Thegn
≈ 2 min read
Names in other languages
- laThainus
- EnglishThegn
- fiThegn
- FrançaisThegn
- ItalianoThegn
- PortuguêsThegn
- УкраїнськаТени
- РусскийТэн
Article bodies are English and are not machine-translated. A name in another language is not a translation of the article.
In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn, or thane ( ), was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were held by a thane as well as the rank; an approximately equivalent modern title may be that of baron. The term thane was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers, and thane was a title given to local royal officials in medieval eastern Scotland, equivalent in rank to the child of an earl.
In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn, or thane ( ), was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were held by a thane as well as the rank; an approximately equivalent modern title may be that of baron. The term thane was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers, and thane was a title given to local royal officials in medieval eastern Scotland, equivalent in rank to the child of an earl.
Households
A noble household included a number of retainers, termed ( , ; from which the modern word knight derives) or ( , ). Thegnly wills can be used to reconstruct noble households. Thurstan Lustwine's will, written , left land to his and his two chaplains (who in addition to religious duties would also have performed secretarial work). The will of a noblewoman named Leofgifu left land to her three stewards, two reeves, a chaplain, and her . Another household officer identified in wills is that of huntsman ( ). Just as king's thegns served in the royal household, lesser thegns served as the seneschals, chamberlains, and stewards of king's thegns and ealdormen. These were considered honourable posts rather than servile positions. Vagn, the leader of Earl Leofric's housecarls, owned 54 hides of land with his main manor at Wootton Wawen ( ). High ranking men such as Vagn would have formed the inner circle of the lord's household.
References
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1345665060 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.