Hild, 600AD
(aka Sue Peacock)Meet Hild, the wife of Offa the Ceorl.
The couple live on the edge of the forest and he is a farmer. She produces yarns on her drop spindle to make cloth using the wool from their sheep, linen from the flax fields and dyes from the surrounding countryside. She has also been required to use her sewing skills to embroider wall hangings and clothing for her family and their lord.
Sue Peacock is the Living History Officer for Angelcynn.
The Ceorl
The ceorl was the freeman in Anglo-Saxon society. The ceorl at this time would have been primarily a farmer. The Anglo-Saxon economy was based on food production and few villages or settlements would have supported specialist craftsmen. Most people had to be self sufficient in all requirements of everyday life. For this reason each person had to become a 'jack of all trades' although within each community individuals would tend towards the craft for which they showed natural apptitudes rather than being a specialist craftsman.
Women of the cierlisc class would also have spent much of their time producing the textiles and clothing their family would need. They would also prepare meals, and do jobs around the farm such as milking the sheep, goats and cattle, tend the herb/vegetable gardens, gather friuts and berries, fungus and wild vegetables in their season to augment what was grown on the farm. They would also have ground rye, barley and some 'wheat' grasses in order to make the family bread. Women may also have been involved in some of the 'lighter' crafts such as making pottery, leatherwork, etc.
Although they usually farmed land for a nobleman, many ceorls were quite wealthy in their own rights, and the status of the ceorl in Anglo-Saxon England seems to have been higher than his pre-migration Germanic counterpart. Many ceorls also owned slaves who would work on their farms.
Known Aliases
Page created 30th July 1997
Last updated 2nd August 1997
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page
© Angelcynn 1997 If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to e-mail us at angelcyn@hrofi.demon.co.uk.