[497]. Æðelst. v. § 10. Thorpe, i. 240.
[498]. “Ðonne beád mon ealle witan tó cynge, and man sceólde ðonne rǽdan, hú man ðisne eard werian sceólde.” Chron. an. 1010. Beódan is to proclaim.
See also Chron. Sax. 1048. Hist. Eliens. 1, 10, etc.
[499]. “And se cyng hæfde ðǽr on morgen witena gemót, ⁊ cwæð hine útlage.” Chron. Sax. an. 1052. “And wæs ðá witena gemót.” Ib. an. 1052. “Ða hæfde Eádwerd cyning witena gemót on Lundene.” Ib. an. 1050.
[500]. Cod. Dipl. No. 116. It is probable that even in strictly ecclesiastical synods, the king had a presidency at least, as head of the church in his dominions[dominions]. In Willibald’s life of Boniface we are told:—“Regnante Ini, Westsaxonum rege, subitanea quaedam incubuerat, nova quadam seditione exorta, necessitas, et statim synodale a primatibus aecclesiarum cum consilio praedicti regis servorum Dei factum est concilium; moxque omnibus in unum convenientibus, saluberrima de hac recenti dissentione consilii quaestio inter sacerdotales aecclesiastici ordinis gradus sapienter exoritur, et prudentiori inito consultu, fideles in Domino legatos ad archiepiscopum Cantuariae civitatis, nomine Berchtwaldum, destinandos deputarunt, ne eorum praesumptione aut temeritati adscriberetur, si quid sine tanti pontificis agerent consilio. Cumque omnis senatus et universus clericorum ordo, tam providenti peracta conlatione, consentirent, confestim rex cunctos Christi famulos adlocutus est, ut cui huius praefatae legationis nuntium inponerent, sciscitarent,” etc. Pertz, ii. 338.
[501]. Runde, Abhandlung vom Ursprung der Reichsstandschaft der Bischöfe und Aebte. Gött. 1775, p. 35, etc.
[502]. Hist. Eccl. i. 26.
[503]. Ibid. ii. 5.
[504]. See Phillips, Geschichte des Angelsächsischen Rechts. Gött. 1825, p. 71.
[505]. Hloðhære and Eádríc, kings of the men of Kent, augmented the laws which their forefathers had made before them, by these dooms. Prol. to Leg. Hloð. et Ead. Thorpe, i. 26. See also the Prologue to Wihtrǽd’s laws in the text.