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Lecture 5, p. 41
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LECTURE 5 The Wittenagemot; its business andpower. ~ Method ofits convocation . ~ Vicissitudes ofits character and importance. ~ The kingly office among the Anglo-Saxons. _......_, Extent and progress ofthe royal power. W have already considered the origin and composition of the Wittenagemot , or general assembly of the Anglo-Saxons, it now remains for us to speak ofits attributes and method ofconvocation. In the infancy ofsociety, everything is confused and uncertain; there is as yet no fixed and precise line of demarcation between the different powers in a state; and thus we find that the attributes ofthe Wittenagemot were rather indefinite . There was no settled boundary at which its power ceased, and that of the monarchy commenced; both united to transact all the business of the nation , and, ifwe would ascertain the part actually taken by the Wittenagemot in this business, we must inquire ofhistory what were its real attributes. The defence ofthe kingdom was the chiefbusiness ofthe national assemblies . We must not suppose that the obligation ofmilitary service is coeval only with feudalism; independently of every feudal bond, it was an obligation imposed on every freeman in the nation, just as at the present day every French citizen is bound to present himself for conscription. The Wittenagemot ordered levies ofthe landowners, who, in their turn, convoked the freemen resident on their estates. The Wittenagemot also imposed taxes; at that period, however, there were hardly any public taxes; the first was levied in consequence ofthe Danish invasion, and the law which imposed it expressly states that it received the consent ofall the members present in the Wittenagemot. The county-courts, as we have seen, provided for the maintenance ofthe public roads, bridges, and forts. We learn from the deliberations ofthe AngloSaxon national assembly, that such matters fell under its cognizance also. As the right ofcoining money did not belong exclusively to the king, but was also possessed by the church and by many powerful subjects, the Wit- REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS IN ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND SPAIN tenagemot had the oversight of this matter, and prevented the debasement of the coinage. We also find it ratifying or annulling those acts of county-courts which had reference not to private matters, but to affairs ofgeneral importance. The principle of the responsibility of the agents of power was not more clearly and firmly established in the Anglo-Saxon monarchy than the other great principles of free government; but it was, nevertheless, confusedly practised . A vague feeling ofjustice pervaded these national assemblies; they repressed great abuses, but frequently punished injustice by injustice. The Wittenagemot in England possessed a power which was not generally exercised by corresponding assemblies on the Continent; it had the oversight ofthe royal domain. Originally, the kings lived, like other landowners, on the income derived from their own private estates. Their propertywas a private domain, which they managed as they pleased. As time rolled on, this domain became very largely augmented by confiscations; but the kings, compelled to defend their tottering authority from the frequent attacks to which it was subjected , were incessantly diminishing their estates by gifts to powerful and formidable chiefs. Frequently, also, when they were strong, they resumed the gifts which necessity had extorted from them. The little reliance to be placed upon these purely royal donations, unless they were ratified by the consent ofthe national assembly; and the knowledge that, ifthe king were permitted these forced dilapidations ofhis own domains, the Wittenagemot would one day be obliged to repair them, and compensate the monarch for the loss ofhis private estateswere the reasons which led to the interference of the national assembly in the administration ofthe royal domain. In France, this domain did not fall so soon under the influence ofthe national assemblies, but remained for a much longer period the private property ofthe kings. One of the most important attributes of the Wittenagemot was the direction of ecclesiastical affairs. The abbots and bishops, indeed all the high clergy, were members ofthis assembly. In France, although the clergy formed a part ofthe national assemblies, they treated oftheir own affairs as a separate body, and communicated directly with the king. In England, ecclesiastical matters, like all other business, were discussed in the general assembly. For instance , when missionaries from Rome came to invite the kings of the Heptarchy to embrace the Christian religion, the kings replied that they must ask the consent of the Wittenagemot. In Sweden, the king, who had already become a convert himself, proposed to the assembled Diet to adopt...