Note 227 — Chapter I · PENAL METHODS OF THE MIDDLE AGES

By the Dooms of Alfred there was but a three days’ sanctuary in a mynster-ham. A fugitive was not to be dragged from a church for seven days, though none were to bring him any food the while.—Thorpe, fol. ed. pp. 27, 28, 29. If he delivered up his weapons, however, it appears he might dwell in safety for thirty days, while his relations were got together to ransom him.—Thorpe, p. 29; Reeves, i. p. 32. On this thirty days’ refuge allowed in the early Church, see Bingham, iii. p. 207. A deliberate murderer might be plucked from the altar, just as by Hebrew law.—Thorpe, p. 27.