Ceorl Definition

Ceorl Sentence Examples

• The form ceorl soon became cherl, as in Havelok the Dane (ante 1300) and several times in Chaucer, and subsequently churl.

• Over a large part of England this was fixed at 1200 shillings, or six times that of the ceorl.

• He was the twelfhynde man of the laws, sharply divided from the twyhynde man or ceorl.

• Already in ZEthelberht's legislation we find characteristic fines inflicted for breach of the peace of householders of different ranks - the ceorl, the eorl, and the king himself appearing as the most exalted among them.

• In the course of time the status of the ceorl was probably reduced; but although his political power was never large, and in some directions his freedom was restricted, it hardly seems possible previous to the Norman Conquest to class him among the unfree.