The hide was a variable unit of land area used in medievalEngland, defined according to its arable yield and taxable potential rather than its exact dimensions. This gave it a range of approximately 60 to 120 old acres, or 15 to 30 modern acres (60,000 to 120,000m²), depending on fertility. This article explains the meaning of area as a physical quantity. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population - Total (mid-2004) - Density Ranked 1st UK 50. ...
A hide could agriculturally support one household and five hides were expected to produce one fully armed soldier in times of war. Ten hides were formed into a thithing, ten tithings made a hundred, and a number hundreds were grouped to form a shire. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many microeconomic and government models. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... A hundred is an administrative division, frequently used in Europe and the West, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller geographical units. ... For information on the fictional Shire of J. R. R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings, see Shire (Middle-earth) A shire is an administrative area of Great Britain. ...
Due to the uncertin nature of the exact area it has been described by some as "The ammount of land a framer can plough on a wet thursday with three and a half oxen"
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"hide" on sizes.com - a highly detailed description
The fact that the hide was a unit of assessment, has been established by Mr H. Round in his Feudal England, and is regarded as throwing a most valuable light upon the many problems which present themselves to the student of Domesday.
The process which converted the hide from a unit of measurement to a unit for assessment purposes is probably as follows.
Moreover, in the laws of the Wessex king, Ine, the value of a man's oath is expressed in hides, the oath for a king's thegn being probably worth 60 hides and that of a ceorl 5 hides.
In later times the hide = 120 acres, often naively assumed to be = 100 acres, but in the original sources describing the hide as a hundred acres, it is the long, or great, hundred, 120, that is meant.
In the first place, the hide was normally regarded as a standard unit of assessment regardless of its size.
The survival of the five-hide unit in the Western Midlands.
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