When researching Angle Saxon history words will be encountered that describe a person's place in Anglo Saxon society.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the structure of Anglo Saxon society by explaining the titles given or assumed by individuals which define their place and status in that society.
[1] The strongest ties in Anglo-Saxon society were to kin and lord. The ties of loyalty were to the person of a lord, not to his station. There was no real concept of patriotism or loyalty to a cause.. A kingdom was only as strong as its war-leader king. There was no underlying administration or bureaucracy to maintain any gains beyond the lifetime of a leader.
The ties of kinship meant that the relatives of a murdered person were obliged to exact vengeance for his or her death. As a way out of this deadly and futile custom, the system of wergelds (wereguild) was instituted. The wergeld set a monetary value on each person's life according to their wealth and social status. Robbing a thane called for a higher penalty than robbing a ceorl. On the other hand, a thane who thieved could pay a higher fine than a ceorl who did likewise.
In Anglo Saxon society therefore, a man's worth is judged by his position pr status in that society, and most interestingly, a fine is directly related to the abillty to pay, the more you have, the more uou pay for the dame offense - quite radical.
[2] People in Anglo Saxon society belonged to one of three staus level. At the top there wer the Kings, Ealdorman (eorls or eoldermen) and Thanes. In Saxon times these were were classed as the Saxon nobility and upper class
Next were all the commoners who were the Ceorls, who were a group consisting of farmers and craftsmen. Some were wealthy and others weren’t. Some Ceorls had the opportunity to own a property that was provided by thanes but also some had rented their property.
Lastly, slaves mentioned as thralls, who were the ones that dealt with miserable and hard lives, and there were Bondsmen who were in effect slaves.
[5] At the top of the social system was the royal house. This consisted of the king and princes (Aethlings or æðelings), who claimed a common ancestry with the king; they had special privileges and responsibilities which included military service and command in the field.
[5] It is important to note that succession to the throne was not guaranteed as the witan, or council of leaders, had the right to choose the best successor from the members of the royal house.
The Witan, was a political institution in Anglo-Saxon England which operated from 
before the 7th century until the 11th century. The Witenagemot was an assembly of the ruling class whose primary function was to advise the king and whose membership was composed of the most important noblemen in England, both ecclesiastic and secular. including ealdormen, thegns, and senior clergy, Such a system tends to cause bitterness and conflict with the l;osers, leading to challenges and battles, and in some cases the removal of the dissenters. It went spectacularly wrong on the death of Edward the Confessor who left no matural hier. The Witan chose Harold Godwinsonm; William Duke of Normandy, Tostig and Harald of Norway all took exception, almost simultaneouslymaking their bids by limlitary means and the rest as they sau is history.
[2] The Ealdormen (or Eoldermen) controlled the various districts on behalf of the ruler. The Ealdormen had significant power that was capable of being responsible for law and order and providing justice. They were also in power of the militias, which was formed by locals in times of war.
[5] The office was not hereditary, but it became usual in the tenth century to choose eoldermen from a few outstanding families.
By the early 11th century the term Eolderman began to be replaced with eorl, possibly influenced by the Danish 'Jarl'. In the second half of the 10th century the title became more important, an eorl now governing several shires. Aethings, Eoldermaen, Bishops and Archbishops formed the high Witan.
[2] After the ealdormen were the Thanes (ðegn's) who were the professional military in service for either the King or the Ealdormen. Some served the King, and had the possibility to gain a place in the King’s home according to the attitude towards the Kings and higher standards. Some owning lands in their own rights, they had the duty to create a solid foundation for the army to fight for the kingdom. The term fot that army was the fryd, When they were not active in their duty, they took care of local infrastructure, military and civil.
[4] They enjoyed hunting and feasting and they were expected to give their followers gifts like weapons.
[5] A Thanes status as a warrior is confirmed by the interchangeable use of the word 'ðegn' and 'milites' in contemporary manuscripts depending on whether the text was in English or Latin. The 'cynges ðegn' is usually referred to as a 'milites regis' in the latin texts. A Thanes wereguild (blood-price) was set nominally at 1200 shillings. Here we see the the principle of the value of a person's status expressed in mometary terms
There were approximately two thousand landowners of the thegnly class in Wessex and Mercia
[2] Commoners in the Anglo-Saxon period, known as Ceorls (Churls), were the forefront craftsmen and farmers and were the largest group of people in numbers.
They were required to be involved in the fryd, which was an army who were poorly armed and not professional. The best weapons they were in hold of were spears, but most were occupied with hammers, axes and scythes, which was from their work.
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[5] Ceorls were 'folcfry' (folk-free), that is, free in the eyes of the community. They enjoyed weregilds i.e. they were seen to have value, A ceorl's wereguild was set nominally at 200 shillings, one sixth that of a Thane.They had the right to seek compensations for other free kinsmen and kinswomen. They were allowed to bear arms and be considered 'fyrd worthy' and 'moot worthy'. This meant they were considered worthy to serve in the fyrd and take part in folk meetings
[2] The bottom of the structure of society in Anglo-Saxon times consisted of the Slaves, who were called Bondsmen or Thralls. Slaves were either, prisoners captured during wars, Britons (natives from Great Britain) or Saxons giving into debts and failing to recover from them, who literally had to sell themselves to slavery. They did not have many rights under the law and they could be harshly punished without any thought of justice.
The slave were further sub-divided into four basic classes,
[3] The Geneatas. These were usually the richest of the peasants. They were ‘free-folk’ who gave service to the fyrd, the Anglo-Saxon army on a regular basis, and could speak at public meetings.
The geneatas paid a rent to their lord for the land that they occupied but they could also receive land as a gift if they gave good service.
The Kotsetlas. These paid for their land through supplying their lord with labour whenever it was needed so avoided any levy of rent. Like the geneatas they could profit from their own hard work but how often they got to spend any time on their own land depended on how frequently they were called to work their lord’s land instead, .
The Gebur. Of all the classes of free folk they clearly had the hardest bargain as they were entirely dependent upon their lord for food and protection. They paid for everything with their labour and would not have had much free time with which to improve their lot.
The Theow
There was one class below the gebur but it was not strictly speaking a sub-division of the ceorls and that was the theow. Theow were not free-folk and lacked all of their rights as a result; they were the lwest staus slaves.
When reading documents describing the Anglo Saxon a better understanding of the status of the people in Anglo Saxon society from the titles attributed to them, the rights, and priveledges they enjoyed, and the duties they owed..
1 Anglo-Saxon England - culture and societyfrom
https://www.britainexpress.com/History/anglo-saxon_life-kinship_and_lordship.htm
2 Structure of Society - ANGLO-SAXON ENGLAND
https://sites.google.com/site/anglosaxonenglandproject/structure-of-society
3 The Social World of the Anglo-Saxons: The Peasants | Peter C Whitaker
https://petercwhitaker.wordpress.com/2013/06/19/the-social-world-of-the-anglo-saxons-the-peasants/
4 Life in Anglo-Saxon England
http://localhistories.org/saxonlife.html
5 Regia Anglorum - Saxon Social Organisation
https://regia.org/research/history/Saxons1.htm