----- WULFHARI OF MERCIA, A.D. 657.—In this year a witena gemót was probably held for the endowment and consecration of Saxwulf’s monastery at Peterborough. This the king is stated to have done by the advice, and with the consent, of all the witan of his kingdom, both clerical and lay[599]. The charter in the Saxon Chronicle is a late forgery, but throws no well-grounded doubt upon the fact. ----- Footnote 599: Chron. Sax. an. 657. Cod. Dipl. No. 984. ----- ÓSUUIU OF NORTHUMBERLAND, A.D. 662.—A meeting was held this year at Streoneshalh, to bring about uniformity of Paschal observance, tonsure, and other ecclesiastical details. It was presided over by Osuuiu and Alhfrið[600]. ----- Footnote 600: Beda, Hist. Eccl. iii. 25. ----- ECGBERHT OF KENT, A.D. 667.—A gemót was probably held in Kent, and Wighard was elected archbishop of Canterbury[601]. ----- Footnote 601: Beda, Hist. Eccl. iii. 29. ----- ARCHBISHOP THEODORE, A.D. 673.—In this year was held the synod or gemót of Hertford[602]. Beda has preserved its ecclesiastical acts. The seventh provision is an important one, viz. that similar meetings should be held twice in every year. But this appearing inconvenient, it was agreed that there should be one, on the first of August yearly at Clofeshoas. ----- Footnote 602: Beda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 5. Chron. Sax. an. 673. ----- ARCHBISHOP THEODORE, A.D. 680.—In this year was held the gemót at Hǽðfeld, in the presence of the kings of Northumberland, Mercia, Eastanglia and Kent. Its ecclesiastical acts are preserved[603]: they are particularly directed against the heresy of Eutyches. But there was a witena gemót at the same time probably to sanction the decision of the clergy. ----- Footnote 603: Beda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 17. Chron. Sax. an. 675, 680. Cod. Dipl. No. 991. ----- ECGFRIÐ OF NORTHUMBERLAND, A.D. 684.—There was a gemót at Twyford, on the river Alne, and Cúðberht was elected bishop of Hexham[604]. ----- Footnote 604: Beda, Hist. Eccl. iv. 28. Cod. Dipl. No. 25. ----- ÆÐELRED OF MERCIA, A.D. 685.—A gemót was held on the thirtieth of July at Berhford, now Burford in Gloucestershire. Berhtwald the subregulus and Æðelred were probably both present[605]. ----- Footnote 605: Cod. Dipl. No. 26. ----- WIHTRAED OF KENT, A.D. 696.—Immediately upon Wihtraed’s accession[606] he held a great council, “mycel consilium,” or gemót of his witan, to settle the ecclesiastical and secular difficulties which had arisen during the civil wars of his predecessors and his own struggle for the throne. The gemót was held at Beorganstede, now Berstead in Kent. Its acts are extant in the laws which yet go under Wihtraed’s name[607]. Another gemót of Wihtraed’s, said by the Chronicle[608] to have been held in 694 at Baccanceld, now Bapchild, in Kent, confirmed the liberties of the Kentish clergy. ----- Footnote 606: