Ontario High School History of England . amed the hundred, so-called, it maybe, because it sent a hundred warriors to the national was a hundred moot, or meeting, several timesin the year and to it came the reeve and other freemenfrom the villages. When they dealt with questions of crime,their justice was rude enough. If the accused man deniedhis guilt, he had to swear that he was innocent and findtwelve other men to swear that they believed him. By thismethod of ji^compurgation he was acquitted. But shouldhe fail to secure compurgators, he must go through the^,ordeal—plunge his arm
Ontario High School History of England . amed the hundred, so-called, it maybe, because it sent a hundred warriors to the national was a hundred moot, or meeting, several timesin the year and to it came the reeve and other freemenfrom the villages. When they dealt with questions of crime,their justice was rude enough. If the accused man deniedhis guilt, he had to swear that he was innocent and findtwelve other men to swear that they believed him. By thismethod of ji^compurgation he was acquitted. But shouldhe fail to secure compurgators, he must go through the^,ordeal—plunge his arm into boiling water, or walk blind-fold over red-hot plough-shares. It was believed that noharm would come to him if he was innocent; so theywrapped up carefully the arm or the feet that had beenexposed, and if he was found to be uninjured when, aftersome days, the bandages were removed, God, it was thought,had shown that he had been accused unjustly. We do notknow how the system worked; to modern critics it certainlyseems Carts, Eleventh CenturyNote the goad, instead of a whip, and the smallnessof the *attle of the time. ^The Shire Moot/and the Folk Moot.—There were largerunions than the liundred; the shire, made up usually of anumber of hundreds, with a moot presided over by a shirereeve or sheriff; and a still wider union, that of the wholetribe or folk, with the king at its head. While dwellersin Germany, the English appear to have had no kings. In 36 HISTORY OF ENGLAND England, however, the prolonged war with the Britons madeit necessary to name not merely a war-lord, chosen when-ever war broke out, but a permanent leader. He wasknown as king, perhaps because he became the chief of hiskin or tribe. When a vacancy occurred the fittest memberof the royal house was chosen king. It was the duty ofthe king to summon his people to meet him when therewere great questions to settle. Then the reeve and otherfreemen from the villages made their way, fully armed,to t
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