Word.ws English Dictionary

frankpledge

frankpledge noun: a form of collective suretyship and punishment under English law among the members of a tithing.

Noun

frankpledge (plural frankpledges)

  1. (historical) A form of collective suretyship and punishment under English law among the members of a tithing.
    • King John granted to the prior and convent, in all their manors and lands, sac, soc, tol, and theam, infangenthef, and outfangenthef, with the ordeals or judgment by fire, water, and iron, and a common gallows in each manor; with a view of frankenpledge, and assize of bread and ale, of all their...1806, Francis Bloomfield, An Essay Towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk, Vol. IV, p. 517
  2. Any group so similarly answerable for the conduct of all its members and liable for collective punishment.
    • The servants of the Crown were not, as now, bound in frankpledge for each other.1855, Thomas Babington Macaulay, The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume III, page 13
  3. (historical) A decener: a member of a tithing bound in frankpledge.
    • Entire vills sir Henry Spelman conjectures to have consisted of ten freemen, or frank-pledges.1765, William Blackstone, Commentary on the Laws of England, volume I, page 114
  4. (historical, uncommon) The tithing itself.

Forms of frankpledge

pluralfrankpledges
alternative formfrank-pledge
alternative formfrankenpledge

Origin of frankpledge

From Anglo-Latin franciplegium, a Latinization of Anglo-Norman frauncplege ("free pledge"), a mistranslation of Old English friðborh ("pledge of peace"), which had the corrupted form friborh, which led to the Modern English term friborg, as if it were *freoborh ("free pledge"). See also friborg, which refers to the predecessor of frankpledge.

Words formed from frankpledge

Phrases with frankpledge

Questions about frankpledge

What does frankpledge mean?
Frankpledge means a form of collective suretyship and punishment under English law among the members of a tithing.
What part of speech is frankpledge?
Frankpledge is a noun.
What is the plural of frankpledge?
The plural of frankpledge is frankpledges.

Words near frankpledge in the dictionary

  1. franknesses
  2. Franko
  3. Frankos
  4. Frankowski
  5. Frankowskis
  6. frankpledge
  7. frankpledges
  8. franks
  9. franksome
  10. Frankson
  11. Franksons

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: frankpledge (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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