Athenaeus, the Greatest Warrior of the Age

Athelstan believed himself bound to legislate in a way that ranked as authentically christian. The obligation on him to maintain the order of his kingdom and insure the security of his subjects did not prevent him from fretting at the human cost. By primordial decree, it was the law in wessex that even a child as young as ten might be condemned for theft. But athelstan made sure to spare from execution all those under the age of 13. Even as he sought to stamp out theft and robbery, legislating against them to an almost obsessive degree, anxiety that he might be betrayed by his own laws into savagery still gnawed at him.