attacked. He and the local bishop presided over shire meetings
and meetings of the people. Reeves were appointed by the King as
his representatives in the shires. The reeve took security from
every person for the maintenance of the public peace. He also
brought suspects to court, gave judgments according to the
doom-books, delivered offenders to punishment. By service to the
King, it was possible for a coerl to be given land by the King
and thus rise to become a thegn. A thegn was a person with five
hides of land, a church, a bell-house, a judicial at the
burgh-gate, and an office or station in the King's hall. The
King's thegns who got their position by fighting for the King
came to be known as knights. Other thegns performed functions of
magistrates. The thegns became a nobility which replaced the
eorls. The wergeld of a thegn was six times that of a coerl. The
sokemen were freemen who had their own land, chose their own
lord, and attended their lord's court. A smallholder rented land
of about 30 acres from a landlord, which he paid by doing work on
the lord's demesne [household] 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 thane to acquire enough land to qualify him
for the witan [King's council of wise men, which included
archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, chief landowners, and
officers of the King's household]. Women could be present at the
witenagemot [meeting of the witan, which met three times