Pre-Conquest Society in Britain

every man must have a lord

So says�a Law of Alfred the Great.� And despite most men at the time�considering themselves to be free-men, Alfred's Law stated that a man must have someone to whom he can give service or perform duties, and to whom he was responsible to for his behaviour.

Upper Class:

These were called thegns and were the prime landowners and local leaders. The thegn lived in a village or burgh surrounded by his family, servants and men-at-arms.� His residence was a round, thatched barn-like Hall, grouped together with smaller buildings (bowers, stores, kitchen, church).

Thegns owned land equivalent to at least five hides (120 acres).� All large grants of land were called bocland as the details were written down in a boc (book).

The thegns travelled with the King - they were bound to serve the King during times of war.� The thegnswere supported by the labours of their serfs and farmers.� These villagers lived in huts nearby with their grazing lands beong the village.

The greatest of the thegns were the earldormen or earls who ruled the largest tracts of land.� These men paid rent for their lands, and were entitled to attend the moot (meeting-place).

Middle Class:

Next came the freemen - he too paid rent for his land and attended the moot, although as time passed, his independence was to be greatly reduced.� The freeman would later become known as a churl.� The freeman held a small farmland which provided for the needs of the thegn.

Lower Class:

Lower than the churl was the gebur - a peasant or villein.� He held land equivalent to approximately 30 acres, in return for which he owed his thegn two to three days' work per week, and various gifts.

The cottager had even less land and also gave service in lieu of paying rent.

Labourers�were free although they held no land�and worked for pay.

Serfs - they were also known as thralls or bondsmen.� They held no land and were treated just a bit better than slaves in that they did have rights under common law.� These were the poorest - often a man would�place himself�himself and his family into serfdom in return for food, shelter and work; a freeman who had lost everything (land, crops) might also become a serf; whilst a man whose father was a serf was also a serf.� It was considered a most pious act to free a serf - and this could be done on the deathbed or through a will.

Slaves - these were the lowest of the low. Most slaves during this time were either the descendants of Britons who had been enslaved by their Anglo-Saxon conquers or had been placed into slavery as a result of a crime or sold themselves into slavery due to debt. Unlike all other members of society a slaves family could no claim wergild when he was killed because he was the property of someone else. However, a slaves owner could ask for recompense from the offender due to the loss of his property and the labor he owed. Slaves could be freed like a serf above or buy their freedom. However, since a slave owned nothing this usually caused more problems than it solved them. If a slave runaway they could face beatings, branding or death upon capture. For the most part the slave was a jack of all trades on the lords lands doing everything from cleaning his chamber pot to ploughing his fields.

Melisende 27/07/2006

Article added: 2006-07-27 @ 3:28 am | Last Modified: 2007-02-19 @ 7:45 pm

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