Ancient_and_modern_York_a_guide

20 ANCIENT AND
and a pix, or silver vessel, containing the eucharist ; and
from which floated the consecrated banners of St. Peter,
St. John of Beverley, and St. Wilfred. This standard
was mounted on a chariot, and borne into the field ; and
so wrought upon were the fears of the one party and the
superstitious enthusiasm of the other, by the expedient,
that King David was utterly routed, leaving 10,000 dead
on the field.
King Stephen was succeeded by Henry the II., the first
of the Plantagets, son of the empress Maud (Matilda),
the daughter of Henry I. Some writers have stated,
without adequate enquiry we fear, that the first parliament
mentioned in history was held in York, in this reign,
A.D. 1160. Drake, more cautious, says " one of the
first." Hollinshed and Meed, on the other hand, say
that parliament was first summoned at Salisbury, in the
sixteenth year of Henry I., the grandfather of Henry II.
Sir "Walter Raleigh is of the same opinion as to the king's
reign, but fixes the meeting in the eighteenth year ; and
Lord Bacon was of opinion that the House of Commons
began in that monarch's time.* But although the first
meeting of the general parliament after the conquest
cannot be alleged to have met at York, there is un
questionable evidence, that the Anglo-Saxon parliament
(Witenagemot) had frequently been held in this city,
centuries before the time of Henry II. Drake says that
the Witenagemot was " a thing not known" in the
kingdom of Northumbria, of which York was the capital ;
an assertion rather startling, but for the qualification
which he adds, " At least it has not fallen in my way to
describe it." The Saxons brought with them from Ger
many, popular and free deliberate assemblies. They
cherished their ancient liberty when settled in England,
and clung to their laws and customs with extraordinary
tenacity. So much so, that Abbe Raynal says, "Incapable
• See Wade's British History.