PARLIAMENT OF BATTS.


Gurdon, in his _History of Parliament_, says--"This parliament was
summoned in the reign of Henry the Sixth, to meet at Leicester; and orders
were sent to the members that they should not wear swords; so they came to
parliament (like modern butchers) with long staves, from whence the
parliament got the name of _The Parliament of Batts_; and when the
batts were prohibited, the members had recourse to stones and leaden
bullets. This parliament was opened with the Confirmation of Liberties."

P.T.W.

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WITENAGEMOTES.


"Alfred, with the advice and consent of his _Witas_, in _Witenagemote_,
made his code of law that was common to the whole nation, and enacted that
a _Witenagemote_ should be held twice a year, and oftener if need
were."--See _Gurdon on Parliament_.

P.T.W.

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