The term thegn (or thane in Shakespearean English), from OE þegn, ðegn "servant, attendant, retainer", is commonly employed by historians to describe either an aristocratic retainer of a king or nobleman in Anglo-Saxon England, or as a class term, the majority of the aristocracy below the ranks of ealdormen and high-reeves. It is also the term for an early medieval Scandinavian class of retainers. Etymology Old English þeg(e)n "servant, attendant, retainer" is cognate with Old Hi… (More on Thegns)