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Carucate
The carucate or carrucate ( or ) was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight oxen could till in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment. England The carucate was named for the carruca heavy plough that began to appear in England in the late 9th century, which may have been introduced during the Viking invasions of England.White Jr., Lynn, The Life of the Silent Majority, pg. 88 of Life and Thought in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Robert S. Hoyt, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 1967 It was also known as a ploughland or plough (, "plough's land") in the Danelaw and usually, but not always, excluded the land's suitability for winter vegetables and desirability to remain fallow in crop rotation. The tax levied on each carucate came to be known as " carucage". Though a carucate might nominally be regarded as an area of 120 acres (49 hectares), and can usefully be equa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxgang
An oxgang or bovate (; ; ; ) is an old land measurement formerly used in Scotland and England as early as the 16th century sometimes referred to as an oxgait. It averaged around 20 English acres, but was based on land fertility and cultivation, and so could be as low as 15. An oxgang is also known as a ''bovate'', from ''bovāta'', a Medieval Latinisation of the word, derived from the Latin ''wikt:bos#Latin, bōs'', meaning "ox, bullock or cow". Oxen, through the Scottish Gaelic word ''damh'' or ''dabh'', also provided the root of the land measurement 'daugh'. William Forbes Skene, Skene in ''Celtic Scotland'' says: : "in the eastern district there is a uniform system of land denomination consisting of 'daugh, dabhachs', 'ploughgates' and 'oxgangs', each 'dabhach' consisting of four 'ploughgates' and each 'ploughgate' containing eight 'oxgangs'. :"As soon as we cross the great chain of mountains [the Grampian Mountains (Scotland), Grampian Mountains] separating the North Sea, ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carucage
Carucage was a medieval English land tax enacted by King Richard I in 1194, based on the size—variously calculated—of the taxpayer's estate. It was a replacement for the danegeld, last imposed in 1162, which had become difficult to collect because of an increasing number of exemptions. Carucage was levied just six times: by Richard in 1194 and 1198; by John, his brother and successor, in 1200; and by John's son, Henry III, in 1217, 1220, and 1224, after which it was replaced by taxes on income and personal property. The taxable value of an estate was initially assessed from the Domesday Survey, but other methods were later employed, such as valuations based on the sworn testimony of neighbours or on the number of plough-teams the taxpayer used. Carucage never raised as much revenue as other taxes, but nevertheless helped to fund several projects. It paid the ransom for Richard's release in 1194 after he was taken prisoner by Leopold V, Duke of Austria; it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hide (unit)
The hide was an English unit of land measurement originally intended to represent the amount of land sufficient to support a household. The Anglo-Saxon hide commonly appeared as of arable land, but it probably represented a much smaller holding before 1066. It was a measure of value and tax assessment, including obligations for food-rent ('), maintenance and repair of bridges and fortifications, manpower for the army ('), and (eventually) the ' land tax. The hide's method of calculation is now obscure: different properties with the same hidage could vary greatly in extent even in the same county. Following the Norman Conquest of England, the hidage assessments were recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and there was a tendency for land producing £1 of income per year to be assessed at 1 hide. The Norman kings continued to use the unit for their tax assessments until the end of the 12th century. The hide was divided into four yardlands or virgates. It was hence nominally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carruca
The carruca or caruca was a kind of heavy plow important to medieval agriculture in Northern Europe. The carruca used a heavy iron plowshare to turn heavy soil and may have required a team of eight oxen. The carruca also bore a coulter and moldboard. It gave its name to the English carucate. Based on linguistic evidence, the carruca may have been employed by some Slavs by AD 568.White Jr., Lynn, The Life of the Silent Majority, pg. 88 of Life and Thought in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Robert S. Hoyt, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 1967 It was present in Italy's Po Valley by 643 and—judging from the terminology in the '—in southwestern Germany by 720. The carruca may have been introduced to the British Isles by the Viking invasions of England in the late 9th century. The carruca was able to turn over a furrow and it gave an opportunity to utilize the heavier soils of Northern Europe, as well as providing greater drainage; overall an important technological ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heavy Plough
A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden, iron or steel frame with a blade attached to cut and loosen the soil. It has been fundamental to farming for most of history. The earliest ploughs had no wheels; such a plough was known to the Romans as an ''aratrum''. Celtic peoples first came to use wheeled ploughs in the Roman era. The prime purpose of ploughing is to turn over the uppermost soil, bringing fresh nutrients to the surface while burying weeds and crop remains to decay. Trenches cut by the plough are called furrows. In modern use, a ploughed field is normally left to dry and then harrowed before planting. Ploughing and cultivating soil evens the content of the upper layer of soil, where most plant feeder roots grow. Ploughs were initially powered by humans, but the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Farundel
The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal to 30 acres. It was equivalent to two of the Danelaw's oxgangs. __NOTOC__ Name The name derives from the Old English ' ("yard of land"), from “yard's” former meaning as a measuring stick employed in reckoning acres (cf. rod). The word is etymologically unrelated to the yard of land around a dwelling. "Virgate" is a much later retronym, anglicizing the yardland's latinized form ''virgāta'' after the advent of the yard rendered the original name ambiguous. History The virgate was reckoned as the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was nominally thirty acres. In some parts of England, it was divided into four nooks (; ). Nooks were occasionally further d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
English Units
English units were the units of measurement used in England up to 1826 (when they were replaced by Imperial units), which evolved as a combination of the Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon and Ancient Roman units of measurement, Roman systems of units. Various standards have applied to English units at different times, in different places, and for different applications. Use of the term "English units" can be ambiguous, as, in addition to the meaning used in this article, it is sometimes used to refer to the units of the descendant Imperial system as well to those of the descendant system of United States customary units. The two main sets of English units were the Winchester measure, Winchester Units, used from 1495 to 1587, as affirmed by Henry VII of England, King Henry VII, and the Exchequer Standards, in use from 1588 to 1825, as defined by Queen Elizabeth I. In England (and the British Empire), English units were replaced by Imperial units in 1824 (effective as of 1 January 1826) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acre
The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), chain by one furlong (66 by 660 Foot (unit), feet), which is exactly equal to 10 square chains, of a square mile, 4,840 square yards, or 43,560 square feet, and approximately 4,047 m2, or about 40% of a hectare. Based upon the International yard and pound, international yard and pound agreement of 1959, an acre may be declared as exactly 4,046.8564224 square metres. The acre is sometimes abbreviated ac, but is usually spelled out as the word "acre".National Institute of Standards and Technolog(n.d.) General Tables of Units of Measurement . Traditionally, in the Middle Ages, an acre was conceived of as the area of land that could be ploughed by one man using a team of eight oxen in one day. The acre is still a statutory measure in the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Commotes
A commote (, sometimes spelt in older documents as , plural , less frequently )'' Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru'' (University of Wales Dictionary), p. 643 was a secular division of land in Medieval Wales. The word derives from the prefix ("together", "with") and the noun ("home, abode"). The English word "commote" is derived from the Middle Welsh . The basic unit of land was the , a small basic village or settlement. In theory, 100 made up a (literally, "one hundred settlements"; plural: ), and half or a third of a was a , although in practice the actual numbers varied greatly. Together with the , commotes were the geographical divisions through which defence and justice were organised. In charge of a commote would be a chieftain probably related to the ruling Prince of the Kingdom. His court would have been situated in a special , referred to as a . Here, the bonded villagers who farmed the chieftain's estate lived, together with the court officials and servants. Commotes were f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yardland
The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal to 30 acres. It was equivalent to two of the Danelaw's oxgangs. __NOTOC__ Name The name derives from the Old English ' ("yard of land"), from “yard's” former meaning as a measuring stick employed in reckoning acres (cf. rod). The word is etymologically unrelated to the yard of land around a dwelling. "Virgate" is a much later retronym, anglicizing the yardland's latinized form ''virgāta'' after the advent of the yard rendered the original name ambiguous. History The virgate was reckoned as the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was nominally thirty acres. In some parts of England, it was divided into four nooks (; ). Nooks were occasionally further d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgate
The virgate, yardland, or yard of land ( was an English unit of land. Primarily a measure of tax assessment rather than area, the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as hide and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal to 30 acres. It was equivalent to two of the Danelaw's oxgangs. __NOTOC__ Name The name derives from the Old English ' ("yard of land"), from “yard's” former meaning as a measuring stick employed in reckoning acres (cf. rod). The word is etymologically unrelated to the yard of land around a dwelling. "Virgate" is a much later retronym, anglicizing the yardland's latinized form ''virgāta'' after the advent of the yard rendered the original name ambiguous. History The virgate was reckoned as the amount of land that a team of two oxen could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a hide, so was nominally thirty acres. In some parts of England, it was divided into four nooks (; ). Nooks were occasionally furthe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
