Visions of Hierarchy and Inequality in Early Medieval England

This Element examines the sociopolitical hierarchy of England in the tenth and eleventh centuries, focusing upon the plasticity of the boundary between the ranks of ceorl and thegn. Offering a nuanced analysis of terms such as ceorl and thegn in both earlymedieval texts and modern scholarship, the Element highlights the mechanisms that allowed these non-institutional signifiers to hold such socialweight while conferring few tangible benefits. To better describe the relative social positions...