Then let us put it to the Witan!
This my first Witan as your new king.
There's to be a Witan with the survivors.
After the Witan, you and I should speak alone.
The Witan will decide who rules Mercia, not Edward.
It has always been the preference of the Witan.
This is my first Witan as your new king.
Yet the Witan are minded to separate from Wessex.
Please, continue.- The Witan is closed to all but Mercians.
So, tomorrow the Witan will decide upon our new king.
The Ealdormen have called their Witan for after the funeral.
I can assure you, Wessex has no desire to influence this Witan.
If you agree,
all we would need would be the approval of a Witan.
Overrule me on this and the Witan will say you seek to conquer us.
It is, and has ever been, the right of the Witan to decide Mercia's ruler.
They say you do not need to know and that you may not enter the Witan.
Because were she to marry, her husband could become the new Lord of Mercia, bypassing this Witan.
Lord God in heaven, grant this Witan the benefit of your divine wisdom as you guide us today.
The King's mother cannot be treated the same as
a peasant… She can, if you are to respect the Witan.
Then Edmund bought the farm in 1016, and Cnut talked the Witan into handing over the English throne to him.
He immediately set sail across the channel and, at long last, the Witan elected him king(yes,
that's how it was done in those days.).
This was quite the dangerous undertaking for such a young kid,
but he appointed himself so nobly that the Witan, or Council forbade any future Danish kings in England.