory of "Welsh" enslavement by Saxons, player knights can gain an ahistorical dread of slavery. Knights with kinfolk in Saxon captivity have an especially good reason to Hate (Saxons).
Good Saxons
So where are the gentle and admirable Saxons like Bede, Alcuin, and Alfred the Great? These worthies will arrive on schedule, two centuries or more after King Arthur's death. They will temper the cruel ways of their ancestors with Christianity, Latin learning, and the tolerant spirit of a settled people. A Saxon campaign could be set in this era using Pendragon for rules and (minus the knights and castles) cultural background and geography; a year-by-year chronology is available in The Anglo Saxon Chronicle. Players can serve King Alfred of Wessex, a well documented historical figure every bit as good as the legendary King Arthur. They can help him defend Britain against another wave of sea borne invaders - the Danes.
Boasting
Saxons boast of the glorious deeds that they and their fathers have done, Boast of these things to the Saxons you meet, so that they wilt know you and your lineage. Sing your high praise-words, thank cynn and fathers, before death's dark comes.
Saxons also boast of the glorious deeds that they will do in an upcoming battle or quest. Such battle boasts may limit your choice of weapons or armor, or force you to defeat a certain number or quality of foes. By tapping your Honor, battle boasts can make you stand when you would rather flee.
If you boast falsely or with undue exaggeration, your Saxon hosts will call you untrustworthy. If you don't fulfill a boast, you are a braggart. If you decline to boast, you're hiding something. If you neither match, exceed, nor admire a Saxon's boast, you have insulted him.
Typical Boasts / Introductory Boast "Sigerferth is my name; I am prince of the 5ecgas A wide known wanderer; I have borne many blows 1n many fierce battles. At my hand you can have Whatever you wish to have of me." Sigeferth, Before the Battle, of Finnsburgh: Battle Boast “I came in safety through many a conflict in the days of my youth; and now, even yet, Old as I am I will fight this feud, Do manful deeds, if the dire destroyer Will come from his cavern to meet my sword” The king for the last time greeted his comrades, bold helmet-bearers, and faithful friends : "I would bear no sword nor weapon to battle With the evil worm if I knew how else I could close with the fiend as I grappled with Grendel From the worm I look For a welling of fire, A belching of venom, and therefore I bear Shield and byrnie. Not one foots space Will I flee this monster the ward of the mound, It shall fare with us both in the fight at the wall as Wyrd shall allot, the lord of Mankind. Though bold in spirit I make no boast As I go to fight the flying serpent. Clad in your corslets and trappings of war By the side of the barrow abide you to see which of us twain may best after battle Survive his wounds. Not yours the adventure, nor the mission of any, save mine alone To measure his strength with the monstrous dragon and play the part of a valiant lord. By deeds of daring I'll gain the gold Or death in battle shall break your lord." Beowulf, before his fight with the Fire drake:Riddles
Despite changes in language and meter, the Saxon raedel (riddle) still survives today ("What is black and white and read all over?"), even among novelists like Lewis Carroll and J. R. R. Tolkien.
A riddle is often "spoken” by an object or force ("I am time"), for things have secrets, just like men. Its solution depends on wordplay (“red” vs. “read” in the above exampie), on a knowledge of Saxon “kennings” or customary metaphors ("whale road” for "sea," "shield storm" for "fight," etc.), or on shifting mental categories like eating/eaten or old/young. The answer might also depend on runic literacy. Players should solve riddles themselves as far as possible, with strong hints provided by Read, Lore, and Religion skills, or even by Traits (some secrets are best known by the Cowardly. or by the Just). “Raedel” comes from the word “raed” ("advice” or "wisdom"). Lewd, funny riddles may entertain guests in the mead hall, but many riddles reveal religious secrets. Solving them thus earns Insight, instead of Glory.
Saxon Riddles from the Exeter Book
The Exeter book, a miscellany compiled by monks at Exeter circa 975, has been stained with beer and used as a cheese board, showing that it was read at feasts.1
"On the way, a miracle: water became bone." A complete riddle. The answer is "ice". "I'm by nature solitary, scarred by spear and wounded by sword, weary of battle. I frequently see the face of war, and fight hateful enemies; yet I hold no hope of help being brought to me in the battle, before I'm eventually dore to death." The speaker, who can neither hide nor heal from war, is a shield. "I watched a couple of curious creatures copulating openly, out of doors; the fair-haired one, flushed beneath her garments, was filled with life if that effort prospered. I can tell men in the hall (those who are well versed) the name of these creatures with runes. There shall be Need twice over, and one gleaming Ash on the line, two Oaks and two Hails also. Now they're exposed to the men drinking in the hall (the proper names of this feather-braoned pair". Solving the runic anagram reveals the lewd couple as "Body and Soul"Trade
Saxons consider trade a noble activity. A ceorl who trades skillfully can be ennobled as a thegn. While Saxon farmsteads are nearly self-sufficient, ceorls still need simple luxury goods, metals, and spices; nobles need all that and more. Although Germanic invasions have disrupted Roman currency and trade networks, the Germans have established their own barter mutes on the North Atlantic and Baltic, stretching from the distant lands of Wends and Slavs, through Denmark, to Dublin, Eburacum, and the Saxon Shore.
Saxon warriors turn to barter when it offers more gain for less risk than raiding. Yet they remain warriors, whose bargaining favors the better armed party. Such trade (less "free market" than "black market”) is fraught with tension and incipient violence. It can be civilized a bit by exchanging hostages, or trading under the eyes of a Just king.
Autres coutumes
Brotherhood and Joint Cyningship
Celtic clan elections can pit brother against brother. Feudal primogeniture is even harsher, leaving younger brothers on their luck as monks or mercenaries. By contrast, cooperative brothers play leading roles in early Saxon history. History does not say whether Hengist outranked Horsa, or Octa exceeded Eossa. They are brothers; they go together.
In a theod, the ruler may actually be an ealdorman and his brothers. Perhaps one brother wields power as h1aford ("loaf-lord") while another fights as wigfrunna ("warlord"), and a third collects revenues; perhaps they alternate. No brother "owns" theodal land more than another, so why not share?
While it is normal for brothers to reign jointly over a theod. there are occasions when father-son, grandfather-grandson, or uncle-nephew pairs can be found ruling a cyningdom. After Horsa's death, Hengist reigned jointly with his own son Aesc. Such joint cyningship is strongest among the Jutes; all the joint-cynings mentioned by history are Jutes or reign on the Jutland peninsula: Hengist and Horsa, Octa and Eossa, Stuf and Whitgar, Cerdic and Cynric, Hrothgar and Halga. Evidence suggests that non-Jutish cyningdoms were ruled serially by individuals, rather than shared.
Use brotherhood and joint cyningship to distinguish the Jutes from other Saxons or let all Saxons practice it to emphasize the importance of cynnship.
Funerals
A dead Saxon is dressed in finery and laid out in the village for a few days while his cynnfolk mourn. Then they carry him to a burial ground, and burn or bury his corpse according to his wishes or family custom.
Saxons dig graves in fall, anticipating deaths over the winter. At the funeral, they line the grave with planks, lay out the deceased with his shield, spear, other goods, and fresh food, then cover the body with more planks before filling the grave.
A body to be cremated is lain upon the ground and a pyre, about three yards across, is lit over it. Some goods are burned, but rarely weapons. Burnt bones and other remains are sealed in an urn and buried.
Members of the same cynn sleep in graves or urns beside each other. Graves may be marked by earthen barrows (mounds) or rings, wooden canopies, or rune carved posts or stones.
Great Saxons earn great funerals. They may be buried with many weapons, slaves, widows, gold, and entire ships, This earns the dead hero Burial Glory, a tenth of which goes to his children along with the Glory he earned in life.
Gift Giving
Saxons earn Glory for giving and receiving gifts. Most gifts are finger or arm rings, though swords, full battle harnesses, or horses are given as well. Gifts between equals are good, but even better are loyalty-gifts to men above you and reward gifts to men below you. As noted under "Law," above, Saxon warriors give all plunder as a loyalty gift to their liege. In return, a lord must be generous. He must furnish heorthgeneats and other dependents with room and board, steeds, armor and weapons. He must give worthy gifts to allies and diplomats. Above all, he must redistribute loot among his men, so that each man gets a little, and the best men get a lot.
A generous leader will be praised as a beahgifa ("ringgiver"), his chair is a gifstohl ("gift seat") and his hall a hringsele ("ring place"). But a lord who keeps more than half the plunder for himself will lose followers, while a follower who withholds his loot will face his lord in court. Both will earn a bad name.
Hostages
The Saxons give and accept hostages temporarily to enforce trade deals or other contracts. Less often, a cyning will keep hostages indefinitely to control a rebellious noble or a community of laets. Unless their lives are forfeited by dishonest dealing, hostages are the honored guests and wergild wards of their hosts. They often help their host in battle or in court, as if they were members of his cynn.
After Badon, defeated Saxon cynns give their sons as hostages to families from Logres. Trained to respect their hostage hosts, these boys grow up to be good Christian knights.
Unlike good Christian knights, Saxons neither pay nor ask ransoms for captured foes. They sell their captives (whether swine, cows, or persons) as chattel, or sacrifice them to Wotan. By the time Saxons receive a ransom bid from a knight's family, they may have already sold the knight into a distant land (of course, if the offer is very generous, they may help get him back). A Saxon whose cynnsman is improperly detained by foreigners will simply seek his healthy return, plus bot for the kidnapping.
Loyalty (Lord) Obligations
A Saxon owes his lord loyalty, advice, and treasure taken in battle, and can be asked to help the leader pay wergild. If he is a heorthgeneat, he owes the lord his life. In turn, the Lord defends his men in court and on the battlefield, and gives them gifts for deeds done. A Saxon gives all loot to his lord, trusting the lord to redistribute it among his followers according to their merits. Wounded followers get at least as many healsfangs as their wounds are worth. The cynn of a slain man gets at least his wergild.
Love (Family) Obligations
All people descended from the same grandfather (i.e., first cousins) are "cynn" for both legal and Love (Family) purposes. Some families also count second or third cousins. While this is a large group, many families have been broken up by migration, war, or the outlawing of their shared ancestors.
Cynn Loyalty requires you to aid vendettas, act as athfultum in legal cases, and help pay wergilds. Likewise. you can expect your cynn to support you in court and to help pay wergilds you incur. Cynn share wergild payments in proportion to the degree of the relationship. Married couples are supported by both the husband's and wife's cynn: thus a marriage joins two cynns as much as two individuals.
Lands. Taxes. and Boats
Saxons can gain land by conquest or inheritance. Inherited land belongs to the cynn. is divided among living cynnsmen, and returns to the cynn upon a cynnsman's death; it cannot be transferred out of the cynn except by marriage. Men who do not inherit enough land to become thegns may wish to improve waste land, earn gift land from a lord, or take land from the Britons. Any Saxon who has wergild can legally own land. A nithing owns nothing.
The basic unit of Saxon landholding is the Nolen. enough land to support one ceorl and his family. This varies from 40 to 120 acres depending on the yield of the land. A thegn needs five hides to support himself and his family; if he owns more hides, he can use them to support his heorthwerod. An ealclorman often owns twenty hides or more.
A cyning owns much land directly, and collects feorm ("food revenue") from the his subjects' lands. Nominally, each landed ceorl owes one night's hospitality to the cyning and his retinue every year, to be paid in food to the gerefa if not in person to the visiting lord. One homestead may be required to provide three bushels of fish from the river, another to bring five barrels of ale. The cyning may also demand byrd service or other labor from his subjects, as noted under "Rank". Persons who shirk this duty must pay bord bot. This demand usually amounts to two months' work or campaigning, or less, to leave time for sowing and harvesting. In the very militant Saxon cyningdoms before Badon, shirking military duty is probably bootless.
Inherited boats are divided among heirs, just like land. The eldest son controls the boat as its acting captain. Younger brothers may serve as crew or may trade their shares to the oldest brother. Ceorls and poor thegns may be asked to crew a boat for their superiors.
1 Translations: Kevin Crossley Holland