Elective Monarchy: Difference between revisions

* Anglo-Saxons had the Wittanagemoot, or meeting of wise men, which consisted of a meeting of the VIPs in the kingdom and was an informal Parliament. One of its powers was to debate the choosing of a new king. That power has in some sense devolved to Parliament. It is a nice legal point whether UK is a real elective monarchy, as the hereditary arrangement has been little interfered with since the first Hanovers. However, there is precedent, and at the least Parliament has proved that it can remove a monarch or even a whole dynasty should situation warrant.

**The [[Unreliable Narrator|Norman version]] of the Conquest claims that both Edward and Harold had sworn the crown to William. Aside from the fact that Harold's oath was questionable, being under duress, it may well be that they had both sworn only to ''lobby'' for William and it may even be that both kept that promise. They certainly had the power to keep that promise and they didn't have the power to simply swear off the crown to a foreigner. As lobbying in a consensual forum was unknown in Normandy, that may mean that the Conquest was a matter of cultural confusion.

 

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