Witan n. pl. Lit., wise men; specif. (A.-S. Hist.), The members of the national, or king's, council which sat to assist the king in administrative and judicial matters; also, the council.
... constitution survived the Norman Conquest. What the constitution had been under the Saxon Eadgar, that it remained under William. The laws, with a few changes in detail, and also the language of the public documents, remained the same. The powers vested in King William and his Witan remained constitutionally the same as those which had been vested in King Eadgar and his Witan a hundred years before. Immense changes ensued in social condition and administration, and in the relation of the kingdom to foreign lands. There was also a vast increase of royal ... — The World's Greatest Books, Vol XI. • Edited by Arthur Mee and J.A. Hammerton
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