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sáwel-sceatt

  • noun [ masculine ]
Dictionary links
Grammar
sáwel-sceatt, es; m.
An ecclesiastical due, to be paid for every deceased person to the clergy of the church to which he belonged, in consideration of the services performed by them in his behalf. It was to be paid before the funeral rites were completed, though the regulation would hardly be carried out in cases where grants of land were made. It appears to have been one of the objects of the early gilds, to provide for the payment of this fee
Show examples

  • Sáwlsceat

    vel syndrig Godes lác dano (dona? ),

      Wrt. Voc. i. 28, 44.
  • The passages dealing with the subject in the Laws are the following

    Ic wille ðæt míne geréfan gedón ðæt man ágife ða ciricsceattas and ða sáwlsceattas tó ðám stówum ðe hit mid riht tó gebirige,

      L. Ath. i. prm.; Th. i. 196, 9.

  • Gelǽste man sáwlsceat (sául-,

      MS. A.) æt
    ǽlcan cristenan men tó ðam mynstre ðe hit tó gebyrige, L. Edg. 1, 5; Th. i. 264, 24.

  • And sáulsceat is rihtast ðæt man symle gelǽste æt openum græfe; and gif man ǽnig líc of rihtscriftscíre elles hwár lecge, gelǽste man sáulsceat swá ðéh intó ðam mynstre ðe hit tó hýrde,

      L. Eth. v. 12; Th. i. 308, 4-7 : vi. 20-21; Th. i. 320, 4-8: ix. 13; Th. i. 342, 33: L. C. E. 13; Th. i. 368, 5-8.
  • To the same effect it is said in Wulfstan's Homilies

    Eác wé lǽraþ ðæt cristenra manna gehwylc understande, ðæt hé æfter forþsíðe bútan sáwulsceatte ne licge on mynstre, ac gelǽste man á ðone sáwelsceat æt openum pytte,

      118, 4-7.

  • Sáulscat is rihtast ðæt man gelǽste aa æt openum græfe,

      311, 12.

  • The

    sáwelsceat

    is sometimes determined in amount by the will of the deceased :-- Ic gean intó Élig . . . ðér mínes hláfordes líchoma rest, ðara þreó landa ðe wit geheótan Gode . . . and ðes beáhges gemacan, ðe man sæalde mínum hláforde, tó sáwlescæatte,
      Chart. Th. 524, 14-30.

  • See too Shrn. 159, and Turner's Anglo-Saxons, bk. vii. c. xiv. Kemble,

      Cod. Dip. i.
    lxii, remarks that in lands leased by the Church, and exclusively in such, there is frequently a stipulation for the payment of sáwelsceat. For the practice in the case of gilds, see Chart. Th. 609, 10-18 :-- Æt ǽlcum forðfarenum gildan æt ǽlcum heorþe ǽnne penig tó sáwulsceote, sé hit bonda, sé hit wíf, ðe on ðam gildscipe sindon; and ðat sáwulgesceot sceulon ða canonicas habban, and swilce þénisce dón for hig swilce hig ágon tó dóne.
Linked entries
v.  sáwel-gescot.
Entry information
Citation

Bosworth, Joseph. “sáwel-sceatt.” In An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary Online, edited by Thomas Northcote Toller, Christ Sean, and Ondřej Tichy. Prague: Faculty of Arts, Charles University, 2014. https://bosworthtoller.com/26466.

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  • sáwel-sceatt, n.

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