114
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book i.
ten such acres constituted the hind, and that the
hind itself was the third part of the hide. When
we consider that thirty acres are exactly three
times an area of 40 × 40 square rods, there appears
a probability that the measure was calculated upon
a threefold course of cultivation, similar to that in
use upon the continent of Europe ; this consisted
of a rotation of winter corn, summer corn, and
fallow, and to each a block or telga of ten large or
forty small acres (roods) was allotted. Thirty acres
were thus devoted to cultivation ; but where was
the homestall ? Probably not upon the thirty acres
themselves, which we cannot suppose to have been
generally enclosed and sundered, but to have lain
undivided, as far as external marks were concerned,
in the general arable of the community. The village
containing the homesteads of the markers, probably
lay at a little distance from the fields 1, and I do
not think we shall be giving too much when we
allow three acres, over and above the thirty, for
farm buildings, strawyard and dwelling. For we
cannot doubt that stall-feeding was the rule with
regard to horned cattle in general. In the same
dialogue which has been already cited, the plough-
man is made to say : “ I must fill the oxen’s cribs
ɪ “ In the greater part (of Germany), especially in all the populous
parts of Southern Germany, the land, is tilled by its owners, scarcely
any small holdings being farmed out. The possessions of the peasant
owners and cultivators are usually very diminutive, and those of the
richer lords of the soil, especially ip the North, immensely extensive.
Lastly, the peasant scarcely anywhere lives upon his land, but in the
adjacent village, whatever may be its distance from his fields.” Ban-
field, Agric, on the Rhine, p. 10.
CH. IV.]
THE EDEL, HΓD OR ALOD.
116
with hay, and give them water, and bear out their
dung1." Moreover there must be room found for
stacks of hay and wood,, for barns and outhouses,
and sleeping-rooms both for the serfs and the mem-
bers of the family ; nor are houses of more than
one story very likely to have been built2. With
this introduction I proceed to another grant of
Oswald3. In the year 996, he gave three hides of
land to Eadric : the property however lay in diffe-
rent places: “æt Eanulfestiine O1Serhealfhid, 4J æt
ιiferan Stnetforda, on lδaire gesyndredan hide, Sone
6Seme æeer, 4J æt Fachanleage Sone )>riddan æeer
feldlandes . . . . 4J on easthealfe Afene eahta æeeras
maidwa,4j forne gean Biccenclife. xii. æeeras maédwà,
J Jreo æeras benorSan Afene to myllnstealle
i. e. “ at Eanulfestun a hide and a half ; at upper
Stratford the second acre (i. e. half a hide); at Fach-
anleah the third acre (i. e. a third of a hide) ; on
the east of the river Avon, eight acres of meadow,
and onwards towards Biccancliff, twelve acres ; and
to the northward of the Avon, the three acres for
a millstall.” Our data here are 1⅜ hide -∣- ⅜ hide
+ ⅜ hide, or 2⅜ hides ; but, if the calculations which
precede are correct, 8 ⅛ 12 acres or 20 acres ≈ %
hide, and thus make up three hides of thirty acres
each : three acres devoted to mill-buildings are not
reckoned into the sum, and it is therefore possi-
ble that a similar course was pursued with regard
ɪ Leo, Sprachproben, p. 7. Thorpe, Analect. p. 8.
2 In Hungary, where land is abundant, houses, even those of con-
siderable proprietors, are rarely of more than one story.
3 Cod. Dipl. No. 629.
ι2