Rape (county Subdivision)

Rape (county Subdivision)

A rape was a traditional sub-division of the county of Sussex in England. Their origin is unknown, but they appear to predate the Norman Conquest. Each rape was split into several hundreds. The rapes may derive from the system of fortifications devised by Alfred the Great in the late ninth century to defeat the Vikings. Alternatively, King Alfred's system may in turn have its roots in an earlier age. If so, the Sussex Rapes, like the Kentish Lathes, go back to the dawn of English history when their main function would have been to provide food-rents and military manpower to the king. Possibly surviving from the Romano-British era or perhaps representing the shires of the kingdom of Sussex, the Sussex rapes each had a headquarters in the developed south where the lord's hall, court, demesne lands, principal church and peasant holdings were located, whereas to the north there were smaller dependent settlements in the marsh, woodland and heath.