Above the ceorls, the peasants of the Anglo-Saxon world, sat the ‘theigns’. They were to all intents and purposes the middle class. To qualify as a theign a man needed to own a minimum of 5 hides of land. A hide was not an exact measurement in Anglo-Saxon England but roughly equated to enough land … Continue reading The Social World of the Anglo-Saxons: The Theigns
ceorls
The Social World of the Anglo-Saxons: The Peasants
One of the features of the Anglo-Saxon social structure was its’ obsession with class. There were three basic classes, the ceorls or peasants, the theigns or landowners, and the eoldermen or nobility. These classes were further subdivided again creating a ladder for the socially mobile to climb.The ceorls were the most numerous and, therefore, the … Continue reading The Social World of the Anglo-Saxons: The Peasants
Peter C Whitaker 