ncestors, as appears from Edward the
confessor's laws[a], the military force of this kingdom was in the
hands of the dukes or heretochs, who were constituted through every
province and county in the kingdom; being taken out of the principal
nobility, and such as were most remarkable for being "_sapientes,
fideles, et animosi_." Their duty was to lead and regulate the English
armies, with a very unlimited power; "_prout eis visum fuerit, ad
honorem coronae et utilitatem regni_." And because of this great power
they were elected by the people in their full assembly, or folkmote,
in the same manner as sheriffs were elected: following still that old
fundamental maxim of the Saxon constitution, that where any officer
was entrusted with such power, as if abused might tend to the
oppression of the people, that power was delegated to him by the vote
of the people themselves[b]. So too, among the antient Germans, the
ancestors of our Saxon forefathers, they had their dukes, as well as
kings, with an independent power over the military, as the kings had
over the civil state. The dukes were elective, the kings hereditary:
for so only can be consistently understood that passage of Tacitus[c],
"_reges ex nobilitate, duces ex virtute sumunt_;" in constituting
their kings, the family, or blood royal, was regarded, in chusing
their dukes or leaders, warlike merit: just as Caesar relates of their
ancestors in his time, that whenever they went to war, by way either
of attack or defence, they _elected_ leaders to command them[d]. This
large share of power, thus conferred by the people, though intended to
preserve the liberty of the subject, was perhaps unreasonably
detrimental to the prerogative of the crown: and accordingly we find a
very ill use made of it by Edric duke of Mercia, in the reign of king
Edmond Ironside; who, by his office of duke or heretoch, was entitled
to a large command in the king's army, and by his repeated
treacheries at last transferred the crown to Canute the Dane.

[Footnote a: _c. de heretochiis._]

[Footnote b: "_Isti vero viri eliguntur per commune consilium, pro
communi utilitate regni, per provincias et patrias universas, et per
singulos comitatus, in pleno folkmote, sicut et vice-comites
provinciarum et comitatuum eligi debent._" _LL. Edw. Confess._ _ibid._
See also Bede, _eccl. hist._ _l._ 5. _c._ 10.]

[Footnote c: _De morib. German._ 7.]

[Footnote d: "_Quum bellum civitas aut illatum defendit, aut