e price of an earl's blood, is there
fixed at fifteen thousand thrimsas, equal to that of an archbishop;
whereas that of a bishop and alderman is only eight thousand thrimsas.
To solve this difficulty we must have recourse to Selden's conjecture,
(see his Titles of Honour, chap. v. p. 603, 604,) that the term of
earl was in the age of Athelstan just beginning to be in use in
England, and stood at that time for the atheling or prince of the
blood, heir to the crown. This he confirms by a law of Canute, Sec.
55, where an atheling and an archbishop are put upon the same footing.
In another law of the same Athelstan, the weregild of the prince, or
atheling, is said to be fifteen thousand thrimsas. See Wilkins, p.
71. He is therefore the same who is called earl in the former law.

NOTE [H]

There is a paper or record of the family of Sharneborn, which
pretends, that that family, which was Saxon, was restored upon proving
their innocence, as well as other Saxon families which were in the
same situation. Though this paper was able to impose on such great
antiquaries as Spellman (see Gloss. in verbo DRENGES) and Dugdale,
(see Baron. vol. i. p. 118,) it is proved by Dr. Brady (see Answ. to
Petyt, p. 11, 12) to have been a forgery; and is allowed as such by
Tyrrel, though a pertinacious defender of his party notions (see his
Hist. vol. ii. introd. p. 51, 73). Ingulf, p. 70, tells us, that very
early, Hereward, though absent during the time of the Conquest, was
turned out of all his estate, and could not obtain redress. William
even plundered the monasteries. Flor. Wigorn. p. 636. Chron. Abb.
St. Petri de Burgo, p. 48. M. Paris, p. 5. Sim. Dun. p. 200.
Diceto, p. 482. Brompton, p. 967. Knyghton, p. 2344. Alur. Beverl.
p. 130. We are told by Ingulf, that Ivo de Taillebois plundered the
monastery of Croyland of a great part of its land, and no redress
could be obtained.

NOTE [I]

The obliging of all the inhabitants to put out their fires and lights
at certain hours, upon the sounding of a bell called the COURFEU, is
represented by Polydore Vergil, lib. 9, as a mark of the servitude of
the English. But this was a law of police, which William had
previously established in Normandy. See Du Moulin, Hist. de
Normandie, p. 160. The same law had place in Scotland. LL. Burgor
cap. 86.

NOTE [K]

What these laws were of Edward the Confessor, which the English, every
reign during a century and a half, desire