Editing Witan (section)

== Origins ==
{{Further|Thing (assembly)}}

The origins of the witan lie in the practice of [[Germanic kingship|Germanic kings]] seeking the advice of their great men. This practice survived within the many [[Anglo-Saxon kingdoms]] established after the [[end of Roman rule in Britain]]. Maddicott writes that these early "royal assemblies lacked the institutional qualities of regularity, formality of structure, and a distinctive agenda" seen in later assemblies. They were also distinctly local.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=1–2}} The first recorded act of a witenagemot was the [[Law of Æthelberht|law code of King Æthelberht]] of [[Kingdom of Kent|Kent]] {{circa|600}}, the earliest document which survives in sustained Old English prose.{{sfn|Liebermann|1913|pp=4–5}}

Before the 9th century, only [[church council]]s, such as the [[Council of Hertford]] in 672, transcended the boundaries of individual kingdoms. With the [[unification of England]] in the 10th century, the witan acquired a national scope for the first time.{{Sfn|Maddicott|2010|pp=2–3}}