suppose that it was by the easy means of a writ and token, _gewrit and insigel_. The meeting was proclaimed some time in advance, at some one of the royal residences[498]. ----- Footnote 496: This is not altogether devoid of strangeness, because we know that among the Oldsaxons of the continent there was a regulated system of elective representatives, including even those of the servile class. Hucbald, in his life of Lebuuini, tells us: “In Saxonum gente priscis temporibus neque summi coelestisque regis inerat notitia, ut digna cultui eius exhiberetur reverentia, neque terreni alicuius regis dignitas et honorificentia, cuius regeretur providentia, corrigeretur censura, defenderetur industria: sed erat gens ipsa, sicuti nunc usque consistit, ordine tripartito divisa. Sunt denique ibi, qui illorum lingua _edilingi_, sunt qui _frilingi_, sunt qui _lassi_ dicuntur, quod in latina sonat lingua, nobiles, ingenuiles atque serviles. Pro suo vero libitu, consilio quoque, ut videbatur, prudenti, singulis pagis principes praeerant singuli. Statuto quoque tempore anni semel ex singulis pagis, atque ab eisdem ordinibus tripartitis, singillatim viri duodecim electi, et in unum collecti, in media Saxonia secus flumen Wiseram et locum Marklo nuncupatum, exercebant generale concilium, tractantes, sancientes et propalantes communis commoda utilitatis, iuxta placitum a se statutae legis. Sed etsi forte belli terreret exitium, si pacis arrideret gaudium, consulebant ad haec quid sibi foret agendum.” Pertz, Monum. ii. 361, 362. Footnote 497: Æðelst. v. § 10. Thorpe, i. 240. Footnote 498: “Ðonne beád mon ealle witan tó cynge, and man sceólde ðonne rǽdan, hú man ðisne eard werian sceólde.” Chron. an. 1010. _Beódan_ is to _proclaim_. See also Chron. Sax. 1048. Hist. Eliens. 1, 10, etc. ----- The proper Saxon name for these assemblies was witena gemót[499], literally the meeting of the witan; but we also find, micel gemót, the great meeting; sinoðlíc gemót, the synodal meeting; seonoð, the synod. The Latin names are concilium, conventus, synodus, synodale conciliabulum, and the like. Although synodus and seonoð might more properly be confined to ecclesiastical conventions, the Saxons do not appear to have made any distinction; probably because ecclesiastical and secular regulations were made by the same body, and at the same time. But it is very probable that the Frankish system of separate houses for the clergy and laity prevailed here also, and that merely ecclesiastical affairs were decided by the king and clergy alone. There are some acts in which the signatures are those of clergymen only, others in which the clerical signatures are followed and, as it were, confirmed by those of the laity; and in one remarkable case of this kind, the king signs at the head of each list, as if he had in fact affixed his mark successively in the two houses, as president of each[500]. Footnote 499: