Hundred

Hundred, a subdivision of the county, the nature of which is not known with certainty. In the Dialogus de Scaccario, it is said that a hunred 'ex hydarum aliquot centenariis, sed non determinatis constat; quidam enim ex pluribus, quidam ex pauucioribus constat.' Some accounts make it consist of precisely a hundred hides: others, of a hundred tithing, or of a hundred fee families. Certain it is that whatever may have been its original organization, the hundred, at the period when it became known to us, differed greatly as to the extent in the several parts of England. This division is ascribed to King Alfred, and he may possibly have introduced it into England, though it was established among the Franks in the sixth century. In the capitularies of Charlemagne we meet with it in the form known among us, Capit. 1. 3, c. x. See HUNDREDORS.