e immediately great tenants of the king's estates. These were the
greater thanes, and were succeeded by the barons, which title was
brought in by the Normans, and is rarely found before the Conqueror.
Mass thanes were those who held lands in fee of the church. Middle
thanes were such as held very small estates of the king, or parcels
of lands of the king's greater thanes. They were called by the
Normans vavassors, and their lands vavassories. They who held lands
of these, were thanes of the lowest class, and did not rank as
gentlemen. All thanes disposed of the lands which they held (and
which were called Blockland) to their heirs, but with the
obligations due to those of whom they were held. Ceorle (whence our
word churl) was a countryman or artisan who was a freeman. Those
ceorles who held lands in leases were called sockmen, and their land
sockland, of which they could not dispose, being barely tenants.
Those ceorles who acquired possession of five hides of land with a
large house, court, and bell to call together their servants, were
raised to the rank of thanes of the lowest class. A hide of land was
as much as one plough could till. The villains or slaves in the
country were laborers, bound to the service of particular persons;
were all capable of possessing money in property, consequently were
not strictly slaves in the sense of the Roman law.

Witan or Wites, (_i. e._ wisemen,) were the magistrates and lawyers.
Burghwitten signified the magistrates of cities. Some shires (or
counties) are mentioned before king Alfred; and Asserius speaks of
earls (or counts) of Somerset, and Devonshire, in the reign of
Ethelwolph. But Alfred first divided the whole kingdom into shires,
the shires into tithings, lathes, or wapentacks, the tithings into
hundreds, and the hundreds into tenths. Each division had a court
subordinate to those that were superior, the highest in each shire
being the shire-gemot, or folck-mote, which was held twice a year,
and in which the bishop or his deputy, and the ealderman, or his
viceregent, the sheriff, presided. See Seldon on the Titles of
Honor; Speman's Glossary, ad. noviss. Squires on the Government of
the English Saxons. Dr. William Howel, in his learned General
History, t. 5, p. 273, &c. N.B. The titles of earls and hersen were
first given by Ifwar Widfa