villein with two oxen. Mr Round holds that in Domesday at all events the hide always consisted of four virgates; Mr F. Seebohm in The English Village Community, although thinking that the normal hide “consisted as a rule of four virgates of 30 acres each,” says that the Hundred Rolls for Huntingdonshire show that “the hide did not always contain the same number of virgates.” The virgate, it may be noted, consisted of a strip of land in each acre of the hide, and there is undoubtedly a strong case in favour of the equation 1 hide = 4 virgates.
Mr Seebohm, propounding his theory that English institutions are rooted in those of Rome, argues for some resemblance between the methods of taxation of land in Rome and in England; he sees some connexion between the Roman centuria and the hide, and between the Roman system of taxation called jugatio and the English hidage. Professor Vinogradoff (Villainage in England) summarizes the views of those who hold a contrary opinion thus: “The curious fact that the normal holding, the hide, was equal all over England can be explained only by its origin; it came full-formed from Germany and remained unchanged in spite of all diversities of geographical and economical conditions.”
In the Danish parts of England, or rather in the district of the “Five Boroughs,” the carucate takes the place of the hide as the unit of value, and six supplants five, six carucates being the unit of assessment. In Leicestershire and in part of Lancashire the hide is quite different from what it is elsewhere in England. According to Mr Round the Leicestershire hide consisted of 18 carucates; Mr W. H. Stevenson (English Historical Review, vol. v.) argues that it contained only 12 and that it was a hundred and not a hide. Mr Seebohm thinks there was a solanda or double hide of 240 acres in Essex and other southern counties, but Mr Round does not think that this word refers to a measure or unit of assessment at all. For Kent, however, the word sullung or solin, is used in Domesday Book and in the charters instead of hide and carucate as elsewhere, and Vinogradoff thinks that this contained from 180 to 200 acres.
Under the Norman and early Plantagenet kings a levy of two or more shillings on each hide of land was a usual and recognized method of raising money, royal and some other estates, however, as is seen from Domesday, not being hidated and not paying the tax. This geld, or tax, received several names, one of the most general being hidage (Lat. hidagium). “Hidage,” says Vinogradoff, “is historically connected with the old English Danegeld system,” and as Danegeld and then hidage it was levied long after its original purpose was forgotten, and was during the 11th century “the most sweeping and the heaviest of all the taxes.” Henry of Huntingdon says its usual rate was 2s. on each hide of land, and this was evidently the rate at the time of the famous dispute between Henry II. and Becket at Woodstock in 1163, but it was not always kept at this figure, as in 1084 William I. had levied a tax of 6s. on each hide, an unusual extortion. The feudal aids were levied on the hide. Thus in 1109 Henry I. raised one at the rate of 3s. per hide for the marriage of his daughter Matilda with the emperor Henry V., and in 1194, when money was collected for the ransom of Richard I., some of the taxation for this purpose seems to have been assessed according to the hidage given in Domesday Book.
By this time the word hidage as the designation of the tax was disappearing, its place being taken by the word carucage. The carucate (Lat. caruca, a plough) was a measure of land which prevailed in the north of England, the district inhabited by people of Danish descent. Some authorities regard it as equivalent to the hide, others deny this identity. In 1198, however, when Richard I. imposed a tax of 5s. on each carucata terrae sive hyda, the two words were obviously interchangeable, and about the same time the size of the carucate was fixed at 100 acres. The word carucage remained in use for some time longer, and then other names were given to the various taxes on land.
One or two other questions with regard to the hide still remain unsolved. What is the connexion, if any, between the hundred and a hundred hides? Again, was the size of the hide fixed at 120 acres to make the work of reckoning the amount of Danegeld, or hidage, a simple process? 120 acres to the hide, 240 pence to the pound, makes calculations easy. Lastly, is the English hide derived from the German hufe or huba? (A. W. H.*)
HIEL, EMMANUEL (1834–1899), Belgian-Dutch poet and
prose writer, was born at Dendermonde, in Flanders, in May
1834. He acted in various functions, from teacher and government
official to journalist and bookseller, busily writing all
the time both for the theatre and the magazines of North and
South Netherlands. His last posts were those of librarian at
the Industrial Museum and professor of declamation at the
Conservatoire in Brussels. Among his better-known poetic
works may be cited Looverkens (“Leaflets,” 1857); Nieuwe
Liedekens (“New Poesies,” 1861); Gedichten (“Poems,” 1863);
Psalmen, Zangen, en Oratorios (“Psalms, Songs, and Oratorios,”
1869); De Wind (1869), an inspiriting cantata, which had a large
measure of success and was crowned; De Liefde in ’t Leven
(“Love in Life,” 1870); Elle and Isa (two musical dramas,
1874); Liederen voor Groote en Kleine Kinderen (“Songs for
Big and Small Folk,” 1879); Jakoba van Beieren (“Jacqueline
of Bavaria,” a poetic drama, 1880); Mathilda van Denemarken
(a lyrical drama, 1890). His collected poetical works were published
in three volumes at Rousselaere in 1885. Hiel took an
active and prominent part in the so-called “Flemish movement”
in Belgium, and his name is constantly associated with those
of Jan van Beers, the Willems and Peter Benoit. The last
wrote some of his compositions to Hiel’s verses, notably to his
oratorios Lucifer (performed in London at the Royal Albert
Hall and elsewhere) and De Schelde (“The Scheldt”); whilst
the Dutch composer, Richard Hol (of Utrecht), composed the
music to Hiel’s “Ode to Liberty,” and van Gheluwe to the
poet’s “Songs for Big and Small Folk” (second edition, much
enlarged, 1879), which has greatly contributed to their popularity
in schools and among Belgian choral societies. Hiel also translated
several foreign lyrics. His rendering of Tennyson’s
Dora appeared at Antwerp in 1871. For the national festival
of 1880 at Brussels, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary
of Belgian independence, Hiel composed two cantatas, Belgenland
(“The Land of the Belgians”) and Eer Belgenland (“Honour
to Belgium”), which, set to music, were much appreciated.
He died at Schaerbeek, near Brussels, on the 27th of August
1899. Hiel’s efforts to counteract Walloon influences and bring
about a rapprochement between the Netherlanders in the north
and the Teutonic racial sympathizers across the Rhine made
him very popular with both, and a volume of his best poems
was in 1874 the first in a collection of Dutch authors published
at Leipzig.
HIEMPSAL, the name of the two kings of Numidia. For Hiempsal I. see under Jugurtha. Hiempsal II. was the son of Gauda, the half-brother of Jugurtha. In 88 B.C., after the triumph of Sulla, when the younger Marius fled from Rome to Africa, Hiempsal received him with apparent friendliness, his real intention being to detain him as a prisoner. Marius discovered this intention in time and made good his escape with the assistance of the king’s daughter. In 81 Hiempsal was driven from his throne by the Numidians themselves, or by Hiarbas, ruler of part of the kingdom, supported by Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, the leader of the Marian party in Africa. Soon afterwards Pompey was sent to Africa by Sulla to reinstate Hiempsal, whose territory was subsequently increased by the addition of some land on the coast in accordance with a treaty concluded with L. Aurelius Cotta. When the tribune P. Servilius Rullus introduced his agrarian law (63), these lands, which had been originally assigned to the Roman people by Scipio Africanus, were expressly exempted from sale, which roused the indignation of Cicero (De lege agraria, i. 4, ii. 22). From Suetonius (Caesar, 71) it is evident that Hiempsal was alive in 62. According to Sallust (Jugurtha, 17), he was the author of an historical work in the Punic language.
Plutarch, Marius, 40, Pompey, 12; Appian, Bell. civ., i. 62. 80; Dio Cassius xli. 41.
HIERAPOLIS. 1. (Arabic Manbij or Mumbij) an ancient Syrian town occupying one of the finest sites in Northern Syria, in a fertile district about 16 m. S.W. of the confluence of the Sajur and Euphrates. There is abundant water supply from large springs. In 1879, after the Russo-Turkish war, a colony of
