In 1179, during the Crusader era, it appeared as an estate, sold to the Zion Monastery in Jerusalem.[3]
In 1265, Seida was one of the estates given by Sultan Baibars to his followers after his victory over the Crusaders,[3] with the whole of Seida given to emirHusam al-Din Itamish b. Utlis Khan.[4]
Ottoman era
In 1517, Seida, like all of Palestine, was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. In the 1596 tax registers, it was part of the nahiya ("subdistrict") of Jabal Sami, part of the larger Sanjak of Nablus. It had a population of 70 households and 2 bachelors, all Muslims. The inhabitants paid a fixed tax rate of 33,3% on agricultural products, including wheat, barley, summer crops, olive trees, goats and beehives, in addition to occasional revenues and a fixed tax for people of Nablus area; a total of 12,160 akçe. All of the revenue went to a Waqf.[5]
In 1870/1871 (1288 AH), an Ottoman census listed the village in the nahiya (sub-district) of al-Sha'rawiyya al-Sharqiyya.[6]
In the 1882 PEF's Survey of Western Palestine (SWP), Saida is described as: "a small village, with a well on the east on the back of a long and bare ridge."[7]
In the 1945 statistics the population of Seida was 450 Muslims,[10] with 5,060 dunams of land according to an official land and population survey.[11] Of this, 1,622 dunams were plantations and irrigable land, 1,113 were used for cereals,[12] while 11 dunams were built-up (urban) land.[13]
