probably superintended the execution: in this he represented at once the justice of the god, and the collective power of the state. Thus then we may conclude that at first in every Mark, and more especially in every Gá or Scír, when various Marks had coalesced, there was found at least one man of a privileged family, who either permanently or for a time conducted the public affairs during peace, and was, from his functions, not less than his descent, nearly connected with the religion of the people and the worship of the gods: whether this man be called ealdorman, _iudex_, _rex_, _satrapa_ or _princeps_, seems of little moment: he is the president of the freemen in their solemn acts, as long as peace is maintained, the original King of the shire or small nation. If he be by birth a priest, and distinguished by military talents, as well as elected to be a judge, he unites all the conditions of kingship[237]: and, under such circumstances, he will probably not only extend his power over neighbouring communities, but even render it permanent, if not hereditary, in his own: a similar process may take place, if the priest or judge be one, the general another, of the same household. We may conclude that the regal power grows out of the judicial and sacerdotal, and that, whether the military skill and authority be superadded or not, _king_ is only another name for the judge of a small circuit[238]. It is only when many such districts have been combined, when many such smaller kings have been subdued by one more wise, more wealthy, powerful or fortunate than themselves, that the complete idea of the German kingdom developes itself: that the judicial, military, and even, in part, the priestly powers sink into a subordinate position, and the kingdom represents the whole state, the freemen, the nobles, and the _folcriht_ or public law of both. It is thus that the king gains the ultimate and appellate jurisdiction, the right of punishment, and the general conservancy of the peace, as well as the power of calling the freemen to arms (cyninges ban, cyninges útware). When this process has taken place the former kings have become _subreguli_, _principes_, _duces_, ealdormen: they retain their nobility, their original purity of blood, their influence perhaps over their people; but they have sunk into subordinate officers of a state, of which a king at once hereditary and elective is the head[239]. ----- Footnote 233: Germ. xi. Footnote 234: “Quadam die multi tam nobiles quam privati primo mane ad ipsum locum placitaturi convenerunt; sed ante placitum ut Presbyter eis missam celebraret rogaverunt. At ille, qui ipsa nocte cum uxore dormierat, ad sacrum altaris officium accedere formidabat; itaque negavit se id facturum,” etc. about an. 1045. Sim. Dunelin. Hist. Eccl. Dun. cap. xlv. (lib. iii. cap. 10. p. 169. Ed. of 1732.) Footnote 235: