The long insecurity of a century of warfare drove the ceorl, the free tiller of the soil, to seek protection more and more from the thegn beside him.

The freeman "commended" himself to a lord who promised aid, and as the price of this shelter he surrendered his freehold to receive it back as a fief laden with conditions of military service.

The principle of personal allegiance which was embodied in the very notion of thegnhood, itself tended to widen into a theory of general dependence.

From AElfred's day it was assumed that no man could exist without a lord.

The "lordless man" became a sort of outlaw in the realm.