Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/449

 9* s. vii. JUNE s, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

441

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 1901.

CONTENTS. -No. 180.

NOTES: 'The Tribal Hidage,' 441 Richard Escott de T.anceston, 444 Co-operative Trading Sydenham Wells Park St. Barnahas's Day " Mealies" Hull Saying "Const," 445 Telegraphy : its Invention "Fair" and making "Fair" The William Black Beacon Col. A. Strachan Damask Linen : St. George, 44 5 Banquet of Spring Onions, 417.

QUERIES : Somerville's ' Chace' English Representative at Funeral of Alexander I. Sir H. Goodyen* Rev. J. Chartres Garratt, Lord Mayor of London Valia an a Female Name " Then " =Tban " Sawney," 447 Moline Skulls on Tombstones Louis XVI : Account of his Death Fillingham Family Dr. Barry, 448 -E Bussv "Between the devil and th deep sea" Schiller. Philo- sopherDual in Provincial German Aristotle on a Fly George Cooper, 449.

REPLIES -.Greek Pronunciation, 449 Whitgift's Hos- pital, Croydon, 450 Age of Kntry at Inns of Court Duke of Normandy Arms of Scotland, 452 "Shimmozzfl" John Coe and Family "Foulrice": "Lock Elm": " Cnincherer" "Rouen " and " Succedaneum " Van der Meulen and Huchtenburg St. Giles's Church, North- ampton, 453 Jean le Manique "Pamina and Tamino" Shakespeare Queries Dr. Forbes Watson Malt and Hop Substitutes. 454 " Callards " Burnham Family "Sibyl or Sybil" Transvaal Dutch Ralegh's Signa- tureCounty Abbeys, 455 Carlvle on "mostly fools" Lines on a Skull Lady Purbeck and her Son "Tapping " and "Tipping" Troubadour and Daisy, 456 Cockade of House of Saxony, 457 Arbuthnott Authors Wanted, 458.

NOTES ON BOOKS : Count of Leiningen-Westerburg's ' German Book-plates ' Earle's ' The Alfred Jewel ' - Reviews and Magazines.

Notices to Correspondents.

4 THE TRIBAL HIDAGE. 3

THE following table is an attempt to arrange the ancient document known as 4 The Tribal Hidage ' in such a manner as to bring out its true meaning, and thus enable it to take its place as one of the earliest extant descriptions of England. This arrangement shows that it is a full descrip- tion of Mercia, probably during the reign of Wulfhere, though the Mercian supremacy over Southern England lasted till Bede's time (* H.E ,' v. 23). Northumbria is not included. The various forms of the docu- ment are collected in Mr. Birch's ' Cartula- rium,' i. 414-16 ; and the spelling of the English text has been followed, though it appears to err in giving c for t, just as the Latin texts, by another easy mistake, will give p for w. The arrangement in two columns is proved to be ancient by the attempted additions (66,100 after Oht gaga and 242,700 at the end), but these figures have been rejected, as well as the interpo- lation of "West Sexena" before the final 100,000 hides, as the errors of a later time, when the true meaning of the table had been forgotten, and the West Saxons had attained supremacy. It will be seen that the body of

the table (Nos. 22 and 23) gives only 11,000 hides to the West Saxons.

Mercia and the Subordinate Kingdoms (660-700). HidPB. Hides.

1. Myrcna Landes 30,000 22. Hwinca 7,000

[Including]

2. Wocen sa'tna 7/XlO

3. Westerna 7,0 <>

4. Pec ssetna 1,200

5. Elmed sa?tna 600

6. Lindesfarona

with Hth

feld land 7,000

7. Suth Gyrwa 600

8. North Gyrwa 600

9. EastWixna 300

10. West Wixna 600

11. Herstina 600

12. Spalda 600

13. Wigesta 900 14 Faerpinga 300

15. Herefinna 1,200

16. Sweord ora 300

17. Gifla 300

18. Hicca 300

19. Wiht gara 600

23. Ciltern sietna 4,000 [These include]

24. Hendrica 3,000

25. Unecung ga

26. Aro sa-tna

27. Bilmiga

28. Widerigga

29. EastWilla

30. WestWilla

[1 200]

31. East Engle 30,000

32. East Sexena 7,000

33. Cantwarena 15,000

34. Suth Sexena 7,000

20. Nox gaga 5,000

21. Oht gaga 2,000

[7,000] 100,000

NOTE. The Latin texts end thus : " Suth Sexena 100,000 : 200,700" (or 200,800), thus omitting the true hidage of the South Saxons, and giving them the old total. It may be pointed out that the new total cannot be obtained except by regarding (as above) the total of the first column as 30,000 only. The total of the English text (242,700) seems to require the exclusion of 25 to 28.

1. The first column begins with a state- ment that Mercia had 30,000 hides, and proceeds to give the details.

2. Wocen scetna. These have been iden- tified with the people of Woking. In this case we should have to understand by it the whole of Surrey, or an even larger area. In 666 the abbey of Chertsey was endowed by Frith wald, King of Surrey, who is described as an under-king of Wulfhere of Mercia. Yet Surrey never became a part of Mercia, but belonged to the West Saxons, and the Wocen ssetna should have been included in the second column of the table. This objection to the identification with Woking is strengthened on observing the form. Comparing it with Pec saetna and others, it seems clear that " Wocen " must be the name of a place, not of a tribe.

The natural course for any one compiling such a table as this would be to start from the central or dominant tribe, and this is probably what was done. Bede's statement that the North Mercians had 7,000 hides at first appears to give the clue ; but he places them north of the Trent (* H.E.,' iii. 24), and it will be found that the Wocen ssetna's terri- tory was to a great extent south of it. The