There were degrees of rank among Saxon gentlemen, as among those of to-day. The thanes were divided into three classes: (i.) those of royal rank (_thani regis_), who served the king in Court or in the management of State affairs; (ii.) _thani mediocres_, who held the title by inheritance, and corresponded to the lords of the manor in the later times; (iii.) _thani minores_, or inferior thanes, to which rank _ceorls_ or merchants could attain by the acquisition of sufficient landed property. We can picture to ourselves the ordinary village life which existed in Saxon times. The thane's house stood in the centre of the village, not a very lordly structure, and very unlike the stately Norman castles which were erected in later times. It was commonly built of wood, which the neighbouring forests supplied in plenty, and had stone or mud foundations. The house consisted of an irregular group of low buildings, almost all of one story. In the centre of the group was the hall, with doors opening into the court. On one side stood the kitchen; on the other the chapel when the thane became a Christian and required the services of the Church for himself and his household. Numerous other rooms with lean-to roofs were joined on to the hall, and a tower for purposes of defence in case of an attack. Stables and barns were scattered about outside the house, and with the cattle and horses lived the grooms and herdsmen, while villeins and _cottiers_ dwelt in the humble, low, shedlike buildings, which clustered round the Saxon thane's dwelling-place. An illustration of such a house appears in an ancient illumination preserved in the Harleian MSS., No. 603. The lord and lady of the house are represented as engaged in almsgiving; the lady is thus earning her true title, that of "loaf-giver," from which her name "lady" is derived. [Illustration: HOUSE OF SAXON THANE]