Culture - Aenglish  
 

Culture
People

Lands
Landscape

Rules
Rules

 

All the major kingdoms are Aenglish. At least all the major Aenglish kingdoms are, and by definition everybody else is beneath them, right?

There are several Aenglish classes.

Ceorls

They may be poor compared to princes, but like all the Aenglish, they're proud and free citizens, and they usually have enough to get by. A ceorl is technically bound to none but the king himself, though certain other officials have been granted the right to act as the king's representatives. Lower subclasses of ceorl owe actual service for their land, but higher subclasses get away with merely paying cash rent.

Farmer
Most people farm for a living (whether armed or not). They live in loose villages and tend large plots of land. Farmers are not generally off on their own.

Outdoorsman
Herdsmen, fishermen, hunters, woodcutters, charcoal burners, and the gamekeepers of Eorls and princes spend their time out in the wilds. Charcoal burners and gamekeepers particularly spend most of the dry seasons in temporary huts closer to their work.

Craftsman
Blacksmiths (iron smiths), whitesmiths (bronze smiths), woodcarvers, carpenters, potters, boneworkers, leatherworkers, weavers, alemen, and bakers generally farm a bit too, but spend most of their time in town working, bargaining, or socializing.

Reeve
Ceols who land jobs helping to administer a shire report to the Shire-reeve, who reports to the Eorl in charge of protecting the shire. The reeves and shire-reeves help mantain law (though rather informally by modern standards).

Man-at-arms, Warrior, etc.
Any ceorl from the list above (or even Welshman) holding a hurty object may be summoned to his lord's Fyrd (milita) for duty, to repay the land-debt he owes to his thegn or eorl.

Knight
A ceorl with decent equipment is infrequent, so is assumed:
a) to have taken a particular oath of service to someone, and
b) to have honor
This places him socially above the other ceorls.

Monk
Holy men living in monastary communities are generally accorded respect, even by non-christians. Just to dissuade any loot-and-pillage characters, remember: they've taken vows of poverty. They live in huts. Nobody's built big stone monastaries yet.

Titled Folk

Thegn
Thegns are landed, respectable, and honored. They have lots of land granted to them because they serve well in the fyrd. With the wealth this generally gives them, they are also requited to assist their eorls and kings in the maintenance of bridges and fortresses. The weregild owed for killing a thegn is six times that owed for killing a ceorl! Thegns keep an oath of service to:
a) a richer thegn, or
b) an eorl, or
c) a duke, or
d) a king.
King's eorls are the highest-honored. Very very good service in war or other capacity can earn a thegn promotion to be a king's thegn.

Priest
Priests are accorded the same status and many of the same rights as thegns. Plus there's the intimidating religious power.

Eorl

A man taking a special oath to his king is entrusted with the governance of a shire. They may be stationed in a fortress or castle, have many thegns working for him, and can call out the Fyrd (national guard basically) when in need. This position is NOT officially hereditary, but the sons of eorls have a much better chance of being chosen as an eorl. If an eorl lives in a fortress, this fortress belongs to the king, not the eorl. Even if he built it with his own money. Because technically, the income itself is a job resource, and this is exactly what he's supposed to do with it.

Nobles and Nearly So

Bishop
Bishops are accorded the same status and many of the same rights as eorls.

Duke
(really this should be "Aethlingas" but "Duke" is a more familiar term)
Head of a branch of a royal house, but not actually the king; sometimes dukes oversee several eorls in the king's name. Sometimes they only oversee one. Sometimes the king doesn't trust them with a wooden penny. Regarless, they are required to perform military service for the king, and by definition get a commander's title in the field, since any duke has hundreds of ceorls owing him service. This is why a king may assign several dukes to a battle; only one of them has the capacity and trustworthiness to get the job done, and the rest provide extra manpower.

Archbishop
There are two on the Isle; one at Canterbury in Kent, and one at York in Northumberland. They have power rivaling the dukes, and in some ways the kings themselves.

King
Any given overlord of a kingdom is chosen from among the Dukes by the High Council of dukes, eorls, and bishops of the kingdom. When any of the Aenglish kings are chosen, both archbishops also have their say (invited or not). Yes, that's right; the dukes have to campaign for the job. Or at leat pay off their relatives.


 

 

Public Officials

In the time-setting of this game, many positions of authority are not as most of us may expect.

Most people are "ceorls," which in a sense means peasant, except that they are free to move about and take up another landlord. Affording the move is another matter.

Reeve and shire-reeve are job titles of an eorl's administrative subordinates. He's still just a ceorl, but a few of them let the title go to their heads. For instance that high-handed Shire-Reeve of Nottingham.

The term "knight" still officially means "young man," but is beginning to connotate "young upcoming man-of-war who's a decent fellow and has skill in battle."

"Thegn" is the term used for what most of us will think of as a knight; granted a title, holds good land, can generally kick ass very well, and is a step above the masses in status.

"Eorl" (ie Earl) is not a hereditary title, but an appointed position to govern and guard one or more shires.

I'm using "dukes" for the titled royals because none of you will want to call them the actual title, "aethlingas."

The king is chosen - not exactly democratically - from among the dukes. Often the old king's son does not make the cut. Occasionally this leads to small civil wars where the prince tries to veto the decision with manpower. Which proves that indeed he was a bad choice... unless he wins.