> My understanding of a hide is that it's equal to the amount of land that a
> single ox tem can plow in the available average time and land quality.
> That is, 40 acres in spring, 40 in fall and 40 fallow.
This definition fits in with Michael's recollection of 120 acres. It's not surprising that with what was originally a qualitative measure of land - The OED defines it as an Anglo-Saxon term denoting the (variable) amount of land required to feed a family for a year, typically between 60 and 120 acres - that variants appear when it later becomes legislated into a fixed area.. This first definition was used in the Domesday Book. One alternative, which I think is reflected in Greg's recollection, is the area able to be cultivated by team of *eight* oxen in a year, which varied between ~60 and ~240 acres. This later figure was used in calculating the Danelaw concessions.
For HW purposes, 120 acres seems the way to go, with the usual GM fiat that, in accordance with historical use, it can be 'as big as it needs to be'.
John
nysalor_at_... John HughesQuestlines: http://home.iprimus.com.au/pipnjim/questlines/
I am the cry of dreams on waking
the name in the hero challenge
white bull in valour
dragon 'neath the hills
blade point in battle.
I am in everything,
and everything springs from me.
> >Most definitions I have seen (I do not have access to the OED) set a
> >hide's area at roughly 120 acres. An acre is roughly 43,560 square feet,
> >4840 square yards, or 4047 square meters. A clan tula consisting of 200
> >hides would thus cover 24,000 acres => 1,045,440,000 square feet =>
> >116,160,000 square yards => 97,128,000 square meters. Translating into
> >more useful units, our 200-hide tula would cover an area of 37.5 square
> >miles or 97.1 square kilometers, making it a little larger than John's
> >example.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >Michael Richard Schwartz | Language is my playground,
> >mschwartz_at_... | and words, its slides and
> >Ann Arbor, Michigan USA | swingsets. -- yours truly
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> --------
> Greg Stafford, greg_at_...
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