ceorl

[chey-awrl]

noun

Obsolete.

1. churl.

ceorl

/ tʃɛəl /

noun

1. a freeman of the lowest class in Anglo-Saxon England

Other Word Forms

• ceorlish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of ceorl¹

before 1000; this form borrowed (17th century) < Old English

Word History and Origins

Origin of ceorl¹

Old English; see _churl

Example Sentences

‘Come, stand before me, Ceorl!’ he said.

From Literature

Moreover, in the laws of the Wessex king, Ine, the value of a man’s oath is expressed in hides, the oath for a king’s thegn being probably worth 60 hides and that of a ceorl 5 hides.

From Project Gutenberg

The inference is corroborated for the epoch of the early Norman kings by the laws of Henry I, in which the villain is still treated on the same footing as the ceorl of Saxon times, is deemed 'worthy of his were and of his wite,' and is called as a free man to the hundred court, although not a landlord, 'terrarum dominus.'

From Project Gutenberg

And when we come to Saxon evidence, we shall see how intimately the condition of the ceorl connects itself with the state of the villain along the main lines and in detail.

From Project Gutenberg

But these people are by no means free tenants; in the usual legal sense they are mostly holding in villainage, and their freedom must be traced not to the dual division of feudal times, but to survivals of the threefold division which preceded feudalism, and contrasted slave, free ceorl, and military landowner.

From Project Gutenberg