LAWLESS TIMES
After four hundred years the Roman armies had to leave Britain. The people left behind had no defences against the ferocious Saxon warriors who sailed across the North Sea, at first to raid, and then to settle in a land more fertile than their own.
Towns were laid waste and the Roman system of law and order, known as the "Pax Romana", or Peace of the Romans quickly disappeared. Justice, trade and a peaceful way of life became a thing of the past.
SAXON LAW AND ORDER
The Saxons lived in small communities and did not build towns as the Romans had done. As the invaders settled down to village life a rough and ready system of justice developed to protect lives and property. The centre of this was the "Moot".
The Moot was a meeting, held in the open air, attended by all the older men of the village. Each family chose one of its menfolk to speak and act for it at the Folk Moot. There were no special judges, such as the Romans had.
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