Witan Definition

wĭtän
noun
The council of an Anglo-Saxon king.
Webster's New World
The witenagemot.
American Heritage

The Anglo-Saxon national council or witenagemot.

1833, But in estimating the powers of the witan, we must not lose sight of the fact, that the king sometimes assumes a tone of superiority scarcely consistent with its independence. "” SA Dunham, Europe in the Middle Ages (Green & Longman, p.48)
Wiktionary
The members of such an assembly.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Witan

Noun

Singular:
witan
Plural:
witans

Origin of Witan

  • From Old English witan, plural of wita (“wise man"), or more literally "men of wit", "wits".

    From Wiktionary

  • Old English pl. of wita councilor witenagemot

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

Witan Sentence Examples

  • On his death the Witan which had attended his funeral elected to succeed him Harold, the foremost man in England, and the leader who had attempted to check the spread of the Norman influence fostered by the Confessor.

  • An instance of this is seen in the election of Edmund Ironside, although the Witan outside London had elected Canute.

  • The witan chose Edmund Ironside, the late kings eldest son, to succeed him, and as he was a hard-fighting prince of that normal type of his house to which his father had been such a disgraceful exception, it seemed probable that the Danes might be beaten off.

  • William alleged that his cousin had promised to make him his heir, and to recommend him to the witan as king of England.

  • In 1062 he was chosen bishop of Worcester, and the choice was approved by the witan; with some reluctance Wulfstan accepted, and was consecrated at York in September.

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Words Starting With

WWIWIT

Words Ending With

NANTAN

Unscrambles

witan

Words Starting With W and Ending With N

Starts With W & Ends With NStarts With WI & Ends With NStarts With W & Ends With AN

Word Length

5 Letter Words5 Letter Words Starting With W5 Letter Words Ending With N