416 HISTORY OF CERTAIN 
theyns,” &c. The common thanes were common 
proprietors in towns and burghs—not owing suit 
and service to the king, but serving on juries ; 
and liable to be called upon to the “ witena ge- 
mot,” or parliament of the nation. They were 
free; wore arms, and hence, King Alfred, in his 
translation of Bede, renders the Latin word 
milites, by ‘“‘theyns.” They were to possess five 
hydes of land—and formed the Anglo-Saxon 
militia; being liable to be called out on every 
“fyrd,” or warlike expedition. They however 
had no jurisdiction, they had no ‘dom;” the 
bishop had his ‘‘dom,” the abbot had his “dom,” 
as well as the earls already mentioned ; though, 
from the altered habits of society after the con- 
quest, they gradually lost them; but the “thane,” 
had only his ‘‘ship” or “gild,” his clubs for 
mutual protection. Under him were the “‘Ceorls,” 
entitled to helm, mail, and sword; as a proof of 
the tenure by which they were retained under 
the thane. These two, in their body, most likely 
formed the “tenentes,” mentioned as a part of 
the population in the “domboc,’—the ‘‘th”’ of the 
Anglo-Saxon, being convertible into the Latin t, 
according to Rask’s rule, and thus making admis- 
sible into our present paper, what otherwise 
would be but a digression. 
