_official_, before “knight service” and the _feud_ gradually superseded nearly every other tenure amongst the nobility.[127] In Scotland, the royal official placed over the crown or fiscal lands appears to have been originally known as the _Maor_ (the type of the royal _Maer_ amongst the Cymri), and latterly under the Teutonic appellation of Thane, either a corrupted form of the Gaelic Ti’ern, or a title like _Earl_, arising from the prevalence of Anglo-Saxon law and technical phraseology after the introduction of feudalism; for the feudalism introduced by David and his successors, though Anglo-Norman, was very much based upon the Anglo-Saxon, or what was much the same, the Lothian law and customs. The epithet of Thanage was applied as well to the office as to the district over which it was exercised, of which the old Scottish name may have been _Triocha-ced_ or _Cantred_, a name long equivalent amongst the Irish to a _barony_.[128] The offices of _Maer_ and _Cynghellwr_ (or judge), amongst the Welsh, could never be conferred upon the head of a clan (or _Pencenedyl_), the same maxim of policy very probably being equally in force in Scotland, for it is in strict accordance with the immemorial Celtic principle “divide et impera;” though it may be equally referable to the invariable hostility of early royalty to _Allodial_ or _Duchas_ tenure from its independence of the sovereign authority. The original Thanage then would appear to have been a district held of the Crown, differing but little except in tenure, from a tract of land held by _Duchas_ right; the holder, Maor or Thane, being accountable for the collection of the royal dues, and for the appearance of the royal tenantry at the yearly “hosting,” and answering to the hereditary _Toshach_ or captain of a clan--for the king stood in the place of the _Cen-cinneth_, or chief--whilst the official who acted as judge, and was subsequently known as the _Deempster_ (the Welsh _Cynghellwr_) represented the hereditary _Brehon_ of the tribe, the place of the lesser _Duchasach_ or _Brugaidhs_ being generally supplied in course of time by the kinsmen of the Thane, planted on the Thanage to hold under the head of their race as _Ogtierns_, Mesne lords, or Vavassours.[129] The theory of “a _Toshach_ over every _Triocha-ced_, and a _Brugaidh_ over every _Baile_,” was equally familiar to the Irish Gael, and as the tie uniting the officials with the population of the whole Thanage was “service,” not “blood,” the Thane was often known amongst his followers as their _Toshach_ or captain, rather than their _Cen-cinneth_ or chief by right of blood.[130]