History Revision Sheet – Yr9 Assessment December Anglo-Saxon Society
Anglo-Saxon Social Structure
ROLES
King – Defend kingdom, pass good laws,
make sure they were obeyed.
Earls – King’s main advisers (part of
Witan), enforced kings laws, raised men
for army in time of war.
Thegns – Primarily warriors and tax
collectors. Had to also repair bridges and
fortifications.
Ceorls – Free to go wherever they
pleased. Many worked as farmers, some
worked as merchants.
Peasant Farmers – Had to work for 3 days
on their lord’s lands doing whatever job
he said. Got their own land. Had to ask
lord for permission for things e.g. to leave,
to marry.
Slaves – Not free, had no land, had to do
as they were told. Their lord controlled
their entire lives.
How you could move up or down the
social structure:
Anybody who committed a crime could be
demoted down the social structure e.g. a
peasant farmer found guilty of a crime could
be made into a slave as punishment.
A slave could be granted his freedom by his
master.
A ceorl could become a thegn if he made
enough money to buy a large estate of his
own.
A thegn could be made an earl by the king.
Anglo-Saxon Government
King – King had ‘absolute’ power and took
all the important decisions. Anglo-Saxon
government can be called an ‘absolute
monarchy’. Had to defend church and
appoint church leaders, defend country,
deal with disputes amongst earls. Pass
good laws and make sure they were
obeyed.
Witan – Means ‘meeting of wise men’ and
the king called it whenever he needed it
(it wasn’t a regular thing). Usually
included earls, archbishops, some of the
most powerful thegns and some bishops.
By consulting them the King made
important people happy because shows
he respected their views. Most powerful
role of Witan came in deciding who
should be king if a king died without an
heir.
Shire-Reeves – They were thegns that
were selected to upkeep the king’s laws.
They collected taxes, ran the shire courts
which dealt with serious crimes in the
shire and raised soldiers for an army in
times of war. A shire-reeve knew what to
do because he was sent documents
known as ‘writs’ by the king.
(Each shire was subdivided into
‘hundreds’ and there was somebody
called a ‘reeve’ who would run the
hundred courts for less serious crimes and
judge on them.)
Anglo-Saxon Law and Order
Blood-feud – Revenge killings between families, a
cycle of violence when people took the law into
their own hands.
Wergild – A payment intended to prevent blood-
feuds developing. Size of payment depended on
the importance of the person murdered or the
size of the injury caused. E.g. 100 shillings for a
ceorl murdered and 300 for a thegn. 20 shillings
for a thumb severed and 10 for a toe.
Tithings – Anglo-Saxons were put into groups of
ten as soon as they reached age 12. They all had
to be responsible for each other’s behaviour. If
one broke law, others had to take him to court, if
they didn’t they would all be punished.
Collective Responsibility – The attitude of Anglo-
Saxons to law and order was that everybody was
responsible. This can be seen in ‘hue and cry’
whereby if a crime was being committed
somebody had to raise the hue and cry or they
would be punished. Anybody hearing it had to
come running or they too would be punished.
Trial by Ordeal – One example was accused had
hands put in boiling water. If after 2 weeks they
were healing nicely then it was seen as God
showing that the person was innocent.
Trial by Jury – People decided whether or not
somebody was guilty. People on jury knew the
accused.