ms like Kent and Essex, or
settlements forming part of old kingdoms, as Norfolk (the north folk)
formed part of East Anglia, and Dorset or Somerset, the lands of the
Dorsaetan or the Somersaetan, formed part of the kingdom of Wessex. In
the centre and north they were of more recent origin, and were
probably formed as those parts of England were gradually reconquered
from the Danes. The fact that most of these shires are named from
towns--as Derbyshire from Derby, and Warwickshire from Warwick--shows
that they came into existence after towns had become of importance.

9. =The Shire-moot.=--Whilst the hundred-moot decayed, the folk-moot
continued to flourish under a new name, as the shire-moot. This moot
was still attended by the freemen of the shire though the thegns were
more numerous and the simple freemen less numerous than they had once
been. Still the continued existence of the shire-moot kept up the
custom of self-government more than anything else in England. The
ordeals were witnessed, the weregild inflicted, and rights to land
adjudged, not by an officer of the king, but by the landowners of the
shire assembled for the purpose. These meetings were ordinarily
presided over by the ealdorman, who appeared as the military commander
and the official head of the shire, and by the bishop, who represented
the Church. Another most important personage was the sheriff, or
shire-reeve, whose business it was to see that the king had all his
rights, to preside over the shire-moot when it sat as a judicial
court, and to take care that its sentences were put in execution.

[Illustration: _Walker & Boutallse._

Plan and section of a burh of the eleventh century at
Laughton-en-Le-Morthen, Yorks.]

10. =The Ealdormen and the Witenagemot.=--During the long fight with
the Danes commanders were needed who could lead the forces of more
than a single shire. Before the end of Eadred's reign there were
ealdormen who ruled over many shires. One of them for instance,
AEthelstan, Ealdorman of East Anglia, and of the shires immediately to
the west of East Anglia, was so powerful that he was popularly known
as the Half-King. Such ealdormen had great influence in their own
districts, and they also were very powerful about the king. The king
could not perform any important act without the consent of the
Witenagemot, which was made up of three classes--the Ealdormen, the
Bishops, and the greater Thegns. When a king died the Witenagemot
chos