people, and as the advance in his time was from the east, they probably came from that direction, as their name still lingers in the old Wendish parts of Germany. The places whose names begin with the word Buk- are almost all, as far as Germany is concerned, found in its eastern or ancient Slavic parts.[1] Some are also found in the Slavic parts of Austria. West of the Elbe, Buchau is the name of a suburb of Magdeburg in Prussian Saxony, a district which was close to, or within, the ancient Slav frontier. It must therefore be allowed that the evidence, both ancient and modern, which connects the name of the people known as the Bucki with the old country of the Wends in Eastern Germany is by no means slight.
The traces of people of different tribes which the Domesday names in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire exhibit are of interest. Danais and Daneslai, in Hertfordshire, point in all probability to Danish settlements, while Wenriga and Wenrige probably denote Wendish people.
The fact already mentioned that there is in Buckinghamshire a higher percentage of brunettes at the present time shows that there was some unusual element among the people.
In Bedfordshire there were at the time of the Survey two hundreds which had the significant names Weneslai and Wilga. It is difficult to see how they could have arisen except from settlements of people with Wendish names. The name Wilga seems to denote a community of the Wilte or Wiltzi, the largest known tribe of the Wends.
Among the old Mercian shires, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire are remarkable for the various kinds of land tenure which prevailed in them at the close of the Saxon period. In the former there were land-holders who could let their land to whom they pleased, others who could sell their land, others who could both let and sell, and others who could neither let nor sell without license from the
- ↑ Rudolph, H., ‘Orts Lexicon von Deutschland.’
