APPENDIX I.

2 67

the king, had there been no other legislative Appendixauthority, the royal power had been in a great 1.measure absolute , contrary to the tenor of allthe historians , and to the practice of allthe northern nations. We may, therefore, conclude,that the more considerable proprietors of landwere , without any election , constituent membersof the national assembly : There is reason tothink, that forty hides , or between four andfive thousand acres, was the estate requisite forentitling the possessor to this honourable privilege.

We find a passage in an ancient author 7 bywhich it appears, that a person of very noblebirth, even one allied to the crown, was notesteemed a pnneeps (the term usually employed byancient historians when the Wittenagemot ismentioned) till he had acquired a fortune of thatamount. Nor need we imagine, that the publiccouncil would become disorderly or confused byadmitting so great a multitude. The landedproperty of England was probably in few handsduring the Saxon times; at least, during thelatter part of that period : And as men had

sometimes chosen by the Wittenagemot, and confirmed bythe king. Eddius, cap. 2. The abbots in the monasteries ofroyal foundation were anciently named by the king; thoughEdgar gave the monks the election, and only reserved tohimself the ratification. This destination was afterwardsfrequently violated; and the abbots as well as bnhops wereafterwards all appointed by the king; as we learn fromIngulf, a writer contemporary to the conquest,

7 Hist. Eliensis, lib. 2. cap. 40,