Hydas.  Hydas. Myrcna _continet_ 30000 Lindesfarona  7000 Wokensetna 7000 Súð Gyrwa    600 Westerna 7000 Norð Gyrwa    600 Pecsetna 1200 Eást Wixna   300 Elmedsetna 600 West Wixna    600 Spalda 600 Unecunga   1200 Wigesta 900 Arosetna  600 Herefinna 1200 Fearfinga  300 Sweordora 300 Belmiga    600 Eysla 300 Wiðeringa    600 Hwicca 300 Eást Willa    600 Wihtgara 600 West Willa    600 Noxga gá 5000 Eást Engle  30000 Ohtga gá 2000 Eást Seaxna   7000 Hwynca 7000 Cantwarena  15000 Cilternsetna 4000 Súð Seaxna   7000 Hendrica 3000 West Seaxna 100000[136] ----- Footnote 135: I have not adhered strictly to Spelman’s copy, the details of which are in several cases incorrect, but have collated others where it seemed necessary. ----- The entries respecting Mercia, Eastanglia and Wessex could hardly belong to any period anterior to that of Ælfred. For Mercia previous to the Danish wars must certainly have contained more than 30,000 hides: while Eastanglia cannot have reached so large a sum till settled by Guðorm’s Danes: nor is it easy to believe that Wessex, apart from Kent and Sussex, should have numbered one hundred thousand in the counties of Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire, with parts of Berkshire, Somerset and Devon, much before the time of Æðelstán[137]. A remarkable variation is found between the amounts stated in this list and those given by Beda, as respects some of the entries: thus Mercia, here valued at 30,000 hides, is reckoned in the Ecclesiastical History at 12,000 only[138]: Hwiccas are reckoned at 300: they contained 600 hides; Wight, reckoned at 600, contained 1200. On the other hand Kent and Sussex are retained at the ancient valuation. ----- Footnote 136: The total sum thus reckoned is 243,600 hides. Footnote 137: About the year 647, Wessex numbered only 9000 hides. Footnote 138: The twelve thousand hides counted by Beda (Hist. Eccl. iii. 24) to the South and North Mercians may however be exclusive of the Westangles and other parts of the great Mercian kingdom. ----- It is nevertheless impossible to doubt that the greater number of the names recorded in this list are genuine, and of the highest antiquity. A few of them can be recognized in the pages of very early writers: thus Gyrwa, Elmet, Lindisfaran, Wihtgare, and Hwiccas, are mentioned by Beda in the eighth century. Some we are still able to identify with modern districts.