Hundreds and rapes

The hundred was the principal subdivision of the English county from the Saxon period until the nineteenth century. It served as a unit of local government, taxation, and justice. Each hundred had its own court, which met regularly to hear cases, collect taxes, and enforce the king’s peace. Manors within a hundred owed suit of court: the obligation to attend and participate in the hundred court’s proceedings.

What a hundred was

The origin of the hundred is debated. One tradition holds that it represented 100 hides of land. Another holds that it was based on 100 households. In practice, hundreds varied enormously in size. The Portsdown hundred in Hampshire, which is central to this platform, contained a dozen manors clustered around Portchester and Portsdown Hill. The Bosham hundred in Sussex contained a smaller number of manors grouped around Chichester Harbour.

The hundred court met every three or four weeks. Its jurisdiction covered minor criminal matters (theft, assault, trespass), civil disputes about land and debt, and administrative business (the collection of taxes, the pursuit of fugitives, the maintenance of roads and bridges). The court was presided over by the hundredal lord or his steward. Attendance was compulsory for all freeholders within the hundred.

The Sussex rapes

Sussex had a distinctive administrative structure. The county was divided into six rapes, each centred on a castle. From west to east, these were: Chichester (castle at Chichester), Arundel (castle at Arundel), Bramber (castle at Bramber), Lewes (castle at Lewes), Pevensey (castle at Pevensey), and Hastings (castle at Hastings). Each rape was held by a single Norman lord who controlled the castle and administered the territory.

The rapes were subdivided into hundreds, which functioned in the same way as hundreds elsewhere in England. The Rape of Chichester contained, among others, the Bosham hundred, the Manhood hundred, the Box and Stockbridge hundred, and the Westbourne and Singleton hundred. These are the hundreds that cover the Sussex manors documented on this platform.

The rape system was peculiar to Sussex. It was probably established immediately after the Conquest, when William I needed to secure the south coast against invasion. Each rape provided a self-contained defensive unit: a castle, a port, a strip of territory running from the coast to the county boundary, and a lord responsible for its defence. The rapes remained the primary administrative divisions of Sussex until the county was split into East and West Sussex in 1889.

Hundreds covered by this platform

The manors documented here fall within a defined set of hundreds. In Hampshire: the Portsdown hundred (the castle serjeanty network around Portchester), the Titchfield hundred (the Titchfield Abbey lands), the Finchdean hundred (the Downs fringe), and parts of the Bishop’s Waltham hundred. In Sussex: the Bosham hundred (the Chichester Harbour coast), the Manhood hundred (the Selsey peninsula), the Box and Stockbridge hundred (the Chichester hinterland), and the Westbourne and Singleton hundred (the Downs behind the harbour).

Each hundred had its own character, shaped by geography and tenure. The Portsdown hundred was defined by castle serjeanty obligations to Portchester. The Bosham hundred was dominated by the great manor of Bosham itself, assessed at 56 hides in Domesday and valued at 60 pounds. The Manhood hundred was shaped by the episcopal lands of the Bishop of Chichester and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Understanding which hundred a manor belonged to is essential to understanding its administrative context and its obligations.

The decline of the hundred

The hundred courts declined in importance from the fourteenth century as royal justice expanded through the county courts, the assize circuits, and the justices of the peace. By the sixteenth century, the hundred courts had largely ceased to function as courts of law. The hundreds survived as administrative units for tax collection (the subsidy rolls of the Tudor period are organised by hundred) and for parliamentary representation (some parliamentary boroughs were defined by hundred boundaries). The hundreds were formally abolished as administrative units in 1894 with the creation of urban and rural district councils, but they survive in the historical record as the framework within which manorial history was organised.