Æðelstan, Cynges Gesið, 660AD
(aka Ben Levick)
Meet Æðelstan, son of Æðelric, son of Cerdic, son of Gilla, son of Hussa, son of Brand, son of Wærmund, son of Odda, son of Garulf, son of Wipped, son of Guthlaf.
Æðelstan is the great-grandson of Gilla. His family have served the king as warriors since before the time Hengest first came to this country. At seven years of age he was fostered to Eadbald of Mercia to begin his training as a warrior. At the age of 15 he started travelling around England seeking a lord to serve. He first served in King Anna of East Anglia's warband. When Anna died in 653, Æðelstan travelled north to become a gesith in the service of Oswiu of Northumbria. In 655, his success in the Battle of Winwidfeld led to him recieving gifts of rings, armour and weapons from the king. In 657 he returned to his native Kent, and his reputation secured him a place in King Earconbert's warband. In 659 he recieved the estate his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had held before him.
Ben Levick is the Leader of Angelcynn.
Known Aliases
The Gesith
The word gesið (pl. gesiðas) is an Old Germanic word meaning 'companion'. However, by the time the Anglo-Saxons came to England it had taken on a more specific meaning - a military retainer. We know a little of the bonds between lord and retainer from a Roman writer named Tacitus:
'On the field of battle it is a disgrace to the chief to be surpassed in valour by his companions, to the companions not to come up to the valour of their chief. As for leaving a battle alive after your chief has fallen, that means lifelong infamy and shame. To defend and protect him, to put down one's own acts of heroism to his credit - that is what they really mean by 'allegiance''. The chiefs fight for victory, the companions for their chief. Many noble youths, if the land of their birth is stagnating in a protracted peace, deliberately seek out other tribes, where some war is afoot. The Germans have no taste for peace; renown is easier won among perils, and you cannot maintain a large body of companions except by violence and war. The companions are prodigal in their demands on the generosity of their chiefs. It is always 'give me that war-horse' or 'give me that bloody and vicious spear'. As for meals with their plentiful, if homely, fare, they count simply as pay. Such open-handedness must have war and plunder to feed it.'
It is clear that the king's companions or, to use the Old English term, Gesiðas were drawn from aristocratic warrior families, but now the gift-giving seen in earlier times had undergone something of a change. Now, in addition to war-gear, gifts of valuable items (a lord is often referred to as a 'giver of rings' in literature) were given too, or most sought after of all, land. In Anglo-Saxon England a gift was not given freely, and a gift was expected in return in the form of service. When a warrior took up service with a lord he was required to 'love all that his lord loved, and to hate all that he hated.' Neither gift was 'complete' - gift and counter-gift sustained one another. For example, although it was customary for a warrior to receive an estate for life (either his own or his lord's), it was not a certainty. If one failed in his duty to the king the royal grant could be forfeited. Thus the king's gift was as open-ended as his retainers counter-gift of service; the former was continually renewed and confirmed by the latter.
To receive land from one's lord was a sign of special favour. A landed estate was a symbolic as well as an economic gift. It differed from other gifts in that its possession signified a new, higher status for the warrior within the king's retinue. Consequently, by the seventh century we see the emergence of different classes of warrior noble - the geoguð (youth) and duguð (proven warrior). The former were young, unmarried warriors, often the sons of duguð, who, having as yet no land of their own, resided with their lord, attending and accompanying him as he progressed through his estates, much as the 'companions' of Tacitus' day had done. When a gesið of this sort had proved himself to his lord's satisfaction, he received from him a suitable endowment of land, perhaps even the land his father had held from the lord. This made him into a duguð. He ceased to dwell in his lord's household, although he still attended his councils; rather, he lived upon the donated estate, married, raised a family, and maintained a household of his own. In order to improve his standing the duguð would often raise military retainers of his own, probably from amongst the more prosperous ceorls on his estates (this is how the name geneat [companion] originated to describe men from the top portion of the cierlisc class) and other geoguð who had not yet sworn themselves to some other lord. These estates are often referred to a scir (shire) in the early records. This military following was known as the lord's hearðweru or hirð [household or 'hearth' troops].
Page created 13th August1997
Last updated 12th June 1999
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