On Thralls

Normally, a Thrall is in service to some Churl, who is in service to a Thane, who is in service to a Lord, who is in service to the tribe.

Members of a tribe are called "free men of the tribe", meaning that they have "civil rights" guaranteed by a King and his King's men. Such freedom, however, usually has to be earned and can in fact be subsequently lost. Theodism is not truly a free society, and the most usual way to enter it from the outside world is by selling oneself into slavery, or "thralldom", to someone who already possesses "freedom of the tribe". Thralls have no rights whatsoever excepting as granted to them by their owners, who are responsible for their behavior within the tribe, and for teaching them Heathen ways. Thralldom, then, serves as a "learning period", at the end of which, if the þræll is successful, he is offered opportunity to "cheap after his abraidness", or buy his "freedom of the tribe"... usually as a full member of a tribe. It is possible, of course, for some Heathen individual to gain freedom in his own right, as in the case of some honorable man of great repute who sells himself into the Lord's service and is granted freedom of the tribe in return. Also, peers may “sell” the oaths of their men; as a matter of conscience when it is what the “man in service” wishes. If another tribe or lord will better speed a man in his doings, and if the man so wishes, the peers may transfer such oaths between them by arranging honorable terms so that no man is constrained in his growth as a theodsman.

Here it might be noted that common-sounding words may sometimes have specialized meanings. The word man is used in the elder sense and refers to either gender, and when distinguished as wereman and woman. The terms "buy" and "sell", for instance, often do not refer to transactions in which money changes hands; they refer merely to the concept of "valuable consideration". Where money is involved, the word "cheap" is most often used. The reason is because Théodish Belief tends to stick to the elder, or original, forms and meanings of words. When money is involved in a religious transaction, the actual monetary sums are usually quite small. When a þræll is cheaped his abraidness, for instance, the abraid-shot is usually paid in a certain number of "lucky pennies"; i.e., pennies found heads-up by accident. All of this may sometimes be confusing to the outsider... but, in fact, there is much that is meant to be confusing to the outsider.

Since the only sure way into a tribe, without being born there, is to be bought as a thrall by some tribal freeman who is already in good thew, and learn by experience what is acceptable behavior and what is not and demonstrate this understanding, some time should be spent explaining that institution. A thrall has no honor and no civil rights, and is considered chattel and not even human. He can't swear an oath, and has no honor recognized by Gods or men that could be jeopardized by swearing a false oath, and must depend on his owner's free rights and whim for his own well-being. He is just a warm body in service to his owner and his owner's community. During thralldom, he gets to really learn by experience what kind of religion Theodish Belief really is, and how to live and think in such a different way, and if he comes to realize that it is really not for him after all, he can buy his way out of thralldom or even just "run away", and no honor has been lost, no oaths broken, and nobody cares, either Gods or men, and he can get on with his life elsewhere.

On the other hand, if he "gets it", and finds it all comes natural for him and this is the way he wants to live, he starts getting chances to buy his own abraidness, or Freedom of the Realm. If he succeeds in that, he can become a free Tribesman himself, able to buy thralls himself if he chooses, by being allowed to swear a "hold oath" to some lord who is himself in troth and thew to the King. It is his place in this web of oaths that gives a Tribal freeman his wergild and civil rights; he is now "worth a man". But of course he had better be sincere in it, because at this point his word and his troth and thew in all things come to be taken very seriously by men and Gods alike. It's like General Sheridan once said about the Native American Indians, even though he didn't like them, that, nonetheless, unlike the White-eye who often speaks with forked tongue, an Indian would rather break a leg than break his word on anything. He knows that that is his personal honor, and therefore his very human worth itself, at stake every time he gives his word. So too it is amongst Theodsmen.

This system tends to make for a lot of religious and spiritual intensity, more than is found in other paths, and nobody wants to see it disrupted, and accordingly a Theod is quite hard to get into. All sorts of people ask you all kinds of questions about yourself, and if the Witan approves of the petition, the Lord must still give leave for the auction to take place. The auction takes place at an official event of the tribe, and there are apt to be still more questions. If you are bought and the gavel falls, you must go into service and begin a process of learning (in person, through assigned readings, and through correspondence) sound Heathenry. And of course things can, and sometimes do, still go wrong, anywhere along the way.

What happens after the sale, is that the buyer sends a man shot, which he paid for the thrall, a certain number of lucky pennies, which the thrall must then go and "lose" in some public place, so as to come into the tribe "penniless" and unfree. Thralls must not delay in it; that would offend the wights and be bad luck. Once those pennies are safely lost, the thrall will notify his owner that the thing is done and that he is now in his service. Some day when the thrall is free he will have to pay over a similar number of lucky pennies to his old owner as an abraidshot; to buy back his freedom. Tribesmen should always have an eye open to collect pennies found heads up (never head down; that's bad luck) in public places. The chance to do that comes at some point down the road when people can see that a thrall has truly come to understand Theodism, which is a culture-shock kind of thing and doesn't usually come easy for modern people. It is a matter of the thrall’s attempt to learn real spiritual humility and patience, two things not all that common amongst our kind, but necessary to the truly accomplished Heathen. There may be occasional hardships or ordeals or frustrations involved, all of which the thrall will have to bear and maintain personal discipline.

Each thrall owner trains and teaches in his own way; some are easygoing, some are hard. There actually are certain rights, by thew, which a thrall will want to know about. If things get too tough or it turns out to be the wrong decision in life, as a thrall one can "run away", with no loss of honor and as long as he keeps his peace and doesn't raise voice, hand or weapon against the tribe after that, he won't be pursued, and nothing will be said or held against him. It will just be like nothing ever happened. A thrall can always be worked, within reason, sometimes pretty hard, but no owner may abuse a thrall in any way or hold him back in his quest for freedom; if that happens, it's Thingable. A thrall's owner is his lord, and he may not backtalk or defy him in any way, but a thrall may always speak to a Reeve at any time with no let or hindrance, about anything he wants to at any time; no one can stop him.

As a thrall, one should seek to get to gatherings, because that is where things really start happening for a thrall. The gathering stead will usually put a thrall to work on all the grunt work; however, when duties are done that is where Theodish education earnestly begins. Thralls whose chores are done are normally given the freedom of the stead. They can meet and interact freely with others, participate in events, pretend to be free, and sit and boast like a freeman at the foot of the sumble bench, because our tradition is that Theodism can only really be learned by doing. Meanwhile, freemen will normally be watching the thrall, and judging amongst themselves whether he "gets it" yet. They tend to discuss thralls in mysterious, occasionally offensive, ways, and may sometimes put riddles to him and such. You can't always tell what they mean; calling some man a "worthless thralls", for instance, is usually actually a compliment, and may mean that some people have been saying that they think he should be free!

Once they see any given thrall is starting to "get it", he will find chances to gain freedom starting to slowly but surely, or sometimes quite suddenly, come his way. Most freemen have been through it all themselves, and know exactly what sorts of things to look for. Once he gets a shot at freedom, the thrall becomes a freeman by gaining a wergild, by means of swearing a hold oath with some lord who will have him. It is a comitatus type oath, of the kind described in Tacitus, and it is completely binding; breaking it will normally result in outlawry. This is why there is such a long period of thralldom; to give the candidate lots of time to think.

Once free, everything is open to the thrall according to his abilities, from Ceorl right on up to King, and no disgrace in any of them. But each arrung requires a tremendous amount of learning to accomplish; Theodism is very "different" and very complex, a fact reflected in the many offices and opportunities its folk have before them. Once freed thrall is expected to swear his hold oath within a year and a day of his abraidness, to join the Web of Oaths and take his proper place within the community.

Amongst the Normans, general tribal thew is slightly different as it relates to thralldom. A thrall may take one of two paths to freedom in Normandy. The first is that of the commonfolk, and is most like the rest of Theodism, dependant on the thrall’s mastery of thew. The second path adds a level dealing with the mysteries of a warrior society to the tasks of the aspiring Norman warrior. The Warband composition of Normandy imposes a special burden on one who wishes to be freed within its martial orders, which directly support a Fyrd, the Fyrhring. One enters thralldom as an Unfohten (untested) squire, and must demonstrate not only an understanding of thew, but also of the Martial Disciplines of Normandy. Once the thrall has demonstrated his understanding of thew he is heighted to a second stage of thralldom, that of the Fohten (tested) squire. At this phase he is rapidly prepared to undergo the Gedrythwita Ordeal, the Norman Comrades in Arms rite of passage. This ordeal is designed to test the thrall to his limits, physically, spiritually, intellectually and emotionally. The process pits the man against nature and himself, with martial Normans present to administer tests throughout. The martial rite of passage demands that the candidate find an inner strength and courage and face what seem insurmountable obstacles to his freedom.

New Updates in our Tidings Page (06/26/08)

Click to join Our Email List