The thane as a soldier.
But the military service was by far the most important of 'the three needs' or services due from the thane to the king. The thane was a soldier first of all things. The very word thane implies this. In translating the story of the centurion who had soldiers under him, the Saxon Gospel makes the [p136] 'Hundredes ealdor' say, 'I have thanes under me' (ic hæbbe þegnas under me).[160] And though the text of the translation may not be earlier than the tenth century, yet, as the meaning of words does not change suddenly, it shows that the military service of the thane dated from a still earlier period.
And just as in Norman times the barons and their Norman followers (Francigenæ eorum) were marked off from the population in villenage as companions or associates of the king or some great earl, or as they might now be called 'county men,' so the Saxon thanes 400 years before the Norman Conquest were 'Gesithcundmen,' in respect of their obligation to 'do fyrd-færeld,' i.e. to accompany the king in his royal expeditions. But this association with the king did not break the bond of service. By the laws of King Ine[161] the gesithcundmen were fined and forfeited their land if they neglected their 'fyrd:'—
LI. Gif gesiðcund mon land-agende forsitte fyrde geselle .c.xx. scill.
þolie his landes.
51. If a gesithcund man owning land neglect the fyrd, let him pay cxx. shillings and forfeit his land.
As a landlord.
But the 'gesithcund' thanes were landlords as well as soldiers. And King Ine found it needful to enact laws to secure that they performed their landlord's duties. They must not absent themselves from their manors without provision for the cultivation of the land. When he færes, i.e. goes on long expeditions, a gesithcundman may take with him on his journey his reeve, his smith to forge his weapons, and his child's fosterer, or nurse.[162] But if he have xx. hides of land, he must show xii. hides at least of [p137] gesettes land on his manor; if he have x. hides, vi. hides of gesettes land; and if he have iii. hides, one and a half hides of gesettes land before he absents himself from his manor.[163]
The geneat, geset, or gafol land.