Norman Conquest Encyclopedia
Earl
The term Earl was one that, under the influence of the Danes, replaced the Anglo-Saxon word ealdorman. In the time of King Alfred, the ealdorman was a king's man, possibly of royal descent, but in function an officer placed in charge of a distinct province, perhaps a shire. Duties might be delegated to his subordinate officers, the reeves. The word eorl had, in narrow English terms, been used in poetry and compared and contrasted with ceorl, but Danish influence led to its replacing ealdorman as meaning an officer of the crown, leaving the ealdorman to apply to ancient, venerated persons and eventually to become used in the form of alderman, a senior person in a town. The thegn was originally a separate class of warriors, probably bodyguards to kings, but latterly a landowner ranked by the number of hides he farmed and capable of being promoted to ealdorman status.
Related Reading:
- Saxon Viking Norman (Men-at-Arms 85)
- Anglo Saxon Thegn (Warrior 5)