The term originated in the 10th century, when a tithing meant the households in an area comprising ten hides. The heads of each of those households were referred to as
tithingmen; historically they were assumed to all be males, and older than 12 (an adult, in the context of the time). Each
tithingman was individually responsible for the actions and behaviour of all the members of the tithing, by a system known as
frankpledge. If a person accused of a crime was not forthcoming, his tithing was fined; if he was not part of the frankpledge, the whole town was subject to the fine. Unlike areas dominated by
Wessex,
Kent had been settled by
Jutes rather than
Saxons, and retained elements of its historical identity
as a separate and wealthy kingdom into the Middle Ages. While Wessex and Mercia eventually grouped their hundreds into
Shires, Kent grouped hundreds into
lathes.
Sussex, which had also been
a separate kingdom, similarly grouped its hundreds into
rapes. The different choice of terminology continued to the level of the tithing; in Kent, parts of
Surrey, and Sussex, the equivalent term was a
borgh,
borow, or
borough (not to be confused with
borough in its more usual sense of a chartered or privileged town); their equivalent to the tithingman was therefore a
borsholder,
borough-holder or
headborough. The
Norman Conquest introduced the feudal system, which quickly displaced the importance of the hundred as an administrative unit. With the focus on
manorial courts for administration and minor justice, tithings came to be seen as subdivisions of a
manor. The later break-down of the feudal system did not detract from this, as the introduction of
Justices of the Peace lead to
petty sessions displacing many of the administrative and judicial functions of the manorial courts. By
the Reformation,
civil parishes had replaced the manor as the most important local administrative concept, and tithings came to be seen as a parish subdivision. Frankpledge eventually evolved into both the
Jury system and the
petty constabulary, but tithings themselves had lost their practical significance, and fell into disuse. Despite this, active tithings continued to be found in some parts of rural England well into the 19th century, and tithings and hundreds have never been formally abolished. ==References==