Three Orders

A concept common both in England and the continent. It first appears as a developed idea in King Alfred's writing where he says: 'a king must have his land fully manned: he must have praying men (gebedemen), fighting men (fyrdmen) and working men (weorcmen)'. In Latin texts they were oratores, *bellatores and laboratores - broadly, monks and priests, warriors and the peasants upon whose labour all depended. This idea was not intended as a literal description of society, rather it was a vision of the ideal community in which all worked together and contributed to the common good.