What is Hide (unit)?
The '''hide''' was a unit of land [[:wikt:measurement|measurement]]. Everywhere in [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] [[England]] except [[Kent]] it was the land held by a [[:wikt:peasant|peasant]] and his family.<ref name=Stenton279>Frank Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 279</ref> Originally it was the amount of land necessary to support one [[:wikt:household|household]]. The amount of land that made up one hide would vary from one part of Britain to another. This was because the quality of [[:wikt:soil|soil]] for growing food would be different.<ref>Mark Harrison, ''Anglo-Saxon Thegn AD 449-1066'' (London: Osprey, 1993), p. 9</ref> In places where the soil was very rich, a hide of land would be smaller. Where the soil was poor the hide would be larger. It was never a standard using fixed measurements.{{efn|Like an [[:wikt:acre|acre]] for example, which can be measured in [[Foot (unit)|feet]] or [[Metre|meters]].}}<ref name=Stenton279/> Later in Anglo-Saxon England a hide became a unit on which to base payment of [[:en:wikt:tribute|tribute]] or [[:wikt:tax|tax]]. The hide was also used to determine public [[:wikt:obligations|obligations]].<ref name=Wiley243>''The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England'', Second Edition, eds. Michael Lapidge, John Blair, et al. (Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2014), p. 243</ref> This could be defending the local [[castle]] or providing [[soldier]]s for the local [[:en:wikt:militia|militia]].{{efn|In Anglo-Saxon England the county militia was called the ''[[:en:wikt:fyrd|fyrd]]''.}}<ref name=Wiley243/> [[:wikt:tenants|Tenants]] paid [[wikt:rent|rent]] based on how many hides they farmed.<ref name=Wiley243/> == Notes == {{notelist}} ==References== {{reflist}} == Other websites == * [http://www.regia.org/Saxons1.htm Anglo-Saxon Social Organisation, ''Regia Anglorum''] {{History-stub}} [[Category:Units of area]] [[Category:History of England]] [[Category:Anglo-Saxons]]