PAST CRIMES(tree)’. Moots were usually marked, both in France and in Britain, with some
sort of recognisable symbol–a stone pillar, a tree, a wooden post. At the
seventh century AngloSaxon royal centre of Yeavering in Northumbria, a
wooden‘theatre’structure has been excavated, which included an upright
wooden post, and may thus mark the site of a royal moot. A number of moot
sites are found close to prehistoric burial mounds, shrines, temples or other
monuments, something that is also seen in Scandinavia and in Ireland. It is
thought that placing the moots in these sites added to their legitimacy through
a connection with ancestral power. The sites chosen were also often at the edge
of territories, away from normal habitations, to underline their impartiality.
Justice and punishment
Crimes were dealt with on a personal basis–communities were expected to
police themselves and to stand surety for good behaviour in their
neighbourhoods. In this way, it was in everybody’s interest to make sure that
Figure 13. AngloSaxon moot