Wednesday 28 November 2018

Population and Land Use






































A hideThe hide, from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning "family", was, in the early medieval period, a land-holding that was considered sufficient to support a family. This was equivalent to 60 to 120 old acres (approximately 30 modern acres (120,000 m2)) depending on the quality of the land.

What is a family?
1. Group of relations

2. The body of persons who live in one house or under one head, including
parents, children, servants, etc. …
3. The group of persons consisting of the parents and their children, whether
actually living together or not; in widersense, the unity formed by those who are
nearly connected by blood or affinity
http://pryan2.kingsfaculty.ca/pryan/assets/File/Stanley(1).pdf

If crop boosting magic about might be smaller.
Amount o support a family not a set amount but to repeat 60 to 120 old acres (approximately 30 modern acres (120,000 m2)
72430208 yard square in a 6 mile hex
divided by 120000y2 per hide
=603.5ish

omnicalculator.com - Hexagon Calculator

Pretty dense score

600 families per hex on good land
300 families of mediocre land
100 herder families in wastes
Average family size of 5 (2-10 possible)

The father was the head of the family in Anglo-Saxon England, and the spear propped up by the door symbolised his role as protector. In fact, the father’s side of the family was called the ‘sperehealf’, while the mother’s side was called the ‘spinelhealf’. The spindle summed up her role in the family, and possessions found in men’s and women’s graves confirm this.

It may have been that the father was expected to be quite strict, and even a little distant from his children. The mother’s brother (‘eam’) may have been a more caring and friendly male relative, though he only visited from time to time.

Old English has many more words for different family relatives than modern English, which shows how important the idea of ‘family’ was for them. If you weren’t very good at remembering all the complexities, though, you could call any relative ‘brōðor’ or ‘sweostor’.

You might have ‘stēop-‘ relatives, if your own parents were dead, or ‘fōster-‘ parents, if your real parents had given you away for some reason.

There were almost certainly four or five people in the average family – records from the year 1200 suggest 4.68*. Other relatives, then as now, of course, may have ‘lived in’.

People outside the family, but whose name, family and origin were known would count as ‘cýðð’. Everybody in the village and the surrounding area would count in this group. Together, your family and friends were ‘cýðð and cynn’, or ‘kith and kin’ in Modern English.

People you didn’t know could become ‘cýðð’ or a ‘frēond’ or guest after they’d explained exactly who they were. Otherwise, strangers were seen as little different from enemies or slaves – ‘ðēow’.

*quoted in ‘Domesday Quest’, Michael Wood, BBC books, 1986
Thanks also to AC Haynes, ‘Anglo-Saxon Kinship’, in ‘Wiðowinde’, Winter 1998
http://www.tha-engliscan-gesithas.org.uk/education/anglo-saxon-families

extra thoughts from G+

five to ten or so families support a lesser noble
So some tax involved too

But I guess a city surrounded by 6 hexes with 4 villages of 25 families

Could support :
500 per hex plus lots nobles
3000 in city plus 360 poor knights or less richer ones

Possibly river delta in middle East might get more harvests per year 3 or 4 times this
Plus which accounts for my setting metropolis pops of 10 000

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JDsivraj 29 November 2018 at 16:20I recall reading somewhere a hide was also the amount of land required to raise a beef or ox large enough to butcher and produce a hide each year but still have an operational farm afterward (still have other beef or oxen or the means to rent one after killing one).

Konsumterra 30 November 2018 at 11:44
thats great too and not incompatible
Every family would want a ox to plow or would borrow or rent one
Everyone loved their oxen who are noble beasts
Each family or hide supports working 
ox or butcher a cow once a year
Perhaps 10 sheep, pigs or goats or mixed barn of animals = ox

Summary of Taxible Land Units and Population
Hide is a area of farmland
-Supports a family of five a well off extended family might control 2-5
-supports a working ox or a meat cow a year or ten smaller animals like pigs and goats

600 families per hex on good land

300 families of mediocre land
100 herder families in wastes
Average family size of 5 (2-10 possible)

6 Hide support a poor noble family and a knight or equivalent
12 Hide support a comfortable family
 and two knight or equivalent
60 Hide support a rich noble family and ten knights or equivalent
A city surrounded by six rich farmland hexes could support 3600 people
More hexes of herdsmen around that could raise this again

Leveling UpAt 5th Level and every 5th more +1 on a attribute
As of 6th level you get a follower per level and you can teach and train recruits
-a animal or pet possible with some classes
-a adventurer apprentice d4 Lv or a d4 zero level followers
-They go up a level when you do
At Tenth Level you are granted a d4 hides of land or common city blocks or equivalent real estate or take over a dungeon because some one wants you beholden to them

2 comments:

  1. I recall reading somewhere a hide was also the amount of land required to raise a beef or ox large enough to butcher and produce a hide each year but still have an opperational farm afterward (still have other beef or oxen or the means to rent one after killing one).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. thats great too and not incompatible
      every family would want a ox to plow or borrow one. Plowmen loved their oxen

      also use to calculate herds
      perhaps 10 sheep or pigs might = ox

      Delete

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