One part of this was the king's council, the " witenagemot ", comprising the senior clergy, " ealdormen ", and some of the more important " thegns "; the council met to advise the king on policy and legal issues.
42.
In his investigation into Anglo-Saxon institutions, H . M . Chadwick wrote : I have not thought it necessary to discuss at length the nature of the powers possessed by the council [ i . e . the witenagemot ], for . . there can be little hope of arriving at any definite conclusions on this subject.
43.
Norman accounts suggest that at this time Edward offered the succession to his cousin, William ( duke ) of Normandy ( also known as William the Conqueror, William the Bastard, or William I ), though this is unlikely given that accession to the Anglo-Saxon kingship was by election, not heredity-a fact which Edward would surely have known, having been elected himself by the Witenagemot.
44.
You don't capitalize a similar word, synod, also originally an ecclesiastical council, now come to mean any assembly, and the Bible loses its cap when used as " the bible of the computer industry . " ( The word I originally had in mind was witenagemot, " a council of nobles advising the king, " but I couldn't think of a word beginning with w meaning " conservatives ."
