Also known the
Witan, the
Witenagemot was in
English history an
Anglo-Saxon convocation of the land's most powerful and important people including senior clergy,
ealdormen[?] and the leading
thegns[?]. Summoned by the king, they would advise on the administration and organisation of the kingdom, dealing with issues such as taxation, jurisprudence and both internal and external security. The best-known sitting of the council was that which on
January 5,
1066 approved the succession to the kingship of
Harold Godwinson following the death of
Edward the Confessor.
