Brewer's: Hundred

Hero of the hundred fights or battles. Lord Nelson (1758-1805) Conn, a celebrated Irish hero, is so called by O'Gnive, the bard of O'Niel: “Conn, of the hundred fights, sleeps in thy grass-grown tomb.”

Hundred

A county division mentioned in Domesday Book, and supposed to embrace ten tithings for military and constabulary purposes. If a crime was committed (such as robbery, maiming cattle, stack-burning, etc.), these sureties were bound to make it good, or bring the offender to justice.

Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Durham are divided into “wards” (q.v.). Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Notts, into “wapentakes” (q.v.). Yorkshire has also a special division, called “ridings” (q.v.).

Kent is divided into five lathes, with subordinate hundreds. (See Lathes.) Sussex is divided into six rapes (1 syl.), with subordinate hundreds. (See Rapes.)

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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