TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS: TITHINGS, ETC.

31

the origin of some of the shires; but, if it is so, the origin of the boundary lines of the counties is to some extent accounted for.

and

The land was also divided into hides, tithings, and Hides, hundreds. A Hide contained about 120 acres, and things, supported a free family. Ten such free families hundreds. constituted a Tithing, and ten or twelve such tithings constituted a Hundred. A certain number of these hundreds may have united together to form a Shire, or the shires may have been divided into hundreds, tithings, and hides. Yorkshire was once divided into three divisions called trithings, which have been since changed into ridings. In Sussex these divisions were, and are, still called "Rapes," as the Rape of Bramber, &c., from the Saxon word hreipp, a rope, because the country was divided by ropes drawn across the land. This mode of dividing the land, along with the name Rape, is now found in no other place but Iceland, a Norse colony. This has led learned men to believe that some of the Northmen (or Norse) settled in Sussex. Lewes is a Norse name, Hlodhus.

the word

I may here mention that the word Shire is de- Origin of rived from a Saxon word, scyran, to cut or divide, Shire. because a shire was a division of the land; and that Sheriff means the Shire-reeve, or judge of the county, as Borough-reeve means the judge of the borough or

town.

Tithings and hundreds were instituted to assist in the administration of justice.

The ten families dwelling together in a tithing were sureties or free pledges to the king for the good behaviour of each other; and if any offence was committed in their district they were bound to have the offender forthcoming. One of the principal inha

Tithing

man, or Headborough.

In some parts of England there are no shires.

In other parts of England all are shires.

bitants of the tithing was annually appointed to preside over the rest, and was called the tithing-man, or head-borough. If the tithing could not produce an offender who had fled, the head-borough was to take two of the most respectable members of the tithing in which the offence was committed, and nine from the three nearest tithings, and these twelve (the head-borough being reckoned among them) were to clear the tithing of being parties to the escape of the criminal. If they could not do this, the goods of the offender were answerable for the compensation fixed for the offence, and if these were not sufficient, then the tithing at large had to pay. Even now, in case of damage to property by riot, the owners are entitled to compensation from the hundred.

It is a curious matter for inquiry why some counties were called Shires, and why others were not so called. As yet, learned men have not been able to explain this, but still it is interesting to observe how the shires are distributed. In the first place, in the south-east and east of England, there are no shires; there are Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Middlesex, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex.

In the middle of England, or the old kingdom of Mercia, all the counties are shires; there are Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, and so on. Again in the south, or ancient kingdom of Wessex, they are all shires; there are Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Hertfordshire, Berkshire, &c.

Cornwall meant Cornish Wales, and was so called because the inhabitants spoke the same language as the Welsh. In Wales all are shires except Anglesey, or English isle.

TERRITORIAL DIVISIONS: SHIRES.

33

parts

In the north of England there are very few In other shires. The counties are principally lands; there all are are Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland; Lands. and these are the only lands in England except Rutland and Cleveland, a district of Yorkshire, Durham is the only county in the north which is not a land or a shire. The other two northern counties are shires, viz. Lancashire and Yorkshire. In Yorkshire were formerly three small shires, viz. Hallamshire, Blackburnshire, and Richmondshire, and one land, viz. Cleveland; and in Northumberland was formerly a small shire called Hexhamshire.

In Scotland there are only three counties which are not shires, and of these Caithness and Sutherland are both Norwegian. This is why the latter, although the most northern county in Scotland, is called South-, or Suther-, land. It was south of Norway. In Ireland there are no shires.

took their from towns already

names

built.

The shires took their name in most cases from The shires towns, which were built before the country was divided into shires. Thus we know that York was built before the time of the Romans, before shires were heard of, and must have given its name to Yorkshire. In like manner Leicester gave the name to Leicestershire, Hertford to Hertfordshire, and so on. This rule applies to the whole of the midland counties, forming, as I have mentioned, the old kingdom of Mercia. Shropshire at first seems to be an exception; but Shrewsbury, the capital town, was anciently spelt Scrobbesbury, from which Shropshire (perhaps originally Scrobbesburyshire) was probably derived.

In Wessex this rule does not apply; but the counties seem to have been named after the tribes settled there, for we have Dorset and Somerset,

D

Divisions derived

of Wessex

from the

setan, or settlers.

Importance of knowing the origin

of the English

race.

derived from setan, a settler, and Wiltshire was originally Wiltsætan.

Berkshire, formerly called Bearrucscir, is said to be derived from Bare-oak, because in that county meetings were held at a bare or pollard oak. Hampshire was originally Hamtunshire, from Hamtun, now Southampton. Devonshire was part of the ancient kingdom of Damnonia.

Norfolk and Suffolk were the ancient kingdom of East Anglia divided into the North-folk and Southfolk. Essex and Middlesex were parts of the kingdom of East Seaxe. Kent was the old kingdom of the Cantwara, and Canterbury was the borough or town of the Cantwara. Sussex was South Seaxe; Surrey was formerly Suthric, or Suthrige, which meant the southern people, or people south of the Thames.

In the north the counties took their names from divisions of the land; thus, Northumberland was a part of the old kingdom of Northumbria, or land north of the Humber, and Cumberland was the land of the Cumbrians.

If any apology were needed for thus bringing before you an account of the origin of these ancient divisions of our island, the following extract from Dean Trench's Lectures on the Study of Words would be quite sufficient. He says: "Of all the thousands who are aware that the Angles and Saxons established themselves in this island, and that we are in the main descended from them, it would be curious to know how many have realised to themselves that this 'England' means 'Angleland,' or that in the names of Essex,' 'Sussex,' and Middlesex,' we preserve a record to this day of East Saxons, South Saxons, and Middle Saxons, who occupied those several portions of the land. I can

เ

not but believe that these Angles and Saxons, about whom our pupils may be reading, will be to them more like actual men of flesh and blood, who indeed trod this same soil that we are treading now, when we can thus point to the traces of them surviving to the present day, which they have left behind them, and which England, as long as it is England, will retain."

Traces of

Danes in

of places.

The Danes remained in England for about 300 years; but, until Canute became king of England, they the names seem to have been rather ravagers of the land than peaceful settlers. The changes they effected in our laws are matter of controversy, and patriotic Danes claim for them trial by jury, and many other beneficial institutions. In this there is unquestionably great exaggeration. The exact truth is difficult to ascertain, but the Danish names of places, scattered over a considerable portion of England, show that they had settled themselves widely throughout the country.

names of

tinguished

from An

glo-Saxon.

The Danish names of places may easily be dis- Danish tinguished from the Anglo-Saxon. Thus, all places places which end in -ton, -ham, -bury or borough, -forth easily disor -ford, -hurst (a wood or forest), and -worth, not to mention others, are Anglo-Saxon. Sussex, Surrey, and Kent were eminently Anglo-Saxon counties, and the number of places whose names end in -hurst, as Penshurst, Midhurst, Ewhurst, are evidence, not only of their Saxon character, but also of the extensive forests which formerly covered large portions of those counties, and of which many parts still remain, especially on the borders of Sussex and Surrey. The Weald (wold or wood) is yet applied to the same district, including the adjoining part of Kent.

The following are Danish rather than Saxon end