Medieval land terms - Definition and Overview

The feudal system, in which the land was owned by a monarch, who in exchange for homage and military service granted its use to tenants-in-chief, who in their turn granted its use to sub-tenants in return for further services, gave rise to several terms, particular to Britain, for subdivisions of land which are no longer in wide use. These Medieval land terms include the following:

• a hide: a hide of land is the amount that was considered sufficient to support a family, varying from 60 to 120 acres (24 to 48 ha) with the land quality. It was the basis for the assessment of taxes. The name may perhaps be derived from the payment of taxes in animal hides.
• a Knight's fee: is the amount of land for which the services of a knight (for 40 days) were due to the Crown. It was determined by land value, and the number of hides in a Knight's Fee varied
• a hundred: a division of an English shire consisting of 100 hides. The hundreds of Stoke Desborough and Burnham in Buckinghamshire are known as the Chiltern Hundreds.
• a wapentake: a subdivision of a county used in Yorkshire and other areas of strong Danish influence. It is similar to hundred or a ward. It was used in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland.
• a rape: Sussex was divided into six rapes, which were intermediate divisions between the county and the hundred. A rape was to have its own river, forest and castle.
• a lathe: Kent was divided into five lathes, from the Old English laeth, meaning district.
• a riding: was a division of land in Yorkshire equivalent to a third of the shire. The name is derived from the Old Norse thriding.
• a ward: a ward is a subdivision of a shire, equivalent to a wapentake or a hundred. It was used in Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmorland, and Durham.