Medieval History Term of the Week: Hundred
Hundred
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English, from hund hundred + -red (akin to Gothic rathjo account, number); akin to Latin centum hundred, Greek hekaton, Old English tien
1) Anglo Saxon institution. Subdivision of a shire. Theoretically equals one hundred hides but hardly ever. Generally has their own court which meets monthly to handle civil and criminal law. In Danish is called a wapentakes (weapons taking?). (MEDIEV-L. Medieval Terms)
2) Subdivision of the shire based on groups of estates adding up to 100 hides: probably artifically imposed in Midlands 900-939, but in the south based on older units. (Wood, Michael. Domesday: A Search for the Roots of England, 214)
3) An administrative sub-division of the shire, embracing several vills, and having a court to which men of the hundred owed suit at regular intervals. (Warren, W.L. Henry II, 635)
From The Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer (late 12th century):
XVII. What is a Hide, what a Hundred, what a County, according to the common opinion.
M. The country people know this better; but, as we have heard from them, a hide, from its primitive institution, consists of a hundred acres: but a hundred, of several hundred hides-the number not being a fixed one, however; for one consists of many, another of fewer hides. Hence thou wilt frequently find that, in the old privileges of the Anglo-Saxon kings, a hundred (hundredus) is frequently called a centuriate (centuriata). The county, [78] moreover, consists in like manner of hundreds that is, some of more, some of less, according as the land has been divided by discreet men.
*term definitions retrieved from Netserf’s Medieval Glossary (http://www.netserf.org/Glossary)
**The Dialogue Concerning the Exchequer is one of the few actual treatises of the middle ages. It is a most learned essay concerning all that went on at the bi-yearly meetings of the exchequer (the treasury of England) officials, and branches out into a description of all the sources of revenue of the English crown, and of the methods of collecting them. The value of this essay for early English history cannot be over estimated: in every direction it throws light on the existing state of affairs.
Filed under: Middle Ages History, Medieval Glossary, Medieval History on April 9th, 2010
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