Note 148 — Chapter IV · LANDED POSSESSION. THE EÐEL, HÍD OR ALOD.

The traces of this mode of distribution are numerous. Hengest forcibly occupying the Frisian territory, is said to do so, elne, unhyltme, violently and without casting of lots. Beów. l. 2187, 2251. The Law of the Burgundians calls hereditary land, “terra sortis titulo acquisita,” in contradistinction to chattels taken by purchase. Lex Burg. Tit. 1. cap. 1, 2. Eichhorn, i. 360, 400, note a. Godred, having subdued the Manxmen, divided their land among his followers by lot. “Godredus sequenti die obtionem exercitui suo dedit, ut si mallent Manniam inter se dividere, et in ea habitare; vel cunctam substantiam terrae accipere, et ad propria remeare.” Chron. Manniae. (Cott. MS. Jul. A. VII. fol. 32.) Upon the removal of St. Cuðberht’s relics to Durham, the first care was to eradicate the forest that covered the land; the next, to distribute the clearing by lot: “eradicata itaque silva, et unicuique mansionibus sorte distributis,” etc. Simeon. Hist. Dunelm. Eccl. § 37.