Thegn

In later Anglo-Saxon England, 10th to 11th centuries, a thegn (pronounced /θeɪn/) or thane^[1] (or thayn in Shakespearean English) was an aristocrat who owned substantial land in one or more counties. Thanes ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen.^[2] Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were held by a thane as well as the rank.

The term thane was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers, and thane was a title given to local royal officials in medieval eastern Scotland, equivalent in rank to the child of an earl.