Events Tagged: "social structure"

Ine's laws define thegn status - nobleman holding 5 hides of land, owes military service, wergild (man-price) of 1200 shillings vs 200 for ceorl

Laws establish ceorl rights - free peasant owning his own land (typically 1 hide), can bear arms, attend folk-moot, but lower wergild than thegn

Domesday Book shows social change - most ceorls now recorded as villeins (unfree peasants), Norman conquest degrades Saxon freemen