we scarcely know. Owing to the Danish invasions, when the rude barbarous
warriors carried fire and sword into many a peaceful town and village,
the villagers found themselves at the mercy of these savage hordes.
Probably they sought the protection of some thane, or _eorl_, with his
band of warriors, who could save their lands from pillage. In return for
their services they acknowledged him as the lord of their village, and
gave him rent, which was paid either in the produce of these fields or
by the work of their hands. Thus the lords of the manor became the
masters of the villagers, although they too were governed by law, and
were obliged to respect the rights of their tenants and servants.

Saxon society was divided into two main divisions, the _eorl_ and the
_ceorl_, the men of noble birth, and those of ignoble origin. The chief
man in the village was the manorial lord, a _thane_, who had his demesne
land, and his _gafol_ land, or _geneat_ land, which was land held in
villeinage, and cultivated by _geneats_, or persons holding by service.
These villein tenants were in two classes, the _geburs_, or villeins
proper, who held the yardlands, and the _cottiers_, who had smaller
holdings. Beneath these two classes there were the _theows_, or slaves,
made up partly of the conquered Britons, partly of captives taken in
war, and partly of freemen who had been condemned to this penalty for
their crimes, or had incurred it by poverty.

There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of
to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal
rank (_thani regis_), who served the king in Court or in the management
of State affairs; (ii.) _thani mediocres_, who held the title by
inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the later
times; (iii.) _thani minores_, or inferior thanes, to which rank
_ceorls_ or merchants could attain by the acquisition of sufficient