A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a

hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...

). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or spokesman was known as a '' tithingman''.

Etymology

The noun ''tithing'' breaks down as ''ten'' + ''thing'', which is to say, a thing (an assembly) of the households who live in an area that comprises ten hides. Comparable words are Danish ''herredthing'' for a

, and English '' husting'' for a single household. Sound changes in the prehistory of English are responsible for the first part of the word looking so different from the word ''ten''. In the West Germanic dialects which became

Old English Old English ( or , or ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. It developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

, ''n'' had a tendency to elide when positioned immediately before a ''th''. The noun is not to be confused with the verb ''to tithe'', its present participle ''tithing'', nor the act of ''tithing'', though they partly share the same origin.

History

The term originated in the 10th century, when a tithing meant the households in an area comprising ten hides. The heads of each of those households were referred to as ''tithingmen''; historically they were assumed to all be males, and older than 12 (an adult, in the context of the time). Each ''tithingman'' was individually responsible for the actions and behaviour of all the members of the tithing, by a system known as

frankpledge Frankpledge was a system of joint suretyship common in England throughout the Early Middle Ages and High Middle Ages. The essential characteristic was the compulsory sharing of responsibility among persons connected in tithings. This unit, un ...

. If a person accused of a crime was not forthcoming, his tithing was fined; if he was not part of the frankpledge, the whole town was subject to the fine. Unlike areas dominated by Wessex, Kent had been settled by Jutes rather than Saxons, and retained elements of its historical identity as a separate and wealthy kingdom into the Middle Ages. While Wessex and Mercia eventually grouped their hundreds into

Shire Shire () is a traditional term for an administrative division of land in Great Britain and some other English-speaking countries. It is generally synonymous with county (such as Cheshire and Worcestershire). British counties are among the oldes ...

s, Kent grouped hundreds into '' lathes''.

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

, which had also been a separate kingdom, similarly grouped its hundreds into '' rapes''. The different choice of terminology continued to the level of the tithing; in Kent, parts of

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, and Sussex, the equivalent term was a borgh, borow, or borough (not to be confused with '' borough'' in its more usual sense of a chartered or privileged town); their equivalent to the tithingman was therefore a ''borsholder'', ''borough-holder'' or ''

headborough In English law, the term headborough, head-borough, borough-head, borrowhead, or chief pledge, referred historically to the head of the legal, administrative, and territorial unit known as a tithing, which sometimes, particularly in Kent, Surrey a ...

''.Dictionary definition of "Borsholder"
. Webster's Online Dictionary. Retrieved 19 January 2012. The

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

introduced the feudal system, which quickly displaced the importance of the hundred as an administrative unit. With the focus on manorial courts for administration and minor justice, tithings came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor. The later break-down of the feudal system did not detract from this, as the introduction of Justices of the Peace lead to petty sessions displacing many of the administrative and judicial functions of the manorial courts. By the Reformation, civil parishes had replaced the manor as the most important local administrative concept, and tithings came to be seen as a parish subdivision. Frankpledge eventually evolved into both the Jury system and the petty constabulary, but tithings themselves had lost their practical significance, and fell into disuse. Despite this, active tithings continued to be found in some parts of rural England well into the 19th century, and tithings and hundreds have never been formally abolished.

Etymology

History

References

Further reading