wittena-gemote or the meeting of wiſe men. It was alſo ſtiled in Latin, commune concilium regni, magnum concilium regis, curia magna, conventus magnatum vel procerum, aſſiſa generalis, and ſometimes communitas regni Angliae[1]. We have inſtances of it’s meeting to order the affairs of the kingdom, to make new laws, and to amend the old, or, as Fleta[2] expreſſes it, “novis injuriis emerſis nova conſtituere remedia,” ſo early as the reign of Ina king of the weſt Saxons, Offa king of the Mercians, and Ethelbert king of Kent, in the ſeveral realms of the heptarchy. And, after their union, the mirrour[3] informs us, that king Alfred ordained for a perpetual uſage, that theſe councils ſhould meet twice in the year, or oftener, if need be, to treat of the government of God’s people; how they ſhould keep themſelves from ſin, ſhould live in quiet, and ſhould receive right. Our ſucceeding Saxon and Daniſh monarchs held frequent councils of this ſort, as appears from their reſpective codes of laws; the titles whereof uſually ſpeak them to be enacted, either by the king with the advice of his wittena-gemote, or wiſe men, as, “haec ſunt inſtituta, quae Edgarus rex conſilio ſapientum ſuorum inſtituit;” or to be enacted by thoſe ſages with the advice of the king, as, “haec ſunt judicia, quae ſapientes conſilio regis Ethelſtani inſtituerunt;” or laſtly, to be enacted by them both together, as, “hae ſunt inſtitutiones, quas rex Edmundus et epiſcopi ſui cum ſapientibus ſuis inſtituerunt.”
There is alſo no doubt but theſe great councils were held regularly under the firſt princes of the Norman line. Glanvil, who wrote in the reign of Henry the ſecond, ſpeaking of the particular amount of an amercement in the ſheriff’s court, ſays, it had never yet been aſcertained by the general aſſiſe, or aſſembly, but was left to the cuſtom of particular counties[4]. Here the general aſſiſe is ſpoken of as a meeting well known, and it’s
