twelfhyndman

plural twelfhyndmen · alternative twelfhyndeman · alternative twelvehyndemen

1. historicalcriminal lawA man worth twelve hundred shillings in wergeld.

   But what was the social rank of these burgesses? Were they thegns—twelfhyndmen?

   1864, Henry Charles Coote, A Neglected Fact in English History, London: Bell and Daldy, […], page 125

   5 more examples

   The oath of a twelfhind man was equal to the oaths of ſix ceorles; and if revenge was taken for the murder of a twelfhynd man it might be wrecked on ſix ceorles.

   1805, Sharon Turner, The History of the Manners, Landed Property, Government, Laws, Poetry, Literature, Religion, and Language, of the Anglo-Saxons, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], page 317

   The nobility are frequently, and in later records generally, styled Thanes; which honour seems to be a territorial designation. They are also indicated by the fines imposed on them for crimes, and by the composition payable for their lives. And thus we find them divided into Twelfhyndmen and Sixhyndmen; according as 1200 or 600 shillings was the amount of their were or composition.

   1832 July, “The Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth. […] By Francis Palgrave, […]. The History of England; Anglo-Saxon Period. (Family Library.) By Francis Palgrave, […].”, in The Edinburgh Review, or Critical Journal, volume LV, number CX, Edinburgh: […] Ballantyne and Company, for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, and Longman, London; and Adam Black, Edinburgh, page 310

   It is remarkable that, though the syxhyndman is named at first, nothing more is said of him; and the twelfhyndman is defined to be a thane.

   1848, Henry Hallam, Supplemental Notes to the View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, London: John Murray, […], page 210

   In this computation a twelfhyndman was valued at six ceorls or twyhyndmen, because the weregild of a twelfhyndman was equal to the weregilds of six ceorls.

   1849, John Allen, Inquiry into the Rise and Growth of the Royal Prerogative in England, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, […], page 115

   From about the opening of the tenth century, if not from the close of the ninth, frank-tenure and gentle-tenure became identified with the tenure of the Thegn (or Dienstman) throughout English Mercia and the South-country, all who held by it acquiring the position of Twelfhyndmen, though they were not necessarily Gesithcund, or of gentle birth and descent.

   1872, E[ben] William Robertson, Historical Essays in Connexion with the Land, the Church &c., Edinburgh: Edmonston and Douglas, page lvi