Editing Alfred the Great (section)

=== Administration and taxation ===
Tenants in Anglo-Saxon England had a threefold obligation based on their landholding: the so-called "common burdens" of military service, fortress work, and bridge repair. This threefold obligation has traditionally been called ''[[trinoda necessitas]]'' or ''trimoda necessitas''.{{Sfn|Lavelle|2010|pp=70–73}} The Old English name for the fine due for neglecting military service was {{Lang|ang|fierdwite}}.{{Sfn|Attenborough|1922|pp=52–53}} To maintain the [[burh]]s, and to reorganise the fyrd as a standing army, Alfred expanded the tax and conscription system based on the productivity of a tenant's landholding. The hide was the basic unit of the system on which the tenant's public obligations were assessed. A hide is thought to represent the amount of land required to support one family. The hide differed in size according to the value and resources of the land and the landowner would have to provide service based on how many hides he owned.{{Sfn|Lavelle|2010|pp=70–73}}{{Sfn|Lapidge|2001}}