“TYTHING GROUP” AND OTHER INTERESTING STUFF FROM THE NET
COMPILATION AND COMMENTARY
BY LUCY WARNER
JULY 17, 2018


THE TERMS “TYTHING GROUPS”,“HUNDREDS” AND OTHER MYSTIFYING UK AND EUROPEAN WORDS, FROM THE EARLY MIDDLE AGES AND FARTHER BACK TO THE BEGINNINGS OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM UNDER THE NORMANS IN 1066 ARE GIVEN BELOW. I FIRST DISCOVERED “TYTHING GROUP” IN ONE OF THOSE GREAT ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL DOCUMENTARIES CALLED “CHILDREN OF THE MIDDLE AGES.” THE NARRATOR SAID A WORD THAT I COULDN’T MAKE OUT. I PUT THE SPEAKER RIGHT UP TO MY EAR AND PLAYED IT BACK AGAIN. IT WAS “TITHING (OR TYTHING) GROUP.” USING MY BEST FRIEND, GOOGLE, I BRANCHED OUT TO THE LIVES OF CHILDREN IN A PRETTY PRIMITIVE TIME – EARLY FEUDALISM.

I FOUND SOME GOOD WRITTEN SOURCES, WHICH I HAVE PRESENTED BELOW. TYTHING IN THIS CASE DOESN’T MEAN GIVING MONEY OR GOODS TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, BUT SIMPLY “TENTH.” A TYTHING GROUP IS A CHOSEN GROUP OF TEN BOYS FROM THE VILLAGE WHO ARE AT LEAST TWELVE YEARS OLD – THE AGE OF ADULTHOOD AT THAT TIME – AND WHO ARE RESPONSIBLE TO EACH OTHER AND TO THE TOWN OR “HUNDRED” TO PRODUCE GOOD WORK AND PUNISH IF NECESSARY THOSE MEMBERS WHO SLACK OFF IN THEIR WORK OR ASSAULT SOMEONE, ETC.

IF A CRIME OF THAT SORT IS NOT PUNISHED FROM WITHIN BY THE 12 YEAR OLD HEADMAN OF THE GROUP, THE WHOLE GROUP CAN BE PUNISHED FOR THE DEEDS OF ONE. THERE ARE A NUMBER OF OTHER INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT A TYTHING GROUP AND MAINTAINING CIVIL LIFE. THEY DIDN’T, APPARENTLY, HAVE A COUNTY SHERIFF WHO CAME IN AS NEEDED AND SMACKED PEOPLE AROUND TO MAKE THEM SHAPE UP. IT’S A VERY INTERESTING IDEA, TO ME. WIKIPEDIA SAYS THAT IT IS A PART OF THE ENGLISH COMMON LAW.

SO, WHEN I CAME TO “TYTHING GROUP,” I ASKED MYSELF, “I KNOW WHAT TYTHING IS, BUT WHAT IS THIS IDEA?” THAT AND OTHER NOW UNCOMMON TERMS FROM EARLY YEARS ARE EXPLORED BELOW, ALSO. THE FARTHER BACK IN TIME THESE OLD WORDS GO, THE LESS SENSE THEY MAKE NOWADAYS WITHOUT AT LEAST A LITTLE STUDY; BUT WITH LINGUISTIC STUDIES IT OPENS A MAGICAL WORLD TO ME. LANGUAGE IS A BASIC METHOD THAT SCIENTISTS USE TO PLACE POINT OF ORIGIN FOR GROUPS IN THE BRITISH ISLES, EUROPE, AND BRITTANY, WHICH GO BACK TO THE EARLIEST CELTIC LANGUAGE GROUPS, CIRCA 800 BC, AND MUCH EARLIER FOR THE MESOLITHIC, NEOLITHIC, COPPER AND BRONZE AGES.

PEOPLE, WHEN THEY OCCUPY A PLACE, LEAVE MORE THAN JUST THEIR PHYSICAL ARTIFACTS SUCH AS AX HEADS THERE, THOUGH. THEY LEAVE THEIR MINDS. THOSE MULTIPLE LANGUAGES HAVE LEFT A PATCHWORK OF MEANINGS, SPELLINGS AND PRONUNCIATIONS ACROSS THAT WHOLE AREA. THERE IS A MAP AT ONE ARTICLE WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY COVERED WITH DIFFERENT GROUPS. IN SHORT, THERE WERE MULTIPLE GROUPS WHO EITHER HAPPILY TRADED TOGETHER, OR WHO PERPETUALLY FOUGHT ONE ANOTHER. THE IMAGE LOOKS LIKE A KALEIDOSCOPE TO ME. IT DOESN’T SURPRISE ME THAT THERE WAS NO “NATION,” AS SUCH, BEFORE THE 900S, 927 AD NEWLY CREATED AS A UNIT BY AETHELSTAN DESCENDED FROM ALFRED THE GREAT. IN SCHOOL I WAS TAUGHT THAT ALFRED THE GREAT WAS THE FIRST KING OF “ALL ENGLAND,” BUT IT SEEMS IT WASN’T QUITE ALL. IT OMITTED “THE DANELAW” OR THE AREA RULED BY THE DANES. TO REALLY SEE IT ALL DESCRIBED WELL, GO TO https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_monarchs. THE MEAT OF THE MATTER IS IN THIS EXCERPT.

“By the late ninth century Wessex was the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom. Its king, Alfred the Great, was overlord of western Mercia and used the title King of the Angles and Saxons, but he never ruled eastern and northern England, which was then known as the Danelaw, having earlier been conquered by the Danes from Scandinavia. His son Edward the Elder conquered the eastern Danelaw, but Edward's son Æthelstan became the first king to rule the whole of England when he conquered Northumbria in 927, and he is regarded by some modern historians as the first true king of England.[2][3] The title "King of the English" or Rex Anglorum in Latin, was first used to describe Æthelstan by one of his charters in 928.”

SO, BACK TO TYTHING GROUPS AND HUNDREDS, TAKE A LOOK AT THESE ARTICLES ON THAT EARLY FEUDAL TIME, 1066 AD, AND THEIR WAY OF LIFE.



http://spartacus-educational.com/YALDtithingG.htm
Tithing Groups

All people over the age of 12 in Yalding are members of a tithing group. The head of the tithing group is called a tithingman. It is his responsibility to make sure all the members of the tithing group attend the Manor Court. If a person runs away after committing a crime, the remaining members of the tithing group can be punished for the offence.

People often work the fields in their tithing groups. This is especially important when the fields need ploughing. Most plough-teams consist of four oxen or four horses. As it is unusual for peasants to own more than one or two of these animals, it is necessary for them to combine their resources so that their land can be ploughed efficiently. The tithing groups also work together during harvesting.

With good weather and reasonable soil, an acre of land in the 14th century would probably produce over 40 sheaves of corn per year. It has been estimated that 80 sheaves of corn was needed to feed each person each year. If it was a bad harvest or if the family did not have enough land to produce the necessary food, members of the family had to spend time working for someone else. The average pay for harvesting in 1340 was either one pence or one sheaf of corn per day.

If a family produced more food than they needed, they could sell the surplus to other members of the village. Villagers could use this money to help increase their food production in the future. For example, they could rent more land or buy extra animals and farming equipment.

The size of a family was an important factor in the peasant economy. When the children were very young, they consumed more than they produced. They also needed looking after. If a member of the family was looking after very young children, they would find it difficult to work in the fields. The situation improved when the children were old enough to work. They now produced more than they consumed. However, if there was a poor harvest or there was no demand for extra labour, a large family was a liability.


“HUNDREDS”

Hundred (county division)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Southern Schleswig, Sweden, Finland, Estonia and Norway. It is still used in other places, including South Australia, The Northern Territory, and Germany.

Other terms for the hundred in English and other languages include wapentake, herred (Danish and Bokmål Norwegian), herad (Nynorsk Norwegian), hérað (Icelandic), härad or hundare (Swedish), Harde (German), Satakunta or kihlakunta (Finnish), kihelkond (Estonian), and cantref (Welsh).

In Ireland, a similar subdivision of counties is referred to as a barony, and a hundred is a subdivision of a particularly large townland (most townlands are not divided into hundreds).

[“THE NORTHERN TERRITORY” AS SPECIFIED ABOVE IS A SPECIFIC TERM APPLICABLE TO AUSTRALIA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Territory]


BARONIES

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barony_(Ireland)
This article is about geographical subdivisions. For titles of nobility, see Peerage of Ireland § Barons. For feudal honours, see Irish feudal barony.
Map of the Baronies of Ireland in 1846


Map of the Baronies of Ireland in 1846
In Ireland, a barony (Irish: barúntacht, plural barúntachtaí[1]) is a historical subdivision of a county, analogous to the hundreds into which the counties of England were divided. Baronies were created during the Tudor reconquest of Ireland, replacing the earlier cantreds formed after the original Norman invasion.[2] Some early baronies were later subdivided into half baronies with the same standing as full baronies.

Baronies were mainly cadastral rather than administrative units. They acquired modest local taxation and spending functions in the nineteenth century before being superseded by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Subsequent adjustments of county boundaries mean that some baronies now straddle two counties.[3]



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tithing
Tithing
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). 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.[1][2]

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

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.

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 Shires, Kent grouped hundreds into lathes. Sussex, 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, 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);[3][4][5] their equivalent to the tithingman was therefore a borsholder, borough-holder or headborough.[6][7]

The Norman Conquest 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.