In all other respects the King's authority was limited--except when he
was strong enough to get his own way--by the Witenagemot, or General
Council. This body consisted of the chief men of each kingdom acting
in behalf of its people.[1] IT exercised the following powers: (1) It
elected the King, and if the people confirmed the choice, he was
crowned. (2) If the King proved unsatisfactory, the Council might
depose him and choose a successor. (3) The King, with the consent of
the Council, made the laws,--that is, he declared the customs of the
tribe. (4) The King, with the Council, appointed the chief officers
of the kingdom (after the introduction of Christianity this included
the bishops); but the King alone appointed the sheriff, to represent
him and collect the revenue in each shire. (5) The Council confirmed
or denied grants of portions of the public lands made by the King to
private persons. (6) The Council acted as the high court of justice,
the King sitting as supreme judge. (7) The Council, with the King,
discussed all questions of importance,--such as the levying of taxes,
and the making of treaties; smaller matters were left to the towns,
hundreds, and shires to settle for themselves. After the
consolidation of the different English kingdoms into one, the
Witenagemot expanded into the National Council. In it we see "the
true beginning of the Parliament of England."
[1] The Witenagmot (i.e. the Meeting of the Witan, or Wise Men, S80),
says Stubbs ("Select Charters"), represented the people, although it
was not a collection of representatives.
4. How England became a United Kingdom; Influence of the Church and of
the Danish Invasions.
For a number of centuries Britain consisted of a number of little
rival kingdoms, almost constantly at war with each other. Meanwhile
missionaries from Rome had introduced Christianity, 597. Through the
influence of Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury (668), the
clergy of the different hostile kingdoms met in general Church
councils.[2] This religious unity of action prepared the way for
political unity. The Catholic Church--the only Christian Church
(except the Greek Church) then existing--made men feel that their
highest interests were one; it "created the nation" (S48).
[2] This movement began several years earlier (S48), but Theodore of
Tarsus was its first great organizer.
This was the first cause of the union of the kingdoms. The second was
the invasion of the Danes. These fierce marauders forced the people
south of the Thames to join in common defense, under the leadership of
Alfred, King of the West Saxons. By the Treaty of Wedmore, 878, the
Danes were compelled to give up Southwestern England, but they
retained the whole of the Northeast. About the middle of the tenth
century, one of Alfred's grandsons conquered the Dnaes, and took the
title of "King of England."[1] Later, the Danes, reenforced by fresh
invasions of their countrymen, made themselves masters of the land;
yet Canute, the most powerful of these Danish kings, ruled according
to English methods. At length the great body of the people united in
choosing Edward the Confessor king (1042-1066). He was English by
birth, but Norman by education. Under him the unity of the English
kingdom was, in name at least, fully restored.
[1] Some authorities consider Edgar (959) as the first "King of all
England." In 829 Egbert, King of the West Saxons, forced all the
other Saxon Kings of Britian to acknowledge him as their "Overlord"
(S49).