Obs. exc. Hist. Also thenage. [= AF. thaynage, thanage, in med.L. than-, thenagium, f. THANE (and its variants) + OF. -age, med.L. -āgium: see -AGE.] The tenure by which lands were held by a thane; the land held by a thane, a thane-land; also the rank, office, or jurisdiction of a thane.
[1200. Rotuli Chart. (1837), 51/1. Sciatis nos concessisse et … confirmasse Willelmo Bardulf et Elysabeth uxori sue et heredibus eorum totum thenagium quod … Willelmus … pater predicte Elysabeth tenuit in Hepedale et in Kokedale.
1228. in Feodar. Priorat. Dunelm. (Surtees), 224. Requisitus an tenementum Henrici sit drengagium, dicit quod non, sed thenagium, sed pater Henrici liberavit illud a thenagio.
1230. Stat. Alex. II., c. 5, in Scot. Statutes (1844), I. 399. Si vero in dominicis vel thanagiis domini Regis malefactor ille fuerit [14[?] transl. ibid. 400 And gif for suth þat trespassour be in þe kingis maynis or thanagis].
1305[?]. Rolls of Parlt., I. 471/2. La terre approprie torcenusement a vostre Thaynage de Balhelui.]
14[?]. [see quot. 1230 above].
1623. in Thanes of Cawdor (Spalding Cl.), 260. All and haill the lands of the thanage and barony of Calder … united into one entire and free thanage, to be called the Thanage and Barony of Calder.
1641. Termes de la Ley, 255. The kings thanage signifieth a certain part of the kings lands, or property, whereof the rule & government appertaineth unto him, who therfore is called Thanus.
1807. G. Chalmers, Caledonia, I. III. v. § 3. 366. Having no such lands [in demesne], they equally appear to have had no thanages.
1872. E. W. Robertson, Hist. Ess., 126. The Scottish Gerefa was known as the Thane or Mair, his district often as a Thanage.
1883. Ord. Surv. Gazetteer Scot., III. 18. It gave name to an ancient thanage.
