In Book IV of the Ecclesiastical History, Bede gives the population and extent of the Isle of Wight at the time Cædwalla's conquest as consisting of 1200 hida (hides), which is to say 1200 familial allotments of land. Now, the relationship of hides to units of population is inexact, but especially at the early date concerned, in the remote location in question, it offers a fairly credible general idea of how many families might have dwelt on the island.