118
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book i.
hides1. The acreage of Anglesey gives 150,000
acres under cultivation: this would be 156,33 per
hide ; but in this island a very great reduction is
necessary : taking it even as it stands, and calcu-
lating the hide at thirty acres, we should have a
ratio of 24 : 101 ; at forty acres, a ratio of 32 : 93
or little more than 1: 3.
Iona numbers about 1300 acres (nearly two square
miles) : this at five hides would give 260 acres per
hide : at thirty acres, a ratio of 3: 23 or nearly
1: 8 between cultivated and uncultivated land : or
at forty acres, a ratio of 2: 11. But the monks and
their dependants were the only inhabitants ; and in
the time of Beda, up to which there is no proof of
the land’s having been inhabited at all (in fact it
was selected expressly because a desert), sand, if
not forest, must have occupied a large proportion
of the surface.
Let us now retrace our steps for a few moments.
The hide was calculated upon the arable : it was
the measure of the alod,—the é$el, or inherited,
individual possession; it was the κληpoc, lot, or
share of the first settler : it kept a plough at work
during the year: and, according to its etymology
(Iiigid) and the word familia by which it was trans-
lated, it was to suffice for the support of one Hiwisc
or household.
Did it really so suffice, at first and afterwards'?
Unquestionably it did. We may safely assert this,
without entering into nice speculations as to the
ɪ Hiat. Eccl. ii. 9 ; iii. 4.
CH. ΓV.]
THE EDEL, HΓD OR ALOD.
119
amount of population iɪl the Saxon kingdoms of the
seventh, eighth, ninth, or even eleventh centuries.
We know that in the eighth century, 150 hides were
enough for the support and comfort of 600 monks
in Yarrow and Wearmouth1 ; there is no reason,
from their history, to suppose that they were at all
sparingly provided for. But allowance must be
made also for serfs and dependants, the exercise of
hospitality and charity, the occasional purchase of
books, vestments and decorations, the collection of
reliques, and the maintenance of the fabric both of
the church and monastery. Grants and presents,
offerings and foundations would do much, but still
some portion of these necessary expenses must be
carried to the account of the general fund. At this
rate however, one hide was capable of maintaining
four full-grown men.
Now even at the present day an industrious man
can very well support his family upon, not thirty
or forty, but ten acres of average land2. If we look
at the produce of such a threefold course as has
been mentioned, there can hardly be any doubt
upon the subject; the cultivator would have every
year twenty Saxon ( = 26§ Norman) acres under
some kind of corn, principally barley in all proba-
bility, though much wheat was grown. Assuming
the yield at only two quarters per acre, which is an
* Anon. Abb. Gyrw. § 33. This at forty actual acres, is ten acres
per man.
2 We need not enter upon the question whether such a plot of land
can be well cultivated (except as a garden), or whether it is desirable
that there should be such a class of cultivators. All I assert is, that a
Hian can support his family upon it.