The Cnihtengild, which till 1125 held the Portsoken, has been incidentally dealt with in the course of this chapter (pp. 102 and 118). Of the many problems connected with the history of London, hardly one has been more discussed than the status of this "mysterious institution." Mr. Loftie thought he had proved that the aldermen formed its members, and that it was the governing gild of London. Mr. Round, however, has adversely criticised this conclusion. It is certain that there were Cnihtengilds in other places, as Winchester and Exeter. As all such places appear to have been county strongholds or burhs, and as we have seen it is probable that the Cnihts of London had the duty of defending the city, and further, as at Cambridge the members of a gild of Thegns were called Cnihts, I conclude the members of the London gild were originally the Thegns who garrisoned Londonburh.[139] CHAPTER VI THE WARDS AND PARISHES--THE PALACE So Hawk fared west to England to see King Athelstane, and found the king in London, and thereat was there a bidding and a feast full worthy. So they went into the hall thirty men in company, and Hawk went before the king and greeted him, and the king bade him welcome. _Saga of Harold Hairfair._ _Wards and Parishes._--The earliest lists of wards which give the present traditional names have been printed by Dr. Sharpe in his _Calendar of London Wills_ and his _Letter Book A_. These are of about the years 1320, 1293, and 1285. Another of 1303 is in Palgrave's _Treasury_. A patent of 1299 speaks of the mayor and twenty-four aldermen. Before this time most of the wards were called by the names of the aldermen holding them, as said in the _Liber Albus_. There is a list of this kind, in which only a few of the traditional names appear, in the Hundred Rolls of 1275. This last is particularly interesting, however, as giving the names of the city magnates of the great time just after the war of the city with the king, when Thomas FitzThomas, the mayor, was imprisoned--some have said never to appear again; but I find in the Close Rolls for 1269-70 (53 Henry III.) that in that year "Thomas son of Thomas, late Mayor of London," entered into recognisances for a debt of £500 to Edward the king's son, finding sureties for the same and for his fealty to the king and his heirs. [Illustration: FIG. 27.--PLAN SHOWING THE RELATION OF THE CENTRAL WARDS AND THE PRINCIPAL STREETS] Another list of aldermen in 1214 is printed in Madox's _Exchequer_, together with a reference to one of 1211, which carries back the complete list of twenty-four to within twenty years of the institution of the mayoralty.