34 Bath under West Saxon Dominion. 



years, and pass out of three digits into four, we must notice 

 an innovation which is of great mark for the history of the 

 English constitution, and which incidentally affords a statis- 

 tical measure of the relative magnitude of Bath. It was in 

 the last decade of the tenth century that the first attempt was 

 made at a general taxation of the whole country. A sum of 

 money was wanted to buy off the Danish invaders. This 

 tax was called " geld ;" in after times " Danegeld." In order 

 to levy a tax it was necessary to make an assessment, and we 

 know from William's great rate-book how the rateable pro- 

 perty of Bath was assessed. There had never before been a 

 general levy of money, and the operation which bore the 

 nearest resemblance to it was the old system upon which 

 material of war had been levied in kind. The contributions 

 of the country in men, arms, ships, had always been measured 

 by the hidation ; so many hides, so much as their contingent. 

 When towns grew in importance and came to be assessed, 

 they were assessed by " hides ;" not hides of arable land, but 

 imaginary hides of taxable capacity. The assessment was 

 expressed in terms of hides. Mr. Round, in "Domesday 

 Studies," finds " Bridport and Malmesbury assessed at 5 hides 

 each ; Dorchester, Wareham, and Hertford at to hides ; Wor- 

 cester at 15 ; Bath and Shaftesbury at 20." Here we may 

 ' note a measure of distance more significant than chronology ; 

 for as then the agrarian constitution gave model to the 

 borough, so now in our day we see the borough serving as 

 the model for the country ; and the nation that began by 

 eschewing and demolishing cities is at length constituting 

 itself as one continuous city. 



In 1016, Swegen, the Danish King, conquered 



Swegen at Bath. " , „ , 



England. He selected Bath as the place at 

 which the Thanes of the West were summoned to meet him 



