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The Witan (Old English witenagemot, moot or meeting) was the term used to describe the council summoned by Anglo-Saxon kings. These meetings of aldermen, thanes and bishops discussed royal grants of land, church matters, charters, taxation, customary law, defence and foreign policy. The succession of a new king had to be approved by the Witan.
The composition of the Witan was not set and the size of the assembly depended on what was being discussed and where it was held. For example, meetings were larger during religious festivals and when the king was resident in one of his palaces.
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Did King Alfred have Lords and Earls and such?
The Engllish system of land tenure was much simpler than the French style Feudalism imposed by William the Conqueror. If I remember correctly the basic rank of nobility was "thane". Anybody who possessed, again if I remember right, 400 hides of land was, at least technically, a thane. I don't remember how much a hide actually was. Above the thanes were eorls or eorldermen. I forget how much land you had to have to be an eorl but it was quite a lot, there were very few of them. That was about it, thane, eorl, king. Michael MontagneAnotherThe order of nobility in England today is a hybrid of English, Norse and Latin traditions. The Old English had a title called "Thane" which was essentially a knight or baron with sworn loyalty to the king. There were variou degrees of Thane's some ranking above others. The Thane would employ "Huscarls" - professional warriors - who would raise armies for the Thane when the need arose. The land was administered in Wessex through the shire model. The shires were governed by a "Eorlderman". Eorldermen were often from an established royal dynasty that no longer enjoyed the status of "king". The Eorldermen ruled the shire through a "Shire Reeve", a sort of chief executive from which we get the word "Sheriff" and a "Shire Moot" - a sort of assembly. The shire's were divided into hundreds (like a district) which were themselves administered by a "Hundred Reeve" and a "Hundred Moot".Above all of this were royalty who were afforded the title "Ætheling" - basically meaning "royal son". The Witan - a sort of parliament of leading nobles and clergy - chose or confirmed the next king from among the Æthelings.The Norse Vikings introduced the term "Earl" which comes from "Yarl" and means "lord". The Norman French introduced, or re-introduced, latin terms such as Duke (from Dux), Baron and Marquess etc.
Who rules when a prince is too young?
A REGENT - usually a near relative of the child-king. Sometimes there is no suitable individual, so a COUNCIL OF REGENCY is appointed. Of course, in most ages of History, the answer has been 'whoever can grab the throne#.
