Focus: To examine Anglo-Saxon society, and the roles of Kings, thegns, free peasants and slaves.

The main division in Anglo-Saxon society was between the free man and slaves.

There were several ranks of freemen and even more ranks of slaves.

The known ranks of the free men were Kings, thegns [or noble men], and ceorl or the

common free man. The strongest ties in Anglo-Saxon society were

the ties between kin and lord.

Kings could not – except under extreme circumstances – create new laws.

Their role was to uphold and clarify previous customs of the Germanic tribes.

One of the tools kings used to be more respected in society was align themselves to the new Christian Church.

The practice of having a church leader anoint and crown the king, was an advance to make a combination between king and God in the minds of the common folk.

This was an aristocratic title given to noble-men in Anglo-Saxon England, such as ealdormen and high-reeves.

There were three types of thegns: Earls, a King’s thegn and a Median thegn.

A king’s thegn was a man who attended on the king personally – bringing him men and resources.

A median thegn hold land directly from the king, but through an intermediary lord, e.g. a bishop.

The thegns were inferior to the aetheling, or the members of a kingly family, but were superior to the ceorl.

A thegns wergild or ‘man price’, was six time more than that of a ceorl.

Twelve thegns out of the hundred would play a part in the development of the English Justice system.

Before talking about freemen, it is essential to know about Wergild. Translated ‘man price’, it literally meant the price of a man This was the money that had to paid in the case of homicide or to weigh the

value of an oath taken in a court of law. The standard wergild of a ceorl was 200 shillings, but the amount can change

depending on the social status of a person and circumstances of the crime. For example killing a duke or archbishop would cost a person 600 shillings,

whilst killing a low raking cleric would cost a person 300 shillings or 400 if he was killed whilst reading mass.

A nobleman or thegn was worth 1200 shillings A king was worth 30,000 – 15,000 for the man going to the royal family, and

the other 15,000 for kingship, going to the people. A Welshman was worth 110 shillings if he owned at least one hide of land, but

only 80 if he was landless. Slaves had no wergild, as the offenses against them would be offenses

against their owners.

These were freemen or commoners – who encompassed most of the population.

Their loyalty was to their king. However, a ceorl wasn’t subjected to stay on the same status

forever, he could move into higher ranks or lower ranks. To become a thegn, a ceorl would have to have about 5 hides of

land or 600 acres, a bell, a castle gate, a seat, and a special office in the king’s hall.

A merchant who travelled overseas three times at his own expense to do business, could also be raised to the ranks of a thegn.

A ceorl could become a slave for committing crimes. Consequently, he could also drag his wife and children into slavery.

In times of famine, many ceorl sold themselves to become slaves so that their owners would have to feed them.

Slaves usually were captured in times of war. These could either be the native peoples of England or people’s captured in wars between Anglo-Saxon kingdoms.

They had no Wergild.However, slavery was not always permanent;

slaves could always earn their freedom and become ceorl.

Women in Anglo-Saxon England were more or less equal to their Male counterparts – such as their husbands and brothers

The women of the time were placed in society based on their class rather than their gender.