shires, in the relation to which it as quite possible for him to be ealdorman of more than one. But every shire was under an ealdorman, who sat with the sheriff and bishop in the folk-moot, received one-third of the profits of jurisdiction (at any rate, in the time of Edward the Confessor), and, as "heretoga," or " leader of the host," com manded the military forces. The " sheriff," whose post was referable to but more dis tinct than the " scir-man" of King Ine, was nominated directly by the king as his stew ard and judicial president of the shire. It was he who convened the shire-moot, which was chiefly concerned with intercepting ap peals to the king in council. The practice, for which there was foreign analogy, ap pears to have been that twelve "Thegns" appeared in this court and, on the institu tion of a kind of grand jury, presented to the sheriff the report of the lesser district. There is a clear distinction between this quasi -German " folc-gemot "of the sheriff and the old state-assembly or " gemot," of the ealdorman; the former was, in Edward's reign, held monthly, the latter only twice a year. In Alfred's reign the " Witena-gemot," or Supreme Council, which was not a simply representative assembly, ceased to be con nected with a geographical division. It was attended by the king and his family, his chief courtiers, his bishops and ealdormen, and a number of " witan " or wise men; it is improbable that in Alfred's time the total number exceeded sixty, although in 934 ninety-one attended a meeting at Winchester. The " witan," it has been said, " possessed a consultative voice and a right to consider every public act which could be authorized by the King," this was the corollary of their theoretical power of electing and de posing him, which was actually practiced until Alfred's case. It is yet one more to ken of his dominant personality that from the day when, as the strong man of the occa
sion, he assumed the crown amid the clang ing of arms, he increased the personal im portance of the kingly power. Insensibly, but none the less really, the relative import ance of the subject decreased with the growth of population; it is true that the first trace of the idea of treason to the king does not appear until the time of Alfred's son, but his own laws give significant indications of the change : amongst these may be noted the provisions as to the king's bail and pro tection, his power' over life, and the higher assessment of his " wergild," or price pay able to his kin on his violent death. Al fred, like Augustus, changed the reality without seeming to change the appearance; the secret of his success was that he did it for the public good. He was no more a despot than he was a figure-head. From the day of his accession his officers were the na tional officers, and, in a theory frequently practiced, he required the consent of his "witan" in the exercise of legislative, judi cial, and other functions. The preface to his laws ( already quoted in our former ar ticle upon Alfred's legislation ) may be taken as an instance of the obedience paid by his forceful individuality in this respect to the dictates of a tactful prudence; its phrases show that it was with the consent of hischief council that he made additions to the existing body of folk-right. The judicial functions of the council, however, were con fined to the ultimate hearing of appeals, and it is improbable that it was concerned with taxation before the extraordinary im posts of Dane-geld ordered a century later. Alfred most probably consulted with his wise men, as in fact he seems to have done in treating with (iuthrum, in deciding a policy of peace or war; but as leader of the host (as he was also the ultimate judge on ap peal) he became more influentially than any king before him, the privileged repre sentative of the unity and dignity of his nation. — The Law Times.
