Introduction: Assembling consent in ninth- and tenth-century England -- Assembly attendance -- Meeting places and times of assemblies -- Royal charters and assemblies -- Legislation and consent : Law making and assembly politics -- Symbols in context: Ritual and demonstration at assemblies -- The witan and the settlement of disputes -- The "further business" of the witan -- Ritual and reality: the problem of the sources -- The role of the witan: celebration and persuasion.
