Hist. [OE. fyrd: see FERD.] The military array of the whole country before the Conquest; also, the obligation to military service.

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1832.  J. Bree, St. Herbert’s Isle, 99.

        ‘The fyrd! the fyrd!’ cried Edwal, ‘raise the fyrd.
I will its leader be! what dastard soul
E’er thought of safety, when the sea-king stirred?’

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1839.  Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 83. A threefold obligation (trinoda necessitas) lay on all the holders of land in the kingdom. This consisted of the Bricgbote, or tax for the repair of roads and bridges; the Burhbote, or that for maintaining the fortresses; and the Fyrd, i. e. militia, or general array of military service for the defence of the realm.

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1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xviii. 147. When the King summoned his fyrd to his standard, by sea or by land, Exeter supplied the same number of men as were supplied by five hides of land.

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1895.  Meiklejohn, Hist. Eng., I. 105. In 1181 a regulation called the Assize of Arms was issued for the Fyrd or National Militia.

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