Washington sentinel., 1898-04-02
The EngIlsh township.
GenLLe,nnns 5 MagaEine.

ably reply I'm England. It's name
has certainly an English sound,
and well il may, for Ditmarsh is
the cradle Of our race, the old Sax
ony from which our forefathers sci
out in order to found new homes in
Britain. Ditmarsh comprises the
strip Of country situated between
the mouths OF the rivers Elbe and
Elder. An old map of Neocorus
shows that the physical aspect Of
the shore line has greatly altered
even in recent times. In the fit
teenth century a great island of
sand lay off the coast, and diverted
the main stream oil the Elbe so
that 1t flowed northwaTd and min
gled its waters with those OF the
Elder. 1t is said that the language
spoken in Ditmarsh three centur-
les ago closely resembled the early
English tongue, and this assertion
is borne out by t.le occurrence in
the dialect OF such phrases as, "flo
und ebb, "sink oder SWIM" and
"quit und frie," which no English
man could fail to understand.
Both languages in fact belonged
to the Low Dutch" group which
formerly prevailed along the
northern shores OF the continent,
from Denmark to PicardV. and
formed an intermediate link be
tween the Scandinavian spoken in
Norway and Sweden, and the
High Dutch" oil the interior OF
Germany. King Waldemar's S
EYd6uch or census, which dates
from the thirteenth century, con-
tains names OF localities in the
Ditmarsh:-Ruye, Stening, Ore,
Worthing, Hethe, Rumsoe, Swan
soc, Grumpy and Withby, which
have long since been transferredto
places on the British shores. At
any rate they hnd counterparts in
Rye, Steyning, Worthing, Hythe,
Ore and Romsey on the south,
Swansea on the west and Grimsby
and Whitby on the east ;oast; and
list of families resident in Dit
marsh during the hiteenth CEN
tury exhibits many SurnameS
identical with our own, such as
Butte, Butteler, Evers, Greeve,
Hartman, Hemming, Harder, Hell
man, Jerriman, Portman, Suwell
and Wilder. ("Arch9ologia,"
81, s73.)
Up to the fifteenth century the
people Of Ditmarsh =ontrived to
preserve their identity and inde-
pendence, and each parish formed
a self-contained and self-governed
agricultural community, and
elected from the most infu-
entail of its "gudemen" or land
owners certain officers called the
"Sixteens," who administered
justice, and from whose decision
an appeal lay only to the assembly
of the whole parish. The Sixteens
also regulate the cultivation Of the
"teldmark," or land belonging to
the community, superintended the
division by lot of the common
field and common pasture, pro-
vided a common bull for breeding
cattle, and appointed subordinate
officials to attend to the gates and
hedges. (I6id. 3Ss.) The stand
ard Of land measure in Ditmarsh
until the thirteenth century was
the jordh or "yardland."
Now il we turn to our own
country, we shall find a most
striking example Of how this same
home rule was imported by tor
eign invaders from the banks oi
the Elbe to those OF the Thames,
and in spite OF millennium and a
halt still preserved some ofits orig
inal features. The manor OF Aston
and Cote, in the parish Of Bamp-
ton-in- the Bush, Oxfordshire, pos
sessed a custom which, at the
date OF it's inclosure in 1858, was
thought to be unique, though there
is reason to suppose that a similar
one prevailed at an earlier period in
neighboring manors. All the in
habitants met. on the eve Of Lady
day, at the town cross OF Aston,
and there elected a representative
from every hide Of land to serve
as "Sixteens" during the ensuing
year. These Sixteens (the term
it will be oberved Is identical with
that formerly used in Ditmarsh)
formed a court which exercised
jurisdiction quite indie pendent Of
the lord OF the manor and his
steward in all mat, ers relating to
the internal arrangements Of the
manor. They made orders, amer
led suitors for non appearance.set
penalties, made pTesentments. and
their orders, if proclaimed from
the town cross, were binding on all
the inhabitants. Like the Sixteens
oil Ditmarsh, they made an annual
allotment Of the common fields and
meadows, and appointed four
"grass stewards" whose duty it
was to see that bulls were pro-
vided for the common use, and
that gates and hedges were kept
in good repair. ("ArchRologia," |"
80, a74.)
Many ofour municipal boroughs
are mere Developments OF the Eng
lish eownslIip. The Saxon word
6nrk or 6Rycg meant originally the
fortified house and courtyard OF
the nobleman, and came to be ap-
piled to the town which grew up
around it--a community which
held its o Nn 6AyhgsmOt or borough
assembly under the presidency OF
its own reeve. The borough was,
IN fact a more strictly ORGANIZED