WITENA-GEMOT (A.-S. witena, genitive pin. of wita, a wise man, from witan, to know, and genet, assembly, from metan, to meet). the great national council of England in Anglo-Saxon times, by which the king was guided in all his main acts of government. Each kingdom had its own witena-gemot before the union of the Heptarchy in 827, after which there was a general one for the whele country. It was composed of the chief ecclesiastics, the ealdormen (see ANoLo-SAxoNs) of shires, and some of the chief propri• etors of land. It would rather appear, though the latter is not quite free from doubt, that the lesser thanes, who formed part of the scir-genuit, or next inferior court, were not entitled to form part of the general council. In the year 934, there were present at one of these assemblies king Athelstane, four Welsh princes, two archbishops, seventeen bishops, four abbots, twelve dukes, and fifty-two thanes.
The powers of the witena-gemot seem to have been very extensive. The king's title, however, hereditarily unexceptionable, was not considered complete without its recognition, and it possessed the power of deposing him. It could make new laws and treaties; and along with the king it appointed prelates, regulated military and ecclesias tical affairs, and levied taxes. Without its consent, the king had no power to raise forces by sea or land. It was also the supreme court of justice, civil and criminal. The Witena-gemot was abolished by William the conqueror. and its powers were only in part transmitted to parliament.—See Hallam's Middle Ages, c. 8; sir F. Palgrave's Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth; and Kemble's Saxons in England.