But in peace his power was narrowly bounded by the customs of his people and the rede of his wise men.

Justice was not as yet the king's justice, it was the justice of village and hundred and folk in town-moot and hundred-moot and folk-moot.
It was only with the assent of the wise men that the king could make laws and declare war and assign public lands and name public officers.

Above all, should his will be to break through the free customs of his people, he was without the means of putting his will into action, for the one force he could call on was the host, and the host was the people itself in arms.
[Sidenote: The Thegn] With the new English king rose a new order of English nobles.

The social distinction of the eorl was founded on the peculiar purity of his blood, on his long descent from the original settler around whom township and thorpe grew up.

A new distinction was now to be found in service done to the king.