Hist. A form used by some recent historians to represent the OE. þeʓn (þeʓen, þén), THANE1, in its sense of tenant by military service, and as a term of rank below the ealdor-man or eorl and above the ceorl, corresponding in its various grades to the post-conquest baron and knight.
The purpose of this spelling is to distinguish the Anglo-Saxon from the Scottish use of THANE1 (sense 4), made familiar by Shakespeare.
1848. Lytton, Harold, I. i. A Thegn forfeited his rank if he lost his lands.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. vi. 428, note. The signatures are no doubt those of local Thegns.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. vi. 155. Closely connected with the gesith is the thegn.… The thegn seems to be primarily the warrior gesith; in this idea Alfred uses the word as translating the miles of Bede. But he also appears as a landowner. Ibid., 156. The name of thegn covers the whole class which after the Conquest appears under the name of knights, with the same qualification in land and nearly the same obligations.
1890. Gross, Gild Merch., I. 185. The merchant who made three voyages across the ocean at his own cost became a thegn.
Hence Thegn-born a., of noble or gentle birth. Thegndom, the position or rank of thegn. Thegnhood, the condition or position of a thegn; the order of thegns, thegns collectively. Thegn-land, land held by a thegn. Thegnly, a. and adv. [OE. þeʓnlíc, -líce], a. adj. of or pertaining to, or becoming a thegn; b. adv. in a manner becoming a thegn. Thegn-right, the legal rights and privileges of a thegn. Thegn-ship [OE. þeʓnscipe], the office, function, or position of a thegn (in various senses). Thegn-wer [OE. þeʓnwer], the wer-gild of a thegn. Thegn-worthy a.: see quot.
c. 935[?]. Dunsæte, c. 5, in Liebermann, Gesetze (1903), 376. Sy he *ðeʓenboren, sy he ceorlboren.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. vi. 156. The thegn-born are contrasted with the ceorl-born.
1897. Rampini, Hist. Moray & Nairn, i. 46. The principle of comradeship … underlay English *thegndom.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. iii. 95. The growth of the *Thegnhood was, on the whole, depressing to the Ceorls.
1881. S. R. Gardiner, Introd. Stud. Eng. Hist., ii. 34. The thegnhood pushed its roots down, as it were, amongst the free classes.
a. 1100. Charter of Will. II., in Tabularis Ramesiensi, clxxviii. (Du Cange). Si terra de Isham … si vero *Teinlanda tunc fuisse inveniatur.
1628. Coke, On Litt., 86. In the book of Domesday land holden by knight’s service was called Tainland.
1876. Digby, Real Prop., i. § 2 (ed. 2), 13. Tain- or thegn-land. This seems to mean not a particular species of tenure, but land which was as a fact held or owned by a king’s thegn.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 586. Andreas … is ʓereht *ðeʓenlic.
a. 1038. Charter of Eanwene, in Kemble, Cod. Dipl., IV. 55. Heo … to ðam þeʓnon cwæð: Doð þeʓnlice and wel! Abeodað mine ærende to þam ʓemote.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., V. xxiv. 450. The words of Eanwene, when she bade the Scirgemót of Herefordshire to ‘do thegnly and well.’
1897. Maitland, Domesday & Beyond, 53. The men … are usually men of thegnly rank. Ibid., 165. Each … will be entitled to a thegnly wergild and swear a thegnly oath.
c. 1000. Oaths, in Liebermann (1903), 464. Se mæssepreost … bið *þeʓenrihtes wyrþe.
1872. E. W. Rodertson, Hist. Ess., 118. None could pretend to the privileges of full thegn-right without the possession of at least a township.
959–62. Laws of Edgar, III. c. 2. Se dema, se ðe oðrum on woh ʓedeme … þoliʓe a his *þeʓnscipes.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Saints’ Lives (1890), II. 82. Beoð nu ʓehyrte … and healdað mid ðeʓen-scipe ða halʓan Godes æ.
1897. Maitland, Domesday & Beyond, 163. We begin by thinking of thegnship as a relation between two men…. Then the thegnship becomes more than a relationship, it becomes a status.
1008. Laws of Ethelred, V. c. 9. Þæt he sy *þeʓenweres & þeʓenrihtes wyrðe.
1874. Stubbs, Const. Hist., I. vi. 155. The ceorl who has acquired five hides of land,… with other judicial rights, becomes *thegnworthy: his oath and protection and wergild are those of a thegn.
