mutual sureties or frank (free) pledges for each other's orderly
conduct; so that each man was a member of a tything, and was obliged to
keep household rolls of his servants. Thus every liegeman was known to
the law, and was taught his duties and obligations; and every tything
was responsible for the production of its criminals, and obliged to pay
a fine if they escaped. Every householder was liable to answer for any
stranger who might stop at his house. "This mutual liability or
suretyship was the pivot of all Alfred's administrative reform, and
wrought a remarkable change in the kingdom, so that merchants and
travellers could go about without armed guards. The forests were emptied
of outlaws, and confidence and security succeeded distrust and
lawlessness.... The frank pledge-system, which was worked in country
districts, was supplied in towns by the machinery of the
guilds,--institutions combining the benefit of modern clubs, insurance
societies, and trades-unions. As a rule, they were limited to members of
one trade or calling."

Mr. Pearson, in his history of England, as quoted by Hughes, thus sums
up this great administrative reform for the preservation of life and
property and order during the Middle Ages:--

"What is essential to remember is, that life and property were not
secured to the Anglo-Saxon by the State, but by the loyal union of his
fellow-citizens; the Saxon guilds are unmatched in the history of their
times as evidences of self-reliance, mutual trust, patient
self-restraint, and orderly love of law among a young people,

"To recapitulate the reforms of Alfred in the administration of justice
and the resettlement of the country, the old divisions of shires were
carefully readjusted, and divided into hundreds and tythings. The