158 0. S. Anderson

same nature as numerous Scandinavian hundred-names in lzaugr
’n1ound’ from the Danelaw. ‘

Certain other names may give further indication that meets
were often held at graves or memorials of the dead. The names
in stow which havepersonal names for their first elements
may refer to burial-places; and it is probable that. many of the
numerous group of hundred-names in stem ’stone’- denote stones
set up in memory of a dead king or chieftain, as was the custom
in Scandinavia too. We have also the common hundred-names in

Jcross in the Danelaw, which no doubt often refer to memorial

crosses. .
It is not improbable that some of the numerous hundred-names
in ’tree’, which almost always contain pers. names, refer to trees
similary planted on the graves of the dead, a custom known to
have existed in ancient times. .
Other types of hundred-names which are also very common
are those which refer to meeting. at fords or bridges, names in

’ford’ being very frequent in the eastern counties; and those which -

end in leak and ield, denoting an opening in a wood, or an open
common or heath, on which the meetings of the hundred took
place. Sometimes léah may mean ‘wood’, and one of the most
common hundred name elements in the Danelawis ON lzmdr,
which may refer to a sacred grove. \

Hundred-names very often contain pers. names for their first
elements (v. lists below). Both compound and uncompounded
names are common, and there are many women's names among
them. Personal names are especially common in combination with
words for ’barrow’ (beorg, /Llfiw), ’stone’ and ’tree’. -Other names
also, e. g. those in stow, léah, burg etc., frequently contain pers.
names, not to mention names in 'wor[), tfin and ham.

As suggested above, one explanation of the frequency of pcrs.
names with words for ’barrow’, ’stone’ or ’tree’ is that the barrows
and stones, and to some extent the treesform or mark the burial—
place or are the memorial of a chicftain or leader. ,

Alternatively, it is possible that a stone or a tree named from
a certain person was thciboundary llltll‘l{i0.i"lllS or her estate.
Many boundary stones and trees are mentioned as landmarks in

<23‘

  

 

The English Hundred-N:unes 15$)

charters, and hundreds often met on the boundaries of parishes,
or on commons, so as to be on neutral ground.

A third e.\'plan:‘ttion that has been advanced is that meeting-
places, stones, trees, etc. were called after the hundredman or
lawman who was the chief man in the hundred.‘ It is quite likely
that the lawman assembled the men of the hundred at some tree,
stone or other spot on his estate, and that the meeting-place thus
got its name from him. Thisis no doubt the explanation of
hundred-names in stoc and stow combined with pers. names, if
these words mean ’1neeting—place’ (cf. below). We seem to have
proof of it in the name of Frustfield hd W, ‘the chief’s field’,
which may tell us that the hundred met on the estate of its chief.
There are some instances of a similar kind from the Danclaw,
where hundreds sometimes met at a mound (tree, cross or grove).
dedicated to the man who gave its name to the village in whose
territory the meeting-place mound etc. was situated. In Y(l7'Z€.s'l7'(?(?
Y we have an instance similar to 1“rustl'ield, the meeting—place
tree bearing the name of the jar! (earl), but if he was liciulman
of the hundred or of a larger district remains uncertain. liawrcss
Will) Li (’Law—Wolf’s eoppiec’) was no doubt named from some
lawman, famous enough to have liiid the fact recorded in his
name.

Among the names listed below are many that contain a refer-
ence to the hu1ulred—moot, and which give inl’ormation of the
manner of holding the meet, who attended it, etc.

We have first names like Shamwell K and Dill Sx, which must
refer to benches and a stage or platform for the court; or Scipc
hd W, which no doubt refers to some shelter used at the meetings
oi the hundred. It is curious that the hundreds should take their
names from these erections, which, unless the names have been
changed, were thus evidently in use from the very first. A change
of name is not likely either, for though there is considerable
fluctuation of names, changes occur according to certain rules.
Unless hundreds are combined, or take the names of their ca.pila.,
the old names are seldom eliangetl.

T1!” Sl’0U<il1-Illulcing in the hundred-court is einpliusimd in

‘ Ci’. ’/iuehrisson, St.Nl’h 5.1!), lfikwull, ODD s.v_ [1'c()\v_

.nv


H30 , 0. S. Anderson

luuulred-names like Spclhoe lid Np, Spel/zoge hd Nf, ’the speech
hill’, and b'peltl1orne hd Mx, ’the speech thorn’. There are many
other names, not lnmdred-names, which contain OE spell ’speech’,
and refer t.o meetings at which speeches were made, e. g. Spellow
La ’tl1e speech hill’ (OD'l5’), OE Sg)elstou=e Gl (B08 165 ’the
speech-place’, Spell Hove Y, perhaps the meeting—place of ’I‘orbar
hd, Spcrberry Hill Hrt, the meeting-place of Ilitchin hd, Speller.
Close Np, the meeting—place of Stoke hd, and several other names
in Spel- in the same county (cf. PNNp). Spetehley We, at the
meeting-place of Oswaldslow hd, from OE spcéc ’speeeh’ also
belongs here, like Matlask Ni and Matloek Db, which contain
OE -mrepel ’speech’ or- ’meeting’. In Rapsgate hd Gl we probably
have mention of the judicial procedure of the hundred-court.

Other words for ’moot’ or ’meeting’ occur in many names. We
have Modbury hd D0 which is ’n1oot—hill’, and numerous names,
not hundred~names, containing the word ’moot’, occur all over
England. Modbury Dv, which is identiilal with the Dorset hundred-
name, may have been the early meeting‘-place of Ermington lid;
and there is a third l\/Iodbury in Dorset nr Bridport. Flendish lid
Ca met at Mutlow Hill, and another Mutlow Hill was the meeting-
place of Uttlesford hd Ess. 1-larlow hd Ess held its meets at
Mulberry, earlier /llotebery, Green, Eastbourne hd Sx met at Met-
combe, and the meeting-places of Hinekford, Winstree and Bury
hds were at places called Illotstowe. All these contain OE gemot
’moot, meetinrr’. Some moot-places are mentioned in OE sources,
e. g. gemotlcah ’moot glade’ (BCS 1213) in Kinwardstone hd, or
ge'mot/ms ’moot house’ (BCS F06) in Micheldevcr hd, and there
is mention of various places called gcmotbeorg ’mo0t hill’ identi-
cal with Modl)u1'y above (1308 392, 702, KCD 741), Other names
containing‘ gemrlt are Mutlow Ch, Motcombe Do and lllobbcrley
Ch (O‘l)l’), which, though not names of hundreds, all denote
ancient Ineeting-places; and probably also Mutford hd S1’, ’1noot
ford’.. ’

OE ]ri'/1_(/ ’thing, meeting’ occurs in 'l‘ing'ley Y, the meeting‘-
plaee of Morley wap, and in Tliingley W (’1‘/Lingele 1275, ’1‘yn_(/lc
128$), '1'/1.3/n_(/ele 1332 PNW), the iueeting-place oi’ Oliippenham lltl-.
Other naines in ]u'./lg, nanies of ancient moot-places, are l“in;_1,‘e,st
Bk, l"inetlon Np anil"l‘liing;liill lie (ODP), none of which have

“,7

 

'.l‘he lCn;:lisli lliunlrcd-l\'anics 1131

given its name to a hundred, and ’l‘in;:;i'itl1 Bd, close to the
meeting»place ol’ Mansliead hd.

In the Danelaw the Scand. counterpart of OE ]2in._r/ occurs in
several names. We may note Thingoe hd Si’, from ON [)é71{//im/{/r
’moot-hill’, and '.l‘hing'wall Oh and La, which are counterparts of
Pingeellir in Iceland and the Tynwald Mount in the Isle of Man.’

Skyrael; wap Y means ’oak where the shire meets’, Shirley l'1(l
Ha is ’clearing for the shire-moot’, and some other names in OE
sclr have a similar meaning. Skirmett Bk (PNBL: xvii) is from
OE sci2'—gem6t ’shire—moot’. Skirmett is near Fingest and refers
to the same moot as that name. Other instances are mentioned
in ODI’ (s. V. 8137.)‘). .

llundredsbarrow hd Do contains the word ’hundrcd(-court)’ it-
self,’ and 1<‘1'eebritlge Ni‘ (’peace bridgzfe’) may have been a bri<l;,>'c
protected for‘ the holding of the hundred moot.

Finally, some humlred-nanies contain a reference to the per—
sons who attended the court. Charlton hd Brk refers to a hill
on which the freemen of the liundred gatliered, and Carlford hd
Sf is probably a Scandinavianized form of OE *(..'e0rIufo/‘(I ’i'ord
where the freemcn meet’. Knightlow Wa, originally the meeting-
plaee of three hundreds, a ’ship-soke’, contains OE cni/it ’scrv-ant,
retainer,'inan’. Doubtless the word here refers to the men attend-
ing the court, as does perhaps also cild in Chilford hd Ca. Cild
’child’ also means ’youth, man of noble birth’ etc. in OE, and
may occur in some such sense as ’frceman, sokeman’ in numerous
Chiltons and (lliilcots." . I

S\va.nboroug;li hd W and Sx is no doubt to be connected with
the ’swanimote’, lit. ’meeting' of swineherds’. Wittery Sa. probably
contains the word wile ’wise man, counsellor’. There is a further
rei'erence to the meetings of the wild): in ‘witena l(’(I_(/e l3{.lS 1312,
’the council glade’. ln ltrentry (ll and L\‘eel<|oe Bk we liave possible
instances of meetings of warriors (OE beam, set,-g).'

‘ Cf. also ll’N 88. '.l‘hing\vall La was probably the _meeting-place of

_W. Derby lid (Eluvall in Sydsvenska Oi'tii:uniiss:'illsl<. ilrsslcr. l‘."_’t3, p. (3).

“ For other names containing,‘ the word ’liuiulreil', v. index.

“ Cl’. the (liseussion in |’NWo 5ll,‘()l)l’ s.v. Chilton. l\'nie'l1tmi, ;\l.-twer,
l’Ns aiul lljstmy t37l'., Slculon, |*ln;:li.s‘l1 l“eiul;1li.~'m _i2l.‘l |'., lliieli, ’(.‘l1il(l, lie)’,
Girl’ in Oi‘) 1“_’tSi'. Klll,‘.','lll()ll in lh-rlisliire was hclil in ltltitl by .3 (ram
/to//ii/1c.s~, in Dorselshirc by 2 (Mini and in ll.-unp.~:hirc by 8 {lbw/‘I /m//ii/ms‘.
(.3liil¢.lerloy 0a was held ’.l‘l{i<l by vl soc/u'/mi/mi (i\laweI', op. cit.).

ll

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