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
history
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
What is a huscarl?
A huscarl was a Saxon warrior. They were generally rich men in that they had to be able to afford to equip themselves with at least two horses, steel mail armour, a steel helmet, weapons such as a fighting spear, throwing spears, a Dane-axe, a shield and, perhaps most importantly, a gold decorated two edged … Continue reading What is a huscarl?
Just My Imagination
It is funny how the act of writing is the same as creating a new fantasy world. I used to do that as a child, create my own worlds peopled by fantastic characters from pop culture and the books I read, and dinosaurs! Always dinosaurs! Having decided to write the book and then immersed myself … Continue reading Just My Imagination
I’ll Write a Book One Day!
It’s a common enough assertion but I expect very few people, relatively speaking, actually make the attempt. It is not surprising really, I mean, the idea of writing a book seems so easy, you sit down with a pen or typewriter or word processor or ipad or whatever takes your fancy, a blank sheet, and … Continue reading I’ll Write a Book One Day!
Peter C Whitaker 