View source for Virgate

{{short description|Ancient unit of land}}
{{hatnote|'Yardland' redirects here. Not to be confused with [[yard (land)]].<br>For the use of 'virgate' in reference to rod-like stems and ribs, see [[virgate (botany)]].}}
{{Anthropic_Farm_Units}}
The '''virgate''', '''yardland''', or '''yard of land''' ({{langx|la|virgāta}} [''{{lang|la|terrae}}'']) was an [[English units|English unit]] of land. Primarily a measure of [[tax assessment]] rather than [[area]], the virgate was usually (but not always) reckoned as {{1/4}}&nbsp;[[hide (unit)|hide]] and notionally (but seldom exactly) equal to 30 [[acre]]s. It was equivalent to two of the [[Danelaw]]'s [[oxgang]]s.
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{{anchor|Etymology}}

==Name==
{{Wiktionary}}
The name derives from the [[Old English]] ''{{lang|ang|gyrd landes}}'' ("yard of land"),<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "yardland, ''n.''". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1921.</ref> from “yard's” former meaning as a measuring stick employed in reckoning [[acre]]s (cf. [[rod (unit)|rod]]). The word is etymologically unrelated to the [[yard (land)|yard]] of land around a dwelling.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "yard, ''n.<sup>2</sup>''". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1921.</ref> "Virgate" is a much later [[retronym]], [[anglicizing]] the yardland's [[Latinisation of names|latinized]] form ''virgāta'' after the advent of the [[yard]] rendered the original name ambiguous.<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "virgate, ''n.''". Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1917.</ref>

==History==
The virgate was reckoned as the amount of land that a team of two [[oxen]] could plough in a single annual season. It was equivalent to a quarter of a [[Hide (unit)|hide]], so was nominally thirty [[Acre#Historical origin|acres]].<ref>D. Hey ed., ''Oxford Companion to Local and Family History'' (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996), 476.</ref> In some parts of England, it was divided into four nooks ({{langx|enm|noke}}; {{langx|la-x-medieval|noca}}).<ref>"Noca - nook (measure of land)" R. W. Latham, ''Revised Medieval Latin Word-list'' (Oxford University Press, London: for British Academy 1965), 312.</ref>  Nooks were occasionally further divided into a farundel ({{langx|enm|ferthendel}}; {{langx|ang|fēorþan dǣl}}, "fourth deal, fourth share").<ref>{{cite book |title=An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary |last=Bosworth |first=Joseph |authorlink=Joseph Bosworth |author2=T. Northcote Toller  |year=1882 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=281 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oXlii1KgDngC}}</ref>

The [[Danelaw]] equivalent of a virgate was two [[oxgang]]s or ‘bovates’.<ref>Stephen Friar, ''Batsford Companion to Local History'' (Batsford, London 1991), 270.</ref> These were considered to represent the amount of land that could be worked in a single annual season by a single ox and therefore equated to half a virgate. As such, the oxgang represented a parallel division of the [[carucate]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Units of area]]
[[Category:Obsolete units of measurement]]