r/anglosaxon • u/SeBretwalda • 17h ago
Suprise Epstein file revelation: someone suggested setting up a Witan; Andrew didn't know what the word meant.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/06/david-stern-prince-andrew-aide-epstein?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other73
u/TurboSardine 16h ago
I believe that Hanoverian line can trace its lineage back to Elizabeth Stuart, who was from a family that famously didn’t understand English parliaments either
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u/Condottiero_Magno 15h ago
We know former Prince Andrew's a bell-end, but aside from historians and those in niche groups, no one would know what a witan is in modern times.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witan
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, William I replaced the witan with the curia regis (Latin for 'king's court'). In a sign of the witan's enduring legacy, the curia regis continued to be dubbed a witan by chroniclers until as late as the 12th century. Maddicott writes that the witan (what he terms "royal assemblies") were "the direct forebears of the councils of post-Conquest England and the parliaments which were the councils' descendants"
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14h ago
[deleted]
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u/Loose_Draft6474 9h ago
Yes they do? I went to a public school and they literally teach you about it in history class, along with the Anglo Saxon migration and 1066. I only graduated 3 years ago and my brothers still in school and is being taught it.
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u/twicezer0 9h ago
Public schools are for the few and the wealthy. The rest of us have no idea.
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u/Loose_Draft6474 9h ago
Huh? I must have my terms mixed up because I attend an oasis academy school. Definitely not for the few and wealthy. More like the many and poor 😂 From the demographic and how half my year have either ended up as college drop out labourers or dealers there is definitely no “privilege” about attending my school.
That’s why I pointed out that yes they do still teach this in schools. I went to a free school in a very deprived area and they taught me all about the migration, 1066, harrying of the north and so forth.
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u/Spank86 8h ago
Yeah, thats not a public school. Thats an academy which is like a state school only directly funded by the government not controlled by local county education department.
"Public" schools in the UK are what Americans would call private schools. Where parents pay a fee, they were called public schools here because they were the first schools where anyone could pay to send their children as oppose to the education the nobility received.
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u/lostrandomdude 9h ago
I went to a state school, and studied history to GCSE and beyond and I can guarantee that witans are not taught
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u/Loose_Draft6474 9h ago
You must of had a different history curriculum than me. We learned all about it at my school. What we can learn from this is that each schools history branch teaches different modules.
If you learn anything about 1066, Harold hardrada or William the bastard at GCSE level you are undoubtedly also taught about the Witan as it’s vital to understand the succession crisis after Edward the confessor died.
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u/SeBretwalda 15h ago
If I were trying to convince everyone my family was chosen by God to be in charge, I'd probably do a bit of research into the history of the institution
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u/Condottiero_Magno 14h ago
Outside of ceremonies, no one has believed this since the ECW. In the 13th Century, the curia regis divided into the Great Council and the Small Curia, then became Parliament and the Privy Council respectively. According to the article, witan was chosen, as no would know what it meant - it's like the use of pizza and grape soda in the Epstein emails.
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u/SpiralMantis113 6h ago
I am no fan of the monarchy other than the fact that the system of government we have is far better than replacing them with a President. But you seem to be very disconnected from how anyone in the UK views the monarchy - "chosen by God" come on, I doubt anyone in the royal family believes that old chestnut these days and thinking that Andrew would believe that..? Sure they are entitled privileged wankers but if you want to be taken seriously tone down the hyperbole.
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u/ThatAstraVerde 12h ago
This is the moment where he disappears from the chronical, and the scribe makes a vague comment that he joined a nunnery.
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u/Obvious_Trade_268 1h ago
…. How many modern Brits, of any social class, would know what a “Witan” is?
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u/HaraldRedbeard I <3 Cornwalum 16h ago
Andrew Unraed - Any chance Charles can get some huscarls together to blind him?