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See also:THEGN, or THANE , an Anglo-Saxon word meaning an attendant, servant, See also:retainer or See also:official, and cognate with Gr. risvov, a See also:child. From the first, however, it had a military significance, and its usual Latin See also:translation was See also:miles, although See also:minister was often used. J. See also:Bosworth (Anglo-Saxon See also:Dictionary, new ed. by T. N. Toiler) describes a thegn as "one engaged in a See also:- KING
- KING (O. Eng. cyning, abbreviated into cyng, cing; cf. O. H. G. chun- kuning, chun- kunig, M.H.G. kiinic, kiinec, kiinc, Mod. Ger. Konig, O. Norse konungr, kongr, Swed. konung, kung)
- KING [OF OCKHAM], PETER KING, 1ST BARON (1669-1734)
- KING, CHARLES WILLIAM (1818-1888)
- KING, CLARENCE (1842–1901)
- KING, EDWARD (1612–1637)
- KING, EDWARD (1829–1910)
- KING, HENRY (1591-1669)
- KING, RUFUS (1755–1827)
- KING, THOMAS (1730–1805)
- KING, WILLIAM (1650-1729)
- KING, WILLIAM (1663–1712)
king's or a See also:queen's service, whether in the See also:household or in the See also:country," and adds, " the word in this See also:case seems gradually to acquire a technical meaning, and to become a See also:term denoting a class, containing, however, several degrees." The precursor of the thegn was the gesith, the See also:companion of the king or See also:great See also:lord, the member of his comitatus, and the word thegn began to be used to describe a military gesith. It is only used once in the See also:laws before the See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time of Aethelstan (c. 895–940), but more frequently in the charters. H. M. See also:Chadwick (Studies on Anglo-Saxon Institutions, 1905) says that " the sense of subordination must have been inherent in the word from the earliest time," but it has no connexion with the See also:German dienen, to serve. In the course of time it extended its meaning and was more generally used. The thegn became a member of a territorial See also:nobility, and the dignity of thegnhood was attainable by those who fulfilled certain conditions. Thus from a document of uncertain date, possibly about the time of See also:Alfred the Great, and translated by See also:Stubbs (Select Charters) as " Of See also:people's ranks and laws," we learn:--" And if a ceorl throve, so that he had fully five hides of his own See also:land, See also:- CHURCH
- CHURCH (according to most authorities derived from the Gr. Kvpcaxov [&wµa], " the Lord's [house]," and common to many Teutonic, Slavonic and other languages under various forms—Scottish kirk, Ger. Kirche, Swed. kirka, Dan. kirke, Russ. tserkov, Buig. cerk
- CHURCH, FREDERICK EDWIN (1826-1900)
- CHURCH, GEORGE EARL (1835–1910)
- CHURCH, RICHARD WILLIAM (1815–189o)
- CHURCH, SIR RICHARD (1784–1873)
church and See also:kitchen, See also:- BELL
- BELL, ALEXANDER MELVILLE (1819—1905)
- BELL, ANDREW (1753—1832)
- BELL, GEORGE JOSEPH (1770-1843)
- BELL, HENRY (1767-1830)
- BELL, HENRY GLASSFORD (1803-1874)
- BELL, JACOB (1810-1859)
- BELL, JOHN (1691-178o)
- BELL, JOHN (1763-1820)
- BELL, JOHN (1797-1869)
- BELL, ROBERT (1800-1867)
- BELL, SIR CHARLES (1774—1842)
bell-See also:house and burh-See also:gate-seat, and See also:special See also:duty in the king's See also:- HALL
- HALL (generally known as SCHWABISCH-HALL, tc distinguish it from the small town of Hall in Tirol and Bad-Hall, a health resort in Upper Austria)
- HALL (O.E. heall, a common Teutonic word, cf. Ger. Halle)
- HALL, BASIL (1788-1844)
- HALL, CARL CHRISTIAN (1812–1888)
- HALL, CHARLES FRANCIS (1821-1871)
- HALL, CHRISTOPHER NEWMAN (1816—19oz)
- HALL, EDWARD (c. 1498-1547)
- HALL, FITZEDWARD (1825-1901)
- HALL, ISAAC HOLLISTER (1837-1896)
- HALL, JAMES (1793–1868)
- HALL, JAMES (1811–1898)
- HALL, JOSEPH (1574-1656)
- HALL, MARSHALL (1790-1857)
- HALL, ROBERT (1764-1831)
- HALL, SAMUEL CARTER (5800-5889)
- HALL, SIR JAMES (1761-1832)
- HALL, WILLIAM EDWARD (1835-1894)
hall, then was he thenceforth of thegn-right worthy." And again—" And if a See also:merchant throve, so that he fared thrice over the wide See also:sea by his own means, then was he thenceforth of thegn-right worthy." In like manner a successful thegn might See also:hope to become an See also:earl. In addition to the thegns there were others who were thegns on See also:account of their See also:birth, and thus thegnhood was partly inherited and partly acquired. The thegn was inferior to the aethel, the member of a kingly See also:family, but he was See also:superior to the ceorl, and, says Chadwick," from the time of Aethelstan the distinction between thegn and ceorl was the broad See also:line of demarcation between the classes of society." His status is shown by his See also:wergild. Over a large See also:part of See also:England this was fixed at 1200 shillings, or six times that of the ceorl. He was the twelfhynde See also:man of the laws, sharply divided from the twyhynde man or ceorl.
The increase in the number of thegns produced in time a subdivision of the See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order. There arose a class of king's thegns,743
corresponding to the earlier thegns, and a larger class of inferior thegns, some of them the thegns of bishops or of other thegns. A king's thegn was a See also:person of great importance, the See also:con-temporary See also:idea being shown by the Latin translation of the words as comes. He had certain special privileges. No one See also:save the king had the right of See also:jurisdiction over him, while by a See also:law of Canute we learn that he paid a larger See also:heriot than an See also:ordinary thegn.
But, like all other words of the See also:kind, the word thegn was slowly changing its meaning, and, as Stubbs says (Const. Hist., vol. i.), " the very name, like that of the gesith, has different senses in different ages and kingdoms, but the See also:original idea of military service runs through all the meanings of thegn, as that of See also:personal association is traceable in all the applications of gesith." After the See also:Norman See also:Conquest the thegns appear to have been merged in the class of knights.
The twelve See also:senior thegns of the See also:hundred See also:play a part, the nature of which is rather doubtful, in the development of the See also:English See also:system of See also:justice. By a law of Aethelred they " seem to have acted as the judicial See also:committee of the See also:court for the purposes of See also:accusation " (W. S. Holdsworth, See also:History of English Law, vol. i. 1903), and thus they have some connexion with the See also:grand See also:jury of See also:modern times.
The word thane was used in See also:Scotland until the 15th See also:century, to describe an hereditary non-military See also:tenant of the See also:crown.
(A. W.
End of Article: THEGN, or THANE
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