144
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
as the nobles were raised above the rest of the
people. Under these circumstances the attributes
of sovereignty may be continually apportioned : to
one family it may belong to furnish kings or judges ;
to another, generals; to a third, priests1; or this
division may have arisen in course of time, within
a single family. Or again, the general may only
have,been chosen, pro re nata, when the necessity
of the case required it, from among the judges
or priests, or even from among those who were
not capable by birth of the judicial or sacerdotal
power. We are able to refer to an instance in
support of this assertion ; Beda2 says of the Old-
saxons, that is, the Saxons of the continent: “ Non
enim habent regem iidem antiqui Saxones, sed
satrapas plurimos, suae genti praepositos, qui, in-
gruente belli articulo, mittunt aequaliter sortes, et
quemcumque sors ostenderit, hunc tempore belli
ducern omnes sequuntur, huic obtempérant ; per-
acto autem bello, rursum aequalis potentiae omnes
hunt satrapae.” And this throws light upon what
Tacitusasserts of the Germanic races generally3:
l In the Dooraunee empire, the Suddozyes had the exclusive right
to royalty. Sooja ul Moolk was the last of the race in Caubul. The
Essufzyes were hereditary viziers : the Barukzyes, the family of Dost
Mahomet Khan, hereditary commanders in chief: the union of the
Vizierat with the military command in Dost Mahomet’s father, led to
the ultimate ruin of the Suddozye princes. In the Mogul empire, the
great offices of state became hereditary, and the historians of India
could speak of the Vizier of Oude, the Nizam, the Peishwa or the Gui-
cowar, long after the throne of Aurungzeb had crumbled to the dust.
2 Hist. Eccl. v. 10. Ælfred translates the word satrapae by ealdor-
nιen.
3 Germ. xii.
CH. VI.]
THE KING.
145
“ Eliguntur iniisdeɪn conciliis et principes, quiiura
per pages vicosque reddunt.”
The early separation of the judicial from the
strictly sacerdotal functions, to a certain degree at
least, is easily conceived. It would be mere matter
of convenience, as soon as a population became
numerous and widely dispersed. Yet to a very late
period among the Teutons we find traces of the
higher character. The ordeal or judgment of God,
the casting of lots and divination, are all derived
from and connected with priesthood. The heathen
place of judgment was sanctified to the gods by
priestly ceremonies ; nor can it be supposed that
the popular councils were held without a due in-
auguration by religious rites, or a marked exertion
of authority by the priests. Tacitus speaking of
these parliaments makes the intervention of the
priest the very first step to business: “ Ut turbae
placuit, considunt armati. Silentium per sacerdo-
tes, quibus turn et coercendi ius est, imperaturi.”
The Witena-gemot of later times was opened by
the celebration of mass2, and even yet Mr. Speaker
goes to prayers. During the flourishing period
of Christianity among the Anglosaxons, synods of
the bishops and their clergy were commanded to be
held twice a year, to act as supreme courts of jus-
* Germ. xi.
2 “Quadam die multi tam nobiles quam privati primo mane ad
ɪpsum locum placitaturi Convenerunt ; Bed ante placitum ut Presbyter
eɪs missam Celebraret rogaverunt. At ille, qui ipsa nocte cum uxore
dormierat, ad sacrum altaris officium accedere formidabat ; itaque ne-
gavit se id facturum,” etc. about an. 1045. Sim. Dunelm. Hist. Eccl.
Dun. cap. xlv. (lib. iii. cap. 10. p. 169. Ed. of 1732.)
VOL. I. L