>Gian Gero wrote
>
>> weaponthanes were the professional warriors (opposed to the fyrd, militia
>> levy) during the anglo-saxon age pre 1000 a.d. in England.
>
>I'd love to see some reference for this -- so far as I know, Greg
>Stafford coined the term. (Certainly a quick search of the web didn't
>turn up "weaponthane" outside of a Gloranthan context.)
>
While Gian is broadly correct that the anglo-saxons had a class of warrior-nobility that roughly corresponds to the Orlanthi Weaponthane, they did not use the term to my knowledge. They called them simply thanes.
As all thanes were expected to develop skill with the sword and commanding men, and to fight on behalf of their liege, the term weapon thane would have been a tautology - they had no other sort of thane.
Graham
Reality is just a crutch for people who can't handle science fiction.
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