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{{Short description|Medieval land unit from England and Scotland}}
{{Anthropic Farm Units}}
The '''carucate''' or '''carrucate''' ({{langx|la-x-medieval|carrūcāta}} or {{lang|la|carūcāta}})<ref>''Oxford English Dictionary'', 1st&nbsp;ed. "carucate, ''n.''" Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1888.</ref> was a medieval unit of land area approximating the land a plough team of eight [[oxen]] could [[tillage|till]] in a single annual season. It was known by different regional names and fell under different forms of tax assessment.

==England==
The carucate was named for the [[carruca]] [[heavy plough]] that began to appear in England in the late 9th century, which may have been introduced during the [[Viking invasions of england|Viking invasions of England]].<ref name="flynn">White Jr., Lynn, The Life of the Silent Majority, pg. 88 of Life and Thought in the Early Middle Ages, ed. Robert S. Hoyt, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 1967</ref> It was also known as a '''ploughland''' or '''plough''' ({{langx|ang|plōgesland}}, "plough's land") in the [[Danelaw]] and usually, but not always, excluded the land's suitability for winter vegetables and desirability to remain [[crop rotation|fallow in crop rotation]]. The tax levied on each carucate came to be known as "[[carucage]]". Though a carucate might nominally be regarded as an area of 120 [[acre]]s (49 hectares), and can usefully be equated to certain definitions of the hide, its variation over time and depending on soil and fertility makes its actual figure wildly variable.<ref>See e.g. Stenton, F.M., 'Introduction', in Foster, C.W. & Longley, T. (eds.), ''The Lincolnshire Domesday and the Lindsey Survey'', Lincoln Record Society, XIX, 1924, especially pp. ix-xix.</ref> The Danelaw carucates were subdivided into eighths: [[oxgang]]s or bovates based on the area a yoked pair of oxen could till in a year. In the rest of England, the land was reckoned in '''[[hide (unit)|hide]]s''' which were divided into four [[yardland]]s, later known as [[virgate]]s.

==Scotland==
A '''ploughgate''' was the [[Scottish units of measurement|Scottish equivalent]] in the south and east of the country. Even more so than in England, the variable land quality in Scotland led to ploughgates of varying sizes, although the area was notionally understood as 100 [[Scots acres]]. Many sources say that four ploughgates made up a [[daugh]]; in other places, it appears to have been one daugh exactly. As in the Danelaw, ploughgates were subdivided into [[oxgang]]s, again usually by eighths.

==Wales==
Cattle and oxen were a central part of the [[Celtic Law|Laws of the ancient Celts]], by the [[Wales in the Middle Ages|Welsh Middle Ages]], oxen were an integral part of [[Welsh Law]], and an important part of the legal valuations used in assessing land value, the wealth of personal holdings and determining compensations (such as the ''[[Galanas]]''). Carucates are found throughout the [[Cyfraith Hywel]] (Law's of [[Hywel Dda]]).

In 1086, the [[Domesday Book]] records a number of entries for [[commotes]] in Wales. These commotes, (that had come under [[Anglo-Normans|Anglo-Norman]] possession, but were still part of Welsh law and customs) were assessed for military service and taxation. Whereas the English possessions obligations were given in hides, the Welsh obligations were rated in carucates. This was also true for [[Archenfield]] in [[Herefordshire]] which may indicate the area maintained the Welsh systems.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Watkin |first1=Morgan |title=ABO blood groups, human history and language in Herefordshire with special reference to the low B frequency in Europe |journal=Nature |year=1965 |volume=20 |page=84 |doi=10.1038/hdy.1965.10 |pmid=14300930 |s2cid=27834923 |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/hdy196510.pdf?origin=ppub}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Dorstone History Society - 6000 years of history |url=https://dorstonehistorysociety.wordpress.com/ |website=Dorstone History Society |access-date=10 December 2021}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Aratrum terrae]]
* [[English units of measurement|English units]]:
** [[hide (unit)|hide]]
** [[virgate]], [[nook (unit)|nook]], [[farundel]]
** [[acre]]
* [[Scottish units of measurement|Scottish units]] in the East Highlands:
** [[daugh]]
** [[oxgang]]
** [[Scots acre]]
** [[Scots rood]]
* [[Scottish units of measurement|Scottish units]] in the West Highlands:
** [[Scots markland]]
** [[Ounceland]]
** [[Quarterland]]
** [[Pennyland]]
** [[Groatland]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Obsolete units of measurement]]
[[Category:Obsolete Scottish units of measurement]]
[[Category:Units of area]]