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''Regiones'' (singular: ''regio'') or ''provinciae'',(singular: ''provincia''), also referred to by historians as small shires or early folk territories, were early territorial divisions of Anglo-Saxon England, referred to in sources such as Anglo-Saxon charters and the writings of Bede. They are likely to have originated in the years before 600, and most evidence for them occurs in sources from or about the 7th century. ''Regiones'' were self-sufficient units of mixed subsistence agriculture consisting of scattered settlements producing the range of foodstuffs and other forms of produce necessary to support their population. They formed the defined territories of tribes or similar social groupings and were the building-blocks around which the larger Anglo-Saxon kingdoms were governed. ''Regiones'' gradually fragmented in the later Anglo-Saxon period as land was granted into private or ecclesiastical ownership by charter, and the smaller manors that emerged were gradually re-organised for military purposes into hundreds and the larger shires that later evolved into counties. The patterns of obligation that characterised ''regiones'' were often retained between successor manors, however, and their traces can be seen in many of the sokes, thanages, liberties, baronies and other administrative and ecclesiastic divisions that characterised later medieval society. Some historians have identified ''regiones'' with the concept of the Anglo-Saxon multiple estate. Others have argued that, while similarly organised, multiple estates represent a later stage of territorial organisation, after the concept of ''folkland'' or tribal occupation and obligation began to be replaced by that of ''bookland'' or documented private ownership. ==Naming and areas== Primary historical sources refer to these areas exclusively in Latin as ''regiones'' or ''provinciae'' and it is not known what the equivalent contemporary Old English term would have been. Several different terms were used when original Latin texts were later translated, including ''-ge'', which meant "district" and survived as the second element of the names of several ''regiones'' including Eastry and Ely; and ''meagth'', which meant "kindred", suggesting the areas had tribal origins. In areas of Jutish settlement - such as the Kingdom of Kent and the area around the Solent - ''regiones'' often took the name of a topographical element with the Old English suffix ''"-wara"'' meaning "-dwellers". Examples include the ''Wihtwara'' of the Isle of Wight, the ''Meonwara'' of the area around the River Meon in south Hampshire, the ''Limenwara'' around the River Rother (formerly known as the Limen) in Kent. Similar units with names ending in "-ingas" meaning "people of..." can be found in areas of Saxon settlement. Examples in Wessex include the areas of the ''Readingas'', ''Sunningas'' and ''Basingas'' around Reading, Sonning and Basingstoke. In the Kingdom of Essex examples have been identified including the ''Berecingas'' around Barking, the ''Haeferingas'' of modern Havering, the ''Uppingas'' of Epping and the ''Hrothingas'' that occupied the area of the modern Rodings. Examples in areas of Anglian settlement include the ''Blithingas'' around Blythburgh in the Kingdom of East Anglia. Many of the smaller areas mentioned in the Tribal Hidage are likely to have been ''regiones''. Within the area of the Kingdom of Northumbria ''regiones'' were often named after their central place with the Old English suffix ''"-scīr"'' – for example Hallamshire or Hexhamshire – which has led historians to refer to them as "small shires" to distinguish them from the later shires that evolved into the historic counties of England. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Regiones」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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