Thegn

Uncommon card · No. 152378

In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn, or thane (; Latin: minister), was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and the ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were held by a thane as well as the rank; an approximately equivalent modern title may be that of baron. The term thane was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers, and thane was a title given to local royal officials in medieval eastern Scotland, equivalent in rank to the child of an earl.

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