Akademik

The area reckoned to be sufficient for one family and/or ploughable by an eight-ox plough team in a year. The term was used for taxation purposes, notionally comprising an area of up to 120 acres. In Berkshire, however, the hide was approx. 40 acres; there was much variation. The five-hide group became the basis of payments for the support of local members of the *fyrd. In Historia Ecclesiastica Bede used the phrase terra unius familiae = land of one family. When his work was translated into OldEngl. the word used was hid. The Latin word is hida. -

Cf. Hidated; Tribal Hidage; Victum vel stipendum; Virgate