CHAPTER III.
The Witana-gemot was assembled in the great hall of Westminster in all its imperial pomp.
It was on his throne that the King sate now--and it was the sword that was in his right hand.

Some seated below, and some standing beside, the throne, were the officers of the Basileus [84] of Britain.

There were to be seen camararius and pincerna, chamberlain and cupbearer; disc thegn and hors thegn [85]; the thegn of the dishes, and the thegn of the stud; with many more, whose state offices may not impossibly have been borrowed from the ceremonial pomp of the Byzantine court; for Edgar, King of England, had in the old time styled himself the Heir of Constantine.
Next to these sat the clerks of the chapel, with the King's confessor at their head.

Officers were they of higher note than their name bespeaks, and wielders, in the trust of the Great Seal, of a power unknown of old, and now obnoxious to the Saxon.

For tedious is the suit which lingers for the king's writ and the king's seal; and from those clerks shall arise hereafter a thing of torture and of might, which shall grind out the hearts of men, and be called CHANCERY! [86] Below the scribes, a space was left on the floor, and farther down sat the chiefs of the Witan.