90	ALCUIN   OP   YORK.
times asked about a wealthy man, how much is he
worth.    In Anglo-Saxon tunes that question had
a direct meaning and a direct answer.     Men of
all the higher grades at  least had their money
value, a very considerable value, which any one
who put an end to any of them must pay.    While
the luxury of killing a bishop was as  costly as
killing an ealdorman, that is,, an earl, an arch-
bishop  was  as  dear  as  a  prince  of  the   blood.
The  bishop  or   earl  was  worth  8000  thrimsas,
the thrimsa being probably threepence, say five
shillings of our money, or j>2000 in all; that was
what had to be paid for the  luxury of  killing
a bishop;  the archbishop or royal prince rose to
15000 thrimsas, nearly twice as much, say £3750
of our money ; it does not sound quite enough to
our modern ears.    The king was put at £7500.
For drawing a weapon in the presence of a bishop
or an ealdorman, the fine was 100 shillings, say
;£100 of our money; in the case of an archbishop
it was 150 shillings, half as much again.    In the
laws of Ina, for violence done to the dwelling and
seat of jurisdiction of a bishop, the fine was 80
shillings, in the case of an archbishop  120, the
same as in the case of the king.    This was not
the only point in which the archbishop was on the
same level as the king; his mere word, without
oath, was—as   the   king's—incontrovertible.     A
bishop's oath was equivalent to the oaths of 240
ordinary tax payers.    In the case of the archbishop
of Canterbury at the times of which we are speak-
ing, there was added the .fact that the royal family
of Kent had retired to Reculver and left the arch-
bishop supreme in the capital city, as the bishops