witenagemot

Meanings

1. Any of several assemblies which existed in Anglo-Saxon England from the 7th to the 11th century, initially with regional jurisdiction (there being different ones in Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex and Wessex), later with national jurisdiction, made up of important noblemen.
2. A specific session of such an assembly.

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Old English witena ġemōt (literally “assembly of the wise”).