Meaning of ring-giver | Babel Free

Definitions

A ruler or chieftain who distributed rings or other valuable gifts to loyal warriors, thanes, or retainers as a means of rewarding service and reinforcing bonds of allegiance and mutual obligation.

Old-English, historical

Examples

“This kind of money was probably used by the Anglo-Saxons long after their settlement in England; and the name of "ring-giver," as an epithet of princes, was preserved perhaps to the time of the Norman conquest.”

“Then they confirm'd on the two sides a fast peaceful compact; [...] that there not any man. by words or works, should break the compact, nor through guileful craft should they ever lament, though they their ring-giver’s slayer follow'd, now lordless, as it was thus needful to them.”

“The opening prologue and the closing epilogue praise Gloucester lavishly by name, and he appears elsewhere in its long nine books as both lawgiver and ring-giver.”

“The kings needed their support, and like the old Germanic ‘ring-givers’ were forced to secure loyalty by generous giving: in their case by lands and immunities.”

“They stretched their beloved lord in his boat, laid out by the mast, amidships, the great ring-giver.”

“Another instance is the Anglo-Saxon scop, who sat close to the ring-givers and was much appreciated for an ability to transform action into narrative.”

CEFR level