Answer:
The word for that definition is "Thanes"
Explanation:
Thanes is a man who held land granted by the king or by a military nobleman, ranking between an ordinary freeman and a hereditary noble. The thane became a member of a territorial nobility, and the dignity of thanehood was attainable by those who fulfilled certain conditions. In like manner a successful thane might hope to become an earl. There were others who were thanes because of their birth, and thus thanehood was partly inherited and partly acquired.
Functionally, the Thane was a territorial administrator, acting under a territorial Earl, or royal steward. 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.
