Note 612 — Chapter III
Reading edition
Ord. Vit. 680 B. “Turmas optimatum adscivit, et Guentoniæ congregatis quæ intrinsecus ruminabat sic ore deprompsit.” The Chronicler tells us, under 1090, how “se cyng wæs smægende hu he mihte wrecon his broðer Rodbeard swiðost swencean, and Normandige of him gewinnan.” The custom of holding the Easter Gemót at Winchester seems to fix this assembly to Easter. 1090.
The continuance of the three yearly assemblies is well marked by William of Malmesbury in the Life of Wulfstan (Ang. Sac. iii. 257); “Rex Willelmus consuetudinem induxerat [that is, he went on with what had been done T. R. E.], quam successores aliquamdiu tritam consenescere permisere. Ea erat, ut ter in anno cuncti optimates ad curiam convenirent, de necessariis regni tractaturi, simulque visuri regis insigne, quomodo iret gemmato fastigiatus diademate.”