folkmoot
nounEtymology From Old English folcġemōt (“meeting of the people of a town or district”), equivalent to folk + moot.
1
Historical A general meeting (assembly) of the people of a town, district, or shire.
Or later revived in general usage
- To which folke-mote they all with one consent […] Agreed to travell, and their fortunes try.1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, Book IV:
- Yet even in the seven kingdoms, even in the united kingdom, when there was a general summons to the host, some concentration of the armed folkmoots must have taken place.1897, William Stubbs, The Constitutional History of England in Its Origin and Development, 6th edition, volume 1, page 134:
4 more examples
- If the accused did not appear on the day named for the trial, he was outlawed at the folkmoot.1919, F. J. Snell, The Customs of Old England:
- Since marital, hiring, and other contracts were made in the folkmoots, it is likely that justice was administered there. Thus it may be said that the meeting -places were used for councils of war and the administration of the law.1963, James Alexander Robertson, editor, The Hispanic American Historical Review, volume 8, page 463:
- […] slay Ermanaric in one quick, clean blow, and afterward call a folkmoot to pick a new king who shall be righteous.1983, Poul Anderson, Time Patrolman (fiction):
- The folkmoot retained various responsibilities, but most important business, including dealing with those who failed to attend the chief folkmoots, took place at the husting.2003, John Hamilton Baker, The Oxford History of the Laws of England: c. 900-1216, Oxford University Press, page 819: