Editing Earl (section)

==== Cnut the Great ====
[[File:Earldoms of Anglo-Saxon England.svg|thumb|right|Earldoms of Anglo-Saxon England]]

During [[Cnut]]'s reign (1016–1035), ''ealdorman'' changed to ''earl'' (related to Old English {{Lang|ang|eorl}} and Scandinavian {{lang|non|[[jarl]]}}).{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=6}}{{Sfn|Lyon|1980|p=63}}{{NoteTag|In Latin, it was rendered as {{lang|la|[[dux]]}}{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=5}} or {{lang|la|[[comes]]}}.{{Sfn|Green|2017|p=61}}}} Cnut's realm, the [[North Sea Empire]], extended beyond England, forcing him to delegate power to earls.{{Sfn|Loyn|1984|p=133}} Earls were governors or [[viceroy]]s, ruling in the king's name, keeping the peace, dispensing justice, and raising armies. Like the earlier ealdormen, they received the third penny from their jurisdictions. Earls ranked above [[thegn]]s in precedence and were the chief counselors in the [[witan]] (king's council).{{Sfn|Huscroft|2016|p=28}}

The office of earl was not hereditary. While sons of earls could expect to inherit their father's office, this was not automatic. Only the king could make someone an earl.{{Sfn|Williams|2008|p=24}}

Initially, Cnut kept Wessex for himself and divided the rest of England into three earldoms. He gave the [[earldom of East Anglia]] to [[Thorkell the Tall]] and the [[earldom of Northumbria]] to [[Eiríkr Hákonarson|Eric]].{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=7}} [[Eadric Streona]] retained the [[earldom of Mercia]] (having been unified with western Mercia in the tenure of earldorman Ælfhere), which he had held since 1007.<ref>{{Cite ODNB|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/8511|title=Eadric [Edric] Streona}}</ref> Cnut gave Godwin the [[earldom of Wessex]] in 1018.{{NoteTag|Godwin became an earl in 1018 with control of eastern Wessex. After 1020, Godwin gained all of Wessex.<ref name="Godwin">{{Cite ODNB|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-10887|title=Godwine [Godwin], earl of Wessex (d. 1053), magnate|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10887 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}</ref>}} Eventually Godwin was also granted the [[earldom of Kent]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2012/the-history-of-script-sixty-important-manuscript-leaves-from-the-schyen-collection/lot.37.html |title=The Godwine charter, granting to Leofwine the Red the swine-pasture of Swithraedingden (probably Southernden, Kent) for the rent of forty pence and two pounds and an allowance of corn, in Anglo-Saxon, single-sheet document on vellum [Kent (probably Christ Church, Canterbury), 1013-20] |author=Sotheby's |website=Sotheby's |access-date=14 May 2024 |quote=Godwine rose to power under King Cnut the Great (d.1035) and his immediate successors, being made earl of Wessex c.1018, and according to the twelfth-century historian Eadmer, the earl of Kent. He was step-father to King Edward the Confessor (c.1003-1066) and father to Harold Godwinesson, the last Anglo-Saxon king, killed in 1066 at Hastings by the Norman invaders. Domesday Book records that immediately before the Norman Conquest Broughton Malherbe and its estates were held by one "Ælfwine ... from Earl Godwine" (DB., Kent, 5:79).}}</ref> Thorkell vanished from the records after 1023, and Godwin became the leading earl.<ref name="Godwin"/>

Earldoms were not permanent territorial divisions; kings could transfer shires from one earldom to another. The fact that there was no local government administration beyond the shire also limited the autonomy of the earls. They could not raise taxation, mint coins, issue [[Anglo-Saxon charters|charters]], or hold their own courts (the shire courts that earls presided over were held in the king's name).{{Sfn|Williams|2008|pp=23–24}}

[[F. W. Maitland]] wrote, "with the estates of the earls, we find it impossible to distinguish between private property and official property". He noted the existence of "[[Manorialism|manors]] of the shire" and "comital [[vill]]s" that belonged to the office rather than the officeholder.{{Sfn|Maitland|1897|p=168}} [[Stephen Baxter (historian)|Stephen Baxter]] argued that given the evidence, it must be "assumed that the 'comital manors' in each shire could be transferred by the king from one earl to another with relative ease". However, not all scholars agree with the existence of such "comital" property.<ref>{{harvnb|Baxter|2007|p=13}} quoted in {{harvnb|Williams|2008|p=22}}</ref>