230
NAVESTOCK IN OLDEN DAYS ;
Judgment was given by the Free Echevins, according to
plurality of votes. The jurisdiction of the Court extended to all
crimes committed in the open air—thefts of cattle or agricultural
implements, trespasses, and even murder.
Corrupted by the errors of the transcriber, "The Tale of the
Wardstaffe" was also, without doubt, modernised in the mouths
of the Churls who repeated it ; and yet we can still recognise the
tone and the phraseology of the Courts of the Eresburgh. The
Irminsule itself has been described as the trunk of a tree. Thor
was worshipped under the same rude symbol, and it may be sus-
pected that the singular respect and reverence shown to the Ward
Staffe of the East Saxons is not without its relation to the rites and
ceremonies of the heathen time, though innocently and unconsciously
retained.15
We may now consider the time of year when this ceremony was
performed, viz. : at Hocktide. This season is well worthy of notice.
In times later than that of the Saxons, as we have already seen, it
was connected more or less with the payment of dues. But we also
find it celebrated as a period of festivity, and in particular with the
performance of the "Historical and Ancient Coventry Play of Hock
Tuesday," the subject of which was the Massacre of the Danes on
St. Brice's night, November 13th, 1002, and which play was originally
expressed in actions or rhymes, but when performed before Queen
Elizabeth was without any recitation, in mere dumb show, and con-
sisted of hot skirmishes and furious encounters between the English
and Danish forces, first by the launce knights on horseback armed
with spears and shields, who, being many of them dismounted, fought
with swords and targets. Then followed two hosts of footmen, one
after the other, first marching in ranks, then turning about in war-
like manner they changed their form from ranks into squadrons, then
into triangles, then into rings, and then winding out again they joined
in battle—twice the Danes had the better, but at the last conflict they
were beaten down, overcome, and many of them led captive for
triumph by our English women.16
I must confess to having been much struck by the resemblance
of this description, coupled with what has gone before, to the per-
formance of the historical play of Husain and Hosain, popularly
called the "Tazia," as I have witnessed it enacted by East Indian
15 Palgrave "Rise of the English Commonwealth,'' vol. ii., pp. 144-162.
16 Strutt's "Sports and Pastimes," article, Hoke-Day.