The witan of England had met to aid in the consecration of Westminster Abbey, and, as was their full right, proceeded to elect a king, on Eádweard’s decease.
5. The witan had the power to depose the king, if his government was not conducted for the benefit of the people.
It is obvious that the very existence of this power would render its exercise an event of very rare occurrence. Anglosaxon history does however furnish one clear example. In 755, the witan of Wessex, exasperated by the illegal conduct of king Sigeberht, deposed him from the royal dignity, and elected his relative Cynewulf in his stead. The fact is thus related by different authorities. The Chronicle[[545]] says very shortly:—“This year, Cynewulf and the witan of the Westsaxons deprived his kinsman Sigeberht of his kingdom, except Hampshire[[546]], for his unjust deeds.”
Florence tells the same story, but in other words[[547]]:—“Cynewulf, a scion of the royal race of Cerdic, with the counsel of the Westsaxon primates, removed their king Sigeberht from his realm, on account of the multitude of his iniquities, and reigned in his place: however he granted to him one province, which is called Hampshire.”
Æðelweard[[548]], whose royal descent and usual pedantry conspire to make his account of the matter somewhat hazy, says:—“So, after the lapse of a year from the time when Sigeberht began to reign, Cynewulf invaded his realm and took it from him; and he drew the sapientes of all the western country after him, apparently, on account of the irregular acts of the said king,” etc.
The fullest account however of the whole transaction is given by Henry of Huntingdon[[549]], who very frequently shows a remarkable acquaintance with Saxon authorities which are now lost, but from which he translates and quotes at considerable length. These are his words:—“Sigeberht, the kinsman of the aforesaid king, succeeded him, but he held the kingdom for a short time only: for being swelled up and insolent through the successes of his predecessor, he became intolerable even unto his own people. But when he continued to ill-use them in every way, and either twisted the laws to his own advantage, or turned them aside for his advantage, Cumbra, the noblest of his ealdormen, at the petition of the whole people, brought their complaints before the savage king. Whom, for attempting to persuade him to rule his people more mercifully, and setting his inhumanity aside to show himself an object of love to God and man, he shortly after commanded to be put to an impious death: and becoming still more fierce and intolerable to his people, he aggravated his tyranny. In the beginning of the second year of his reign, Sigeberht the king continuing incorrigible in his pride and iniquity, the princes and people of the whole realm collected together; and by provident deliberation and unanimous consent of all he was expelled from the throne. But Cynewulf, an excellent young prince, of the royal race, was elected to be king[[550]].”
I have little doubt that an equally formal, though hardly equally justifiable, proceeding severed Mercia from Eádwig’s kingdom, and reconstituted it as a separate state under Eádgar[[551]]; and lastly from Simeon of Durham we learn that the Northumbrian Alchred was deposed and exiled, with the counsel and consent of all his people[[552]].
6. The king and the witan had power to appoint prelates to vacant sees.
As many of the witan were the most eminent of the clergy, and the people might be fairly considered to be represented by the secular members of the body, these elections were perhaps more canonical than the Frankish, and assuredly more so than those which take place under our system by congé d’élire. The necessary examples will be found in the Saxon Chronicle, an. 971, 995, 1050. But one may be mentioned at length. In 959 Dúnstán was elected archbishop of Canterbury “consilio sapientum[[553]].”
7. They had also power to regulate ecclesiastical matters, appoint fasts and festivals, and decide upon the levy and expenditure of ecclesiastical revenue.