Rape of Hastings

History

Rapes are territorial divisions, peculiar to Sussex, that were used for administrative purpose. The Rape of Hastings was one of six such divisions.

Medieval sources and place name evidence suggest that there were people living in what became the Rape of Hastings by the late 8th century. The people who were known as the Haestingas were a separate group to those of the South Saxons. The Haestingas became a sub-kingdom of the Kingdom of Sussex before being annexed by the Kingdom of Wessex

William the Conqueror granted the rape of Hastings to his cousin, Robert, Count of Eu, shortly after the Norman Conquest.