As many of the witan were the most eminent of the clergy, and the people might be fairly considered to be represented by the secular members of the body, these elections were perhaps more canonical than the Frankish, and assuredly more so than those which take place under our system by _congé d’élire_. The necessary examples will be found in the Saxon Chronicle, an. 971, 995, 1050. But one may be mentioned at length. In 959 Dúnstán was elected archbishop of Canterbury “consilio sapientum[553].” ----- Footnote 553: “Dehinc beatus Dunstanus, Æthelmi archiepiscopi ex fratre nepos, Glæstaniæ abbas, post Huicciorum et Londoniensium episcopus, ex respectu divino et sapientum consilio, primae metropolis Anglorum primas et patriarcha.” Flor. Wig. an. 959. ----- 7. _They had also power to regulate ecclesiastical matters, appoint fasts and festivals, and decide upon the levy and expenditure of ecclesiastical revenue._ The great question of monachism which convulsed the church and kingdom in the tenth century, was several times brought before the consideration of the witan, who, both clerical and lay, were very much divided upon the subject. This perhaps is a sufficient reason why no formal act of the gemót was ever passed on the subject, and the solution of the problem was left to the bishops in their several cathedrals: but no reader of Saxon history can be ignorant that it was frequently brought before the gemót, and that it was the cause of deep and frequent dissensions among the witan[554]. The festival days of St. Eádweard and St. Dúnstán were fixed by the authority of the witan on the 15th Kal. April and 14th Kal. June respectively[555]; and the laws contain many provisions for the due keeping of the Sabbath, and the strict celebration of fasts and festivals[556]. The levying of church-shots, soul-shots, light-alms, plough-alms, tithes, and a variety of other church imposts, the payment of which could not be otherwise legally binding upon the laity, was made law by frequently repeated chapters in the acts of the witan: these are much too numerous to need specification. They direct the amount to be paid, the time of payment, and the penalties to be inflicted on defaulters: nay, they actually direct the mode in which such payments when received should be distributed and applied by the receivers[557]. They establish, as law of the land, the prohibitions to marry within certain degrees of relationship: and lastly they adopt and sanction many regulations of the fathers and bishops, respecting the life and conversation of priests and deacons, canons, monks and religious women. On all these points it is sufficient to give a general reference to the laws, which are full of regulations even to the minutest details. ----- Footnote 554: Flor. Wig. an. 975, says, “Et in synodo constituti, se nequaquam ferre posse dixerunt, ut monachi eiicerentur de regno.” Footnote 555: Æðelr. v. § 16. Cnut, i. § 17. Thorpe, i. 310, 370.