Hundred (county subdivision)
| Hundred | |
|---|---|
|
Also known as: Wapentake Ward |
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| Category | County subdivision |
| Location | England |
| Found in | Shires |
| Possible status | Royal Manor |
| Government | Hundred Court |
| Subdivisions | Divisions Half hundreds Tithings Parishes |
| Cantrefi (Cantref) | |
|---|---|
| Category | land division |
| Location | Wales |
| Found in | Kingdoms |
| Government | Uchelwyr |
| Subdivisions | Cymydau (Cwmwd) Maenorau (maenolydd) |
A hundred was an administrative division that was 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.
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 name "hundred" may be derived from the number one hundred; it may once have referred to an area liable to provide a hundred men under arms, or containing roughly a hundred homesteads. It was a traditional Germanic system described as early as AD 98 by Tacitus (the centeni). Similar systems were used in the traditional administrative regimes of China and Japan.
In England a hundred was the division of a shire for military and judicial purposes under the common law, which could have varying extent of common feudal ownership, from complete suzerainty to minor royal or ecclesiastical prerogatives and rights of ownership. Until the introduction of districts by the Local Government Act 1894, hundreds were the only widely used assessment unit between the parish, with its various administrative functions and the county, with its formal, ceremonial functions in size.
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