ereditary. Royal
representatives called "reeves" started to assist them. The reeve
took security from every person for the maintenance of the public
peace. He also tracked cattle thieves, brought suspects to court,
gave judgments according to the doom books, and delivered
offenders to punishment.

Under the earls were the thegns. By service to the King, it was
possible for a coerl to rise to become a thegn and to be given
land by the King. Other thegns performed functions of magistrates.
A thegn was later identified as a person with five hides of land,
a kitchen, a church, a bell house, a judicial place at the
burhgemote [a right of magistracy], and an appointment in the
King's hall. He was bound to service in war by virtue of his
landholding instead of by his relationship to the king. Nobility
was now a territorial attribute, rather than one of birth. The
wergeld of a thegn was 1200s. when that of a ceorl or ordinary
freeman was 200s. The wergeld of an earl or bishop was four times
that of a thegn: 5800s. The wergeld of a king or archbishop was
six times that of a thegn: 7200s. The higher a man's wergeld, the
higher was his legal status in the scale of punishment, giving
credible evidence, and participation in legal proceedings. The
sokemen were freemen who had inherited their own land, chose their
own lord, and attended and were subject to their lord's court.
That is, their lord has soke [soc] jurisdiction over them. A ceorl
typically had a single hide of land. A smallholder rented land of
about 30 acres from a landlord, which he paid by doing work on the
lord's demesne [household or messuage] land, paying money rent, or
paying a food rent such as in eggs or chickens. Smallholders made
up about two fifths of the population. A cottager had one to five
acres of land and depended on others for his living. Among these
were shepherds, ploughmen, swineherds, and blacksmiths. They also
participated in the agricultural work, especially at harvest time.

It was possible for a thegn to become an earl, probably by the
possession of forty hides. He might even acquire enough land to
qualify him for the witan. Women could be present at the
witanagemot and shiregemote [meeting of the people of the shire].
They could sue and be sued in the courts. They could independently
inherit, possess, and dispose of property. A wife's inheritance
was her own and under no control of her husband.

Marriage required the consent of the lady and