The Witan: Trying to keep kings in their place since 5th century AD

As I have touched on in a few of the earlier posts, Anglo-Saxon society was based on a hierarchy of kings and their families at the top and everyone else underneath them. So what was keeping these men (and let’s not underestimate their women either) from doing as they liked and terrorising their own people…

Anglo-saxon social ladder, from kings to slaves

Aristocracy Kings As in most traditional western societies, at the pinnacle of the Anglo-saxon social ladder was the king. The king was lord over his kingdom, providing protection through war or diplomacy for his people. He did this through military campaigns, marriage alliances, tributes, the giving of hostages etc. It was through war more than…