Manuscript Hide Currency For Free

At the time the value of the hide was approximating twenty shillings a year, and the price of an ox was two shillings. Thus the holder of a hide had a tax burden equivalent to three of his oxen and close upon one-third of the annual value of his land. A more normal rate was 2 shillings on each hide.

Libraries in Timbuktu continue the tradition of the families who established them by preserving and making available these valuable works, which until recently were unknown outside Mali. Scholars in the fields of Islamic studies and African studies are awed by the wealth of information that these manuscripts provide.

A hide: the hide, from the Anglo-Saxon word meaning "family", was, in the early medieval period, a land-holding that was considered sufficient to support a family. This was equivalent to 60 to 120 acres depending on the quality of the land.

The hide was a unit of measurement of land and value in pre-Conquest (1066) England used not just for taxation purposes but also to determine the contribution each land-holder was required to make in the event of military need. The Domesday Book refers to the "hide".

The manuscripts were passed down in Timbuktu families and were mostly in poor condition.With the demise of Arabic education in Mali under French colonial rule, appreciation for the medieval manuscripts declined in Timbuktu, and many were being sold off.

The manuscripts were a part not only of Mali's heritage but the world's heritage. By destroying them they threaten the world. We have to kill all of the rebels in the north." On Monday French army officers said French-led forces had entered Timbuktu and secured the town without a shot being fired.

The hide was a unit of land measurement. Everywhere in Anglo-Saxon England except Kent it was the land held by a peasant and his family. Originally it was the amount of land necessary to support one household. The amount of land that made up one hide would vary from one part of Britain to another.