That at least I know, - a hide is approximately 120 acres. In England, it was a legal unit - especially for taxation - more than a unit of area, and so was quite variable. It was even more variable than the 'acre', which differed not only from county to county depending on the length of the 'rod', but also from field to field in the same village, depending on how the strips were laid out.
Medieval measurements are peculiar...
Aside - 'Hundreds', the Saxon administrative unit, were so named because they supposedly contained villages with total holdings of 100 hides.
The hide supposedly derived from the early German ideal for the 'land of one family', yet only the richest peasants had this much land. The most common peasant holding was a virgate, or quarter-hide.
Since peasants also owed week-work on the demesne, presumably one family could work more than a virgate. So I'd guess 1 adult farmer per 10 to 40 acres. (3 to 12 farmers per hide).
--- Jeff Johnson jsjohnso_at_...
Powered by hypermail