Legal Definitions - swoling

Swoling

Historically, swoling referred to a unit of land measurement, specifically the amount of land that could typically be plowed by a single plow team within a year. It was often considered equivalent to a "hide of land," a traditional English land measure.

• Example 1: Feudal Land Grant

  In 12th-century England, a local baron might grant a knight "three swolings of land" in exchange for military service. This meant the knight received a substantial parcel of arable land, sufficient for a family and their laborers to cultivate annually, thereby providing sustenance and resources to support his obligations to the baron.

  This example illustrates swoling as a practical measure for land grants, indicating the productive capacity of the land being transferred.

• Example 2: Medieval Taxation Records

  A royal census from the 14th century might record a particular village as possessing "twenty swolings of cultivated land." This figure would then be used by the Crown to assess the village's agricultural wealth and determine its appropriate tax contribution, as the more swolings a village possessed, the greater its potential for food production and economic output.

  This demonstrates swoling's use in historical administrative and taxation contexts, providing a standardized way to quantify a region's agricultural productivity.

• Example 3: Estate Management and Agricultural Planning

  A medieval monastery's estate manager, planning the annual planting schedule, might allocate "five swolings" for growing wheat and "two swolings" for barley. This allowed the manager to effectively plan the labor and resources needed, knowing that each swoling represented a manageable unit of land for a season's plowing and cultivation.

  This example highlights swoling as a unit for internal agricultural planning, allowing landowners and managers to organize farming activities based on a recognized measure of arable land.