In later centuries, the term thanes dropped out of use in favour of baron, but described as having regality, a term used to describe both the thanes' powers, and the greater powers of the territorial earl. Thanes consequently resembled English barons, but with greater judicial and administrative authority which extended beyond the lands they directly held. However, after the death of Alexander III in 1286, thanes differed from their tosach forebears by holding their position as a feudal grant from the crown, rather than the almost independent status held by a tosach. Though thanes often held land within the region they administered, this was coincidental providing land tenure was simply the way of paying for their services, the location of their lands not being intrinsically linked to the authority they wielded in any particular region.

ДЇunctionally, the thane was a territorial administrator, acting under a territorial earl (the latter resembling a Saxon ealdorman rather than the more superficial Norman earl), or royal steward. The English thegn was a more general term, simply referring to a powerful nobleman below the rank of Ealdorman (a term which had now evolved into earl) having introduced earl to describe mormaers, David used thane to describe toshachs. In Scotland at that time toshach designated a deputy to a mormaer, controlling a particular portion of a mormaerdom on the mormaer's behalf. The thane was introduced in the reign of David I (reigned 1124вЂ“1153), an Anglophile, to replace the Gaelic tГІiseach (meaning leader, and with which the term Taoiseach shares an origin). Mackie, A History of Scotland 2nd ed., rev. the 'thane', though he later developed into a laird, was at first an officer, half royal servant and half landowner, who looked after a portion of the king's land.-J. ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) WikiProject Medieval Scotland may be able to help recruit an expert. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article. This article needs attention from an expert in Medieval Scotland.

Skyrim thane of the reach