Tithing facts for kids
A tithing was a special group or area in old England. It was like a small neighborhood or community. Originally, a tithing was made up of ten "hides" of land. A hide was a measure of land, usually enough to support one family. So, a tithing was about one-tenth the size of a larger area called a hundred. Later on, tithings became known as smaller parts of a manor (a large estate) or a civil parish (a local area for administration). The leader or spokesperson for a tithing was called a tithingman.
What Does 'Tithing' Mean?
The word tithing comes from two older words: ten and thing. A "thing" was an old word for a meeting or assembly. So, a tithing was like an assembly or group of households from an area that had about ten hides of land.
You might notice that "ten" and "tithing" look a bit different. This is because of how words changed in the past. In Old English, the letter 'n' sometimes disappeared when it was right before a 'th' sound.
It's important not to confuse this word tithing (the old land unit) with the word tithe, which means giving one-tenth of your income to a religious group. Even though they sound similar and share some history, they mean different things today.
History of Tithings
Tithings first appeared around the 10th century. Back then, a tithing was a group of households living in an area that covered ten hides of land. The main person in each household was called a tithingman. These tithingmen were usually adult males, older than 12 years old.
Each tithingman was responsible for the actions of everyone in his tithing. This was part of a system called frankpledge. Imagine it like this: if someone from the tithing was accused of a crime and couldn't be found, the whole tithing would have to pay a fine. If the person wasn't part of a frankpledge group, then the whole town might have to pay. This system encouraged everyone to keep an eye on each other and ensure good behavior.
In some parts of England, like Kent, the names for these groups were a bit different. Kent was settled by Jutes, not Saxons, and kept some of its own traditions. While other areas grouped their hundreds into larger areas called Shires, Kent grouped its hundreds into lathes. Because of these differences, the tithing in Kent, and parts of Surrey and Sussex, was often called a borgh or borough. Their leader, instead of a tithingman, was called a borsholder or borough-holder.
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, a new system called the feudal system became popular. This system changed how land was managed and how justice was handled. The importance of the hundred as a main administrative unit began to fade. Instead, local matters were often handled by manorial courts on large estates called manors. Because of this, tithings started to be seen as smaller parts of a manor.
Even when the feudal system eventually changed, tithings remained connected to local administration. Later, new officials called Justices of the Peace took over many of the jobs that manorial courts used to do. By the time of the Reformation (a big change in the church in the 16th century), civil parishes became the most important local administrative areas. Tithings then became known as subdivisions of these parishes.
Over time, the frankpledge system changed and eventually led to the Jury system (where a group of citizens decides if someone is guilty) and the petty constabulary (local police officers). Tithings themselves lost their practical use and slowly disappeared. However, some active tithings could still be found in rural parts of England even into the 1800s. Interestingly, tithings and hundreds have never been officially abolished, even though they are no longer used today.
