Rape; an administrative division of the county of Sussex intermediate between the county and hundred, similar to the the lathe in Kent and the riding in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
Sussex was divided into six rapes as follows;
(There were originally only five with Arundel and Chichester forming the single rape, later divided sometime after the compliation of the Doomsday Book in 1086.)
Although possibly based on an earlier Anglo-Saxon administrative system the rapes were essentially inventions of the new Norman masters of England.
The distinctive feature of the rape was;
- Each consisted of a roughly parallel strip of land running north to south between London and the channel coast.
- Each was under the command of a single lord or tenant-in-chief who held all the land within it with the exception of lands held by the Church and the Crown (Which was distinct from other Norman lordships where land holdings were scattered all over the place.)
- Each rape was a essentially a castlery, being governed from a prominent castle after which the rape ultimately derived its name
- Each had its own sheriff, who answered to the lord of the rape not the Crown
The reason for the adoption of these unique administrative arrangments in Sussex was simply this; Sussex was the closest part of the English coast to Normandy and therefore each rape therefore consitituted a vital communication route between London and Rouen as well as a potential invasion route.
William I was therefore careful to ensure that each was placed under the command of a close relative or a particulary trusted follower. The initial allocation being between;
The reason for dividing the county into five (later six) routes was to ensure that no single lord controlled them all and could therefore block contact between England and Normandy.
Various suggestions have been made for the derivation of the word rape as applied to Sussex;
- from the Icelandic word 'hreppr' for a small territorial division (apparently rejected by most authorities)
- from the Old English 'rap', for rope, on the basis that the divisions were measured out and allocated by rope
- from the Norman French word, 'rapiner' meaning 'to plunder', on the basis that William I systematically laid waste to much of Sussex during the early part of the conquest
- from the Latin word 'rapum'. (Although since this seems to mean 'turnip' I'm not sure quite sure of the logic.)
SOURCES
The 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica entries for Rape and Sussex
at www.1911encyclopedia.org/
Together with the following references
http://www.domesdaybook.net/hs1070.htm
http://www.castles-abbeys.co.uk/Michelham-Priory.html