CYNING

Germanic kingship is a thesis regarding the role of kings among the pre-Christianized Germanic

tribes of the Migration period (c. 300–700 AD) and Early Middle Ages (c. 700–1,000 AD). The
thesis holds that the institution of feudal monarchy developed, through contact with the Roman
Empire and the Christian Church, from an earlier custom of sacral and military kingship based on
both birth status and popular consent.
The term barbarian kingdom is used in the context of those Germanic rulers who after 476 AD and
during the 6th century ruled territories formerly part of the Western Roman Empire, especially
the Barbarian kings of Italy. In the same context, Germanic law is also derisively termed leges
barbarorum "barbarian law" etc.[1]
The thesis of Germanic kingship appeared in the nineteenth century and was influential in the
historiography of early medieval society, but today it stands largely discredited for drawing broad
conclusions from sparse evidence.

Alleged characteristics
The Germanic king originally had three main functions:

 To serve as judge during the popular assemblies.

 To serve as a priest during the sacrifices.
 To serve as a military leader during wars.
The office was received hereditarily, but a new king required the consent of the people before
assuming the throne. All sons of the king had the right to claim the throne, which often led to co-
rulership (diarchy) where two brothers were elected kings at the same time. This evolved into the
territories being considered the hereditary property of the kings, patrimonies, a system which fueled
feudal wars, because the kings could claim ownership of lands beyond their de facto rule.
As a sort of pre-Christianization high priest, the king often claimed descent from some deity. In
the Scandinavian nations, he administered pagan sacrifices (blóts) at important cult sites, such as
the Temple at Uppsala. Refusal to administer the blóts could lead to the king losing power
(see Haakon the Good and Anund Gårdske).
According to the testimony of Tacitus (Germania), some early Germanic peoples had an elective
monarchy already in the 1st century.
"They choose their kings by birth, their generals for merit. These kings have not unlimited or
arbitrary power, and the generals do more by example than by authority."[3]
Germanic pre-Christianization society had three levels, the king, the nobility and the free men.
Their respective political influence was negotiated at the thing. According to the testimony of
Tacitus,
"About minor matters the chiefs deliberate, about the more important the whole tribe. Yet even
when the final decision rests with the people, the affair is always thoroughly discussed by the
chiefs. [... At the assembly, w]hen the multitude think proper, they sit down armed. Silence is
proclaimed by the priests, who have on these occasions the right of keeping order. Then the king or
the chief, according to age, birth, distinction in war, or eloquence, is heard, more because he has
influence to persuade than because he has power to command. If his sentiments displease them,
they reject them with murmurs; if they are satisfied, they brandish their spears."[4]
Tacitus notes that as each tribe had its own customary law, the political power of the king could
vary between nations. Thus, he states that the Gothones were ruled by kings "a little more strictly
than the other German tribes, but not as yet inconsistently with freedom" while beyond the
Gothones, the Rugii and Lemovii (tribes placed at the far end of Magna Germania, near the Baltic
Sea) lived in "servile submission to their kings".[5]

Later development
With the decline of the Roman Empire, many of its provinces came under the rule of Germanic
kings: Hispania to the Visigoths, Italia to the Ostrogoths, Gallia to the Franks, Britannia to
the Anglo-Saxons, and Africa to the Vandals. These nations had by then been in contact with Rome
for a century or more and had adopted many Roman customs. They had also been Christianised and
pre-Christianization practice was slowly being replaced.
The Frankish state under the Merovingian dynasty had many of the characteristics of Germanic
monarchy under heavy influence from secular and ecclesiastic Rome. Its kings, through their
division of the territory, treated it not as a state independent of themselves, but as their patrimony,
land won by conquest (theirs and their forefathers'). The king was primarily a war leader and a
judge. There are many theories to explain the collapse of Merovingian power, most of which blame
the inability of later Merovingians in war as an important factor. The commonly cited occasion
of Sigebert III sobbing in his saddle after a defeat (the king was then only ten years old) highlights
the importance of victory in battle for a king who is chiefly a warrior.
The principle of election, which determined Germanic succession, was abandoned in those states
under the heaviest influence from the papacy, such as Merovingian Gaul, where hereditary
succession and the divine right of the reigning dynasty was recognised. In Anglo-Saxon Britain, the
principle survived until the Norman Conquest removed it. Anglo-Saxon kings were elected by
the witena gemót. Finally, the principle survived in some form or other for centuries after the
demise of the last Germanic monarchies. The civil wars of medieval Scandinavia and the electorate
of the Holy Roman Empire are part of its legacy.
AETHELING
Ætheling (/ˈæθəlɪŋ/; also spelt aetheling, atheling or etheling) was an Old English term (æþeling)
used in Anglo-Saxon England to designate princes of the royal dynasty who were eligible for the
kingship.
The term is an Old English and Old Saxon compound of aethele, æþele or (a)ethel, meaning "noble
family", and -ing, which means "belonging to".[1] It derives from
the Germanic word edeling or edling and is etymologically related to the
modern Dutch words edele or edeling, "noble", and adel, "nobility".[2] It was usually rendered in
Latin as filius regis (king's son) or the Anglo-Latin neologism clito.
Ætheling can be found in the Suffolk toponym of Athelington.

Meaning and use in Anglo-Saxon England[edit]

During the earliest years of the Anglo-Saxon rule in England, the word ætheling was probably used
to denote any person of noble birth. Its use was soon restricted to members of a royal family. The
prefix æþel- formed part of the name of several Anglo-Saxon kings, for instance Æthelberht of
Kent, Æthelwulf of Wessex and Æthelred of Wessex, and was used to indicate their noble birth.
According to a document which probably dates from the 10th century, the weregild of an ætheling
was fixed at 15,000 thrymsas, or 11,250 shillings, which was equal to that of an archbishop and
one-half of that of a king.[2]
The annal for 728 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle referred to a certain Oswald as an ætheling, due to
his great-great-grandfather having been King of Wessex. From the 9th century, the term was used in
a much narrower context and came to refer exclusively to members of the house of Cerdic of
Wessex, the ruling dynasty of Wessex, most particularly the sons or brothers of the reigning king.
According to historian Richard Abels "King Alfred transformed the very principle of royal
succession. Before Alfred, any nobleman who could claim royal descent, no matter how distant,
could strive for the throne. After him, throne-worthiness would be limited to the sons and brothers
of the reigning king."[3] In the reign of Edward the Confessor, Edgar the Ætheling received the
appellation as the grandson of Edmund Ironside, but that was at a time when for the first time in 250
years there was no living ætheling according to the strict definition.
Ætheling was also used in a poetic sense to mean 'a good and noble man'. Old English verse often
used ætheling to describe Christ, as well as various prophets and saints. The hero of the 8th
century Beowulf is introduced as an ætheling, possibly in the sense of a relative of the King of
the Geats, though some translators render ætheling as 'retainer'. Since many
early Scandinavian kings were chosen by competition or election, rather than primogeniture, the
term may have been reserved for a person qualified to compete for the kingship.

Other uses and variations[edit]

The term was occasionally used after the Norman conquest of England and then only to designate
members of the royal family. The Latinised Germanic form, Adelin(us) was used in the name of the
only legitimate son and heir of Henry I of England, William Adelin, who drowned in the White
Ship disaster of 1120.
It was also sometimes translated into Latin as clito, as in the name of William Clito.
The historian Dáibhí Ó Cróinín has proposed that the idea of the tánaist ríg in early
medieval Ireland was adopted from the Anglo-Saxon, specifically Northumbrian, concept of
the ætheling.[4] The earliest use of tanaíste ríg was in reference to an Anglo-Saxon prince in about
628. Many subsequent uses related to non-Irish rulers, before the term was attached to Irish kings-
in-waiting.
In Wales, the variant edling was used to signify the son chosen to be the heir apparent.
EALDORMAN
Ealdorman (/ˈɔːldərmən/)[1] was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man
of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It
evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied to the former kings of
territories which had submitted to great powers such as Mercia. In Wessex in the second half of the
ninth century it meant the leaders of individual shires appointed by the king. By the tenth century
ealdormen had become the local representatives of the West Saxon king of England. Ealdormen
would lead in battle, preside over courts and levy taxation. Ealdormanries were the most prestigious
royal appointments, the possession of noble families and semi-independent rulers. The territories
became large, often covering former kingdoms such as Mercia or East Anglia. Southern ealdormen
often attended court, reflecting increasing centralisation of the kingdom, but the loyalty of northern
ealdormen was more uncertain. In the eleventh century the term eorl, today's earl, replaced that of
ealdorman, but this reflected a change in terminology under Danish influence rather than a change
in function.

Aldermen[edit]
Although earls may be regarded as the successors of ealdormen, the word ealdorman itself did not
disappear and survives in modern times as alderman in many jurisdictions founded upon English
law. This term, however, developed distinctly different meanings which have little to do with
ealdormen, who ruled shires or larger areas, while aldermen are members of a municipal assembly
or council, such as the City Council of Chicago and the City of Adelaide.[3]
Similar titles also exist in some Germanic countries, such as the Swedish Ålderman, the
Danish Oldermand and West Frisian Olderman, the Dutch Ouderman,[citation needed] the (non-
Germanic) Finnish Oltermanni (a borrowing from the Germanic Swedes next door) and the
German Ältester, which all mean "elder man" or "wise man".
HIGH-REEVE
High-reeve (Old English: hēahgerēfa) was a title taken by some English magnates during the 10th
and 11th centuries, and is particularly associated with the rulers of Bamburgh. It was not however
only used by rulers of Bamburgh; many other places used the title; e.g. there was an Ordulf "High-
Reeve of Dumnonia".[1]
The first reference to a high-reeve was perhaps in the third code of Edmund I of England, where
there is an official known as a summus praepositus.[2] Alfred Smyth thought heah-gerefa was
influenced by the Scottish word mormaer, the meaning of which, supposedly great steward, is
possibly similar.[3]
In the North People's Law, a high-reeve is given a wergild of four thousand thrymsas, the same as
a hold and half the wergild of an ealdorman.[4] Ann Williams believes that the High-Reeve was
originally an urban official whose job was to deputise for an ealdorman, but unlike other such
figures could lead provincial armies.

REEVE
Originally in Anglo-Saxon England the reeve was a senior official with local responsibilities
under the Crown, e.g., as the chief magistrate of a town or district. Subsequently, after the Norman
conquest, it was an office held by a man of lower rank, appointed as manager of a manor and
overseer of the peasants. In this later role, historian H. R. Loyn observes, "he is the earliest English
specialist in estate management.”

Anglo-Saxon England[edit]
Before the Conquest, a reeve (Old English ġerēfa; similar to the titles greve/gräfe in the Low Saxon
languages of Northern Germany) was an administrative officer who generally ranked lower than
the ealdorman or earl. The Old English word ġerēfa was originally a general term, but soon
acquired a more technical meaning.
Land was divided into a large number of hides—an area containing enough farmable land to
support one household. Ten hides constituted a tithings, and the families living upon it (in theory,
10 families) were obliged to undertake an early form of neighbourhood watch, by a collective
responsibility system called frankpledge.
Tithings were organised into groups of 10, called hundreds due to containing 100 hides; in modern
times, these ancient hundreds still mostly retain their historic boundaries, despite each generally
now containing vastly more than a mere 100 families. Each hundred was supervised by a constable,
and groups of hundreds were combined to form shires, with each shire being under the control of an
earl. Each unit had a court, and an officer to implement decisions of that court: the reeve. Thus
different types of reeves were attested, including high-reeve, town-reeve, port-reeve, shire-reeve
(predecessor to the sheriff[2]), reeve of the hundred, and the reeve of a manor.
The word is often rendered in Latin as prefectus (Modern English prefect), by the historian Bede,
and some early Anglo-Saxon charters. West-Saxon charters prefer to reserve the term prefectus for
the ealdormen (earls) themselves.

After the Conquest[edit]

After the Norman conquest, feudalism was introduced, forming a parallel administrative system to
the local courts. The feudal system organised land on a manorial basis, with stewards acting as
managers for the landlords. The Norman term describing the court functionary—bailiff—came to be
used for reeves associated with lower level courts, and with the equivalent role in the feudal courts
of landlords.
Courts fulfilled administrative, as well as judicial, functions, and on the manorial level its decisions
could concern mundane field management, not just legal disputes. The manorial bailiff thus could
be set tasks such as ensuring certain crops were gathered, as well as those like enforcing debt
repayment. Sometimes, bailiffs would have assistants to carry out these tasks, and the
term reeve now came to be used for this position—someone essentially assisting the steward, and
sometimes a bailiff, by effectively performing day-to-day supervision of the work done on the land
within a particular manor.
This reeve has been described as "the pivot man of the manorial system". He had to oversee the
work which the peasants were bound to perform, as an obligation attached to their holding of land
in the Manor, for the lord of the manor on the demesne land; such reeves acted generally as the
overseer of the serfs and peasants on the estate. He was also responsible for many aspects of the
finances of the manor such as the sale of produce, collection of monies and payment of accounts.
He was usually himself a peasant, and was chosen once a year, generally at Michaelmas. In some
manors the reeve was appointed by the lord of the manor, but in others he was elected by the
peasants, subject or not to a right of veto by the lord. It depended on the custom of the manor, but
there was an increasing tendency for election to be favoured. No doubt an elected reeve was more
willingly obeyed, and sometimes the peasants generally would be made financially liable if an
elected reeve defaulted.[3]
Although this reeve was subject to the steward, the steward might not always be resident within the
manor, and may manage many, and would not usually concern himself with day-to-day working. A
good reeve who carried out his duties efficiently, and was trusted by the lord and the peasants alike,
was likely to stay in office more or less permanently. By the 14th century the reeve was often a
permanent officer of the manor.
With the subsequent decline of the feudal system, and the subversion of its courts by the
introduction of Justices of the Peace (magistrates), this use of reeve fell out of practice.
THEGN/THANE
The term thegn, also thane, or thayn in Shakespearean English, comes from the Old English þegn,
"servant, attendant, retainer".[1]
In Anglo-Saxon England, it was commonly applied to aristocratic retainers of a king or
senior nobleman. As the ranks of ealdormen, or high-reeve were purely political and administrative,
neither were noble titles at the time. It was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for classes of
the greater nobility.

Etymology[edit]
Old English þeġ(e)n (IPA: [ˈθej(e)n], "servant, attendant, retainer") is cognate with Old High
German degan and Old Norse þegn ("thane, franklin, freeman, man").[2]
The thegn had a military significance, and its usual Latin translation was miles, meaning soldier,
although minister was often used. The 'Anglo-Saxon Dictionary' describes a thegn as "one engaged
in a king's or a queen's service, whether in the household or in the country". It adds: "the
word...seems gradually to acquire a technical meaning,...denoting a class, containing several
degrees", but what remained consistent throughout was its association with military service.[3]
After the Norman conquest of England in 1066, William the Conqueror replaced the Anglo-Saxon
aristocracy with Normans, who replaced the previous terminology with their own. Those previously
known as King`s Thanes became Princes, Middle-thegns became Counts, and ordinary thegns
became barons; thus the thegnly class all belonged to the greater nobility and the Vanafor-class
merged with the Norman knights, and untitled nobility of which they formed the majority.[4]

Gesith and thegns[edit]

The precursor of thegn was the gesith, the companion of the king or great lord, a member of
his comitatus. The concept of personal association is traceable in all applications of gesith; [3] 'thegn'
began to be used to describe a military gesith.[5]
It is only used once in the laws before the time of Aethelstan (c.  895–940), but more frequently in
the charters. Apparently unconnected to the German and Dutch word dienen, or serve, H. M.
Chadwick suggests "the sense of subordination must have been inherent...from the earliest time".[6]
It gradually expanded in meaning and use, to denote a member of a territorial nobility, while
thegnhood was attainable by fulfilling certain conditions.[7] The nobility of pre-Conquest England
was ranked according to the heriot paid in the following order: earl, king's thegn, median thegn. In
Anglo-Saxon society, a king's thegn attended the king in person, bringing his own men and
resources. A "median" thegn did not hold his land directly from the king, but through an
intermediary lord.

Status and ranking[edit]

While inferior to the ætheling, or of a kingly family, the thegn was superior to the ceorl. Chadwick
states; "from the time of Æthelstan, the distinction between thegn and ceorl was the broad line of
demarcation between the classes of society". His relative status was reflected in the level
of weregild, generally fixed at 1,200 shillings, or six times that of the ceorl. He was
the twelfhynde man of the laws, as distinct from the twyhynde man, or ceorl.[8]
While some inherited the rank of thegn, others acquired it through property ownership, or wealth.
A hide of land was considered sufficient to support a family; the Geþyncðo states; "And if
a ceorl throve, so that he had fully five hides of his own land, church and kitchen, bellhouse and
burh-gate-seat, and special duty in the king's hail, then was he thenceforth of thegn-right worthy."
This also applied to merchants, who "fared thrice over the wide sea by his own means."[9] In the
same way, a successful thegn might hope to become an earl.
Over time, the increase in the number of thegns, or thanes, led to the creation of three distinct
classes; the King's Thanes, Middle-Thanes, and ordinary Thanes. A King's Thane was a person of
great importance, with special privileges. No one save the king had the right of jurisdiction over
him; in return, one of Canute's laws makes it clear he paid a larger heriot than an ordinary thegn.[10]
The distinction between the ordinary Thanes and the King`s Thanes, or those of the first class, has
been defined by folklorist Sir George Laurence Gomme as "a Baron, or petty Prince, ruling under
the Sovereign".[11] This is analogous to the evolution of a warlord's henchman to vassal, one
of Charlemagne's great companions.
In Domesday Book, OE þegn has become tainus in the Latin form, but the word does not imply
high status. Domesday Book lists the taini who hold lands directly from the king at the end of their
respective counties, but the term became devalued, partly because there were so many thegns.
CHURL
A churl (Old High German karal), in its earliest Old English (Anglo-Saxon) meaning, was simply
"a man" or more particularly a "husband",[1] but the word soon came to mean "a non-
servile peasant", still spelled ċeorl(e), and denoting the lowest rank of freemen. According to
the Oxford English Dictionary, it later came to mean the opposite of nobility and royalty,
"a common person". Says Chadwick:[2]
we find that the distinction between thegn and ceorl is from the time of Aethelstan the broad line of
demarcation between the classes of society.
This meaning held through the 15th century, but by then the word had taken on negative overtones,
meaning "a country person" and then "a low fellow". By the 19th century, a new
and pejorative meaning arose, "one inclined to uncivil or loutish behaviour"—hence "churlish" (cf.
the pejorative sense of the term boor, whose original meaning of "country person" or "farmer" is
preserved in Dutch and Afrikaans boer and German Bauer, although the latter has its own
pejorative connotations such as those prompting its use as the name for the chess piece known in
English as a pawn; also the word villain—derived from Anglo-French and Old French, originally
meaning "farmhand"[3]—has gone through a similar process to reach its present meaning).
The ċeorles of Anglo-Saxon times lived in a largely free society, and one in which their fealty was
principally to their king. Their low status is shown by their werġild ("man-price"), which, over a
large part of England, was fixed at 200 shillings (one-sixth that of a theġn). Agriculture was largely
community-based and communal in open-field systems. This freedom was eventually eroded by the
increase in power of feudal lords and the manorial system. Some scholars argue, however, that
anterior to the encroachment of the manorial system the ċeorles owed various services and rents to
local lords and powers.
In the North Germanic (Scandinavian) languages, the word Karl has the same root as churl and
meant originally a "free man". As "housecarl", it came back to England. In German, Kerl is used to
describe a somewhat rough and common man and is no longer in use as a synonym for a common
soldier (die langen Kerls[4] of King Frederick William I of Prussia). Rígsþula, a poem in the Poetic
Edda, explains the social classes as originating from the three sons of Ríg: Thrall, Karl
and Earl (Þræl, Karl and Jarl). This story has been interpreted in the context of the
proposed trifunctional hypothesis of Proto-Indo-European society.
Cognates to the word ceorle are frequently found in place names, throughout
the Anglophone world, in towns such as Carlton and Charlton, meaning "the farm of the
churls"[dubious  –  discuss]. Names such as Carl and Charles are derived from cognates of churl or ċeorle.
While the word churl went down in the social scale, the first name derived from the same
etymological source ("Karl" in German, "Charles" in French and English, "Carlos" in Spanish etc.)
remained prestigious enough to be used frequently by many European royal families - owing
originally to the fame of Charlemagne, to which was added that of later illustrious kings and
emperors of the same name. Król, the Polish word for "king", is also derived from the same origin.
In her tragedy Ethwald (Part II), Joanna Baillie uses the spelling cairl, and in Act 2, Scene II, the
characters, First Cairl, Second Cairl and Third Cairl are found searching amongst the dead upon a
battle field. This play is set in Mercia.