Note (9) — Chapter II
Reading edition
See Norman Conquest, iv. 694. In this case the Chronicler, under the year 1086, distinguishes two classes in the Assembly, “his witan and ealle Þa landsittende men Þe ahtes wæron ofer eall Engleland.” These “landsittende men” were evidently the forerunners of the “libere tenentes,” who, whether their holdings were great or small, kept their place in the early Parliaments. See Hallam, ii. 140-146, where will be found many passages showing the still abiding traces of the popular constitution of the Assembly.