- Hundred (country subdivision)
A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in
England ,Wales ,Denmark ,South Australia and some parts of theUSA ,Germany (Southern Schleswig ),Sweden (and today'sFinland ) andNorway , which historically was used to divide a larger region into smalleradministrative division s. Alternative names include wapentake, herred (Danish, Norwegian), härad (Swedish) and "kihlakunta" (Finnish)The name is derived from the number
one hundred , and in some areas it may once have referred to a hundred men under arms.It was a traditional Germanic system described as early as AD 98 by
Tacitus (the "centeni"). Similar systems were used in the traditional administrative regimes ofChina andJapan .England
In
England a hundred was the division of ashire for administrative, military and judicial purposes under thecommon law . [http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/types/status_page.jsp?unit_status=Hundred] Originally, when introduced by theSaxons between 613 and 1017, a hundred had enough land to sustain approximately one hundred households headed by a "hundred-man" or "hundred eolder". He was responsible for administration, justice, and supplying military troops, as well as leading its forces. The office was not hereditary, but by the 10th century the office was selected from among a few outstanding families.InEngland , specifically, it has been suggested that 'hundred' referred to the amount of land sufficient to sustain one hundred families, defined as the land covered by one hundred "hides".Hundreds were further divided. Larger or more populous hundreds were split into "divisions" (or in Sussex, "half hundreds"). All hundreds were divided into "tithings", which contained ten households. Below that, the basic unit of land was called the "hide", which was enough land to support one family and varied in size from 60 to 120 oldacres , or 15 to 30 modern acres (6 to 12 ha) depending on the quality andfertility of the land. Compare with "township".Above the hundred was the
shire under the control of a shire-reeve (orsheriff ). Hundred boundaries were independent of both parish and county boundaries, although often aligned, meaning that a hundred could be split between counties (usually only a fraction), or a parish could be split between hundreds.The system of hundreds was not as stable as the system of counties being established at the time, and lists frequently differ on how many hundreds a county has. The
Domesday Book contained a radically different set of hundreds than that which would later become established, in many parts of the country. The number of hundreds in each county varied wildly.Leicestershire had six (up from four at Domesday), whereasDevon , nearly three times larger, had thirty-two.Over time, the principal functions of the hundred became the administration of law and the keeping of the peace. By the twelfth century the hundred court was held twelve times a year. This was later increased to being held fortnightly, although an ordinance of 1234 reduced the frequency to once every three weeks. In some hundreds, courts were held at a fixed place; while in others, courts moved with each sitting to a different location. The main duties of the hundred court were the maintenance of the
frankpledge system. Where the hundred was under the jurisdiction of the crown, the chief magistrate was a sheriff. However, many hundreds were in private hands, with the lordship of the hundred being attached to the principal manor of the area and becoming hereditary. Where a hundred was under a lord, a steward was appointed in place of a sheriff. [ [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Hundred "Hundred" in 1911 "Encyclopedia Britannica", accessed October 9, 2007] ]The importance of the hundred courts declined from the seventeenth century, and most of the powers were extinguished with the establishment of
county court s in 1867. [County Courts Act 1867 (30 & 31 Vict. c. 142) s.28] The remaining duty of the inhabitants of a hundred to make good damages caused byriot was ended in 1886, when the cost was transferred to the county police rate. [Riot (Damages) Act 1886 (49 & 50 Vict. c. 38), s.2] Although hundreds had no administrative or legal role after this date, they have never been formally abolished.Groupings of hundreds were used to define parliamentary constituencies from 1832 to 1885. On the redistribution of seats in 1885 a different county subdivision, the petty sessional division was used.
By the 19th century several different single-purpose subdivisions of counties, such as
poor law union s,sanitary district s, andhighway district s sprang up, filling the administrative role previously played by hundreds.Several ancient hundred names give their name to modern local government districts.
The Chiltern Hundreds
The
Chiltern Hundreds are notable as alegal fiction , owing to a quirk of British Parliamentary law. A Crown Steward was appointed to maintain law and order in the area, but the position's duties ceased to be required in the 16th century, and the holder ceased to gain any benefits during the 17th century. The position has since been used as a procedural device to allowresignation from the House of Commons .Other terms
A wapentake is a term derived from the
Old Norse "vápnatak", [http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1O27:wapentake/wapentake.html?refid=ip_hf] the rough equivalent of an Anglo-Saxon hundred. The word denotes an administrative meeting place, typically a crossroads or a ford in a river. The origin of the word is not known.Folk etymology has it that voting would be denoted or conducted by the show ofweapon s, an idea perhaps suggested by references in "The Germania" ofTacitus or current practice in the Swiss canton ofAppenzell Innerrhoden . According to other authorities ["The Complete Sagas of Icelanders, Vol V" Leifur Eiríksson Publishing] weapons were not flourished at a Norse þing and "weapon taking" or "vopnatak" was the end of an assembly, when one was allowed to take weapons up again, providing another possible origin of the wapentake.The
Danelaw counties ofYorkshire ,Derbyshire ,Leicestershire ,Northamptonshire ,Nottinghamshire ,Rutland andLincolnshire were divided into wapentakes, just as most of the remainder ofEngland was divided into hundreds.In Yorkshire, a Norse wapentake usually replaced several Anglo-Saxon hundreds. This process was complete by 1086 in the North and West Ridings, but continued in the East Riding until the mid 12th century.
In some counties, such as Leicestershire, the wapentakes recorded at the time of the
Domesday Book evolved into hundreds later on. In others, such asLincolnshire , the term remained in use.The term ward was used in a similar manner in the four northern counties of
Cumberland , Durham,Northumberland andWestmorland .Lathes in
Kent and rapes inSussex consisted of several hundreds, and filled some roles usually associated with hundreds.In Wales the hundred replaced traditional units such as the
cantref (or cantred) or commote. Irish counties were divided into baronies.candinavia
The term "hundare" "(hundred)" was used in
Svealand (the core region of earlySweden ) and present-dayFinland . Eventually that division was superseded by introducing the "härad" or "Herred", which was the name in the rest of Scandinavia. This word was either derived fromProto-Germanic *"harja-raiðō" (warband) orProto-Norse *"harja-raiða" (war equipment, cf. "Wapentake)". [http://runeberg.org/svetym/0347.html] . Similar to [http://www.dokpro.uio.no/perl/ordboksoek/ordbok.cgi?OPP=skipreide&bokmaal=S%F8k+i+Bokm%E5lsordboka&ordbok=bokmaal&alfabet=n&renset=j "skipreide"] : A part of the coast were the inhabitants were responsible for equipping and manning a war ship.Hundreds were not organized in
Norrland , the northern sparsely populated part ofSweden . Today the hundreds serve no administrative role in Sweden.It is not entirely clear when hundreds were organised in the western part of Finland. The name of the province of
Satakunta , roughly meaning "hundred", hints at influences from the times before theNorthern Crusades ,Christianization , and incorporation into Sweden.United States
Counties in
Delaware ,New Jersey andPennsylvania were divided into hundreds in the seventeenth century, in imitation of the British system. They survive in Delaware (seeList of Delaware Counties and Hundreds ), and were used as tax reporting and voting districts until the 1960s, but now serve no administrative role, their only current official legal use being in real-estate title descriptions. [http://www2.lib.udel.edu/subj/genealogy/resguide/hund.htm]The hundred was also used as a division of the county in
Maryland .Carroll County, Maryland , was composed in 1836 by taking the following hundreds from Baltimore County: North Hundred, Pipe Creek Hundred, Delaware Upper Hundred, Delaware Lower Hundred and from Frederick County: Pipe Creek Hundred, Westminster Hundred, Unity Hundred, Burnt House Hundred, Piney Creek Hundred, and Taneytown Hundred.Some plantations in early colonial
Virginia used the term hundred in their names, such asMartin's Hundred , and Flowerdew Hundred.Australia
In
South Australia land titles still record which hundred a parcel of land is located in. Similar to the notion of the South Australian counties listed on the system of titles, hundreds are not generally used when referring to a district and are little known by the general population. Cumberland County (Sydney ) was also divided into hundreds in the nineteenth century, although these were later repealed. A hundred is traditionally one hundred square miles. [http://www.atlas.sa.gov.au/go/resources/atlas-of-south-australia-1986/the-course-of-settlement/land-survey-and-disposal]ee also
*
List of hundreds of England and Wales
*Hundred Rolls
*List of hundreds of Sweden
*Moot Mound The meeting place of an Anglo-Saxon Hundred.
*Attundaland
*Chiltern Hundreds
*Fjärdhundraland
*Leidang
*Roslagen
*Tiundaland
*Traditional administrative systems
*Feudal measurement
*Cantref
*Henry de Bracton References
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