Customary Principles

       Societies share the concept of mutual agreements that help all to live together. My ancient Celtic families lived together sharing certain social norms that allowed daily life and their kin to carry on. The daily process of living and going on with life and family, meant a way to keep that DNA flowing. These customary ideas would form more formal agreements called laws, which were passed down from generation to generation orally. Finally, as folks survived in the highlands of what was to become Wales, they started to collect and write down these social concepts. As a group of laws they became known as "The Laws of Hywel Dda". The cover of my copy is shown below. First translated and published by Dafydd Jenkins 1986, it represents a summary of the customary principles of the folks from this ancient Celtic group.

      Now inside the very last pages of the book binder itself, it shows the following order of things as organized in their society around 950 A.D.

      Following the Smith (Blacksmith) came the order of animals that have been discussed in previous posts, i.e., horses, cows, and sheep. These animals are shown along with pigs, goats, and at the end of the line humans. The horse is valued at 60 pence (p.171), the cattle at 40 pence (p.175), the pig at 15 pence, and the lowly sheep at 4 pence (p.179). The cattle and sheep would be herded from the highlands to the lowlands at the appropriate time of the season. You would certainly need a way to get all these critters controlled on the way to market. A guard hedge and ditch along the length of the land bridge they would all cross might come in handy.