Norman Conquest Encyclopedia

Sheriff

The Anglo-Saxon shire reeve or sheriff was an officer of the king, and directly responsible to him for geld, taxation, and for the maintenance of law and order. After the success of William the Conqueror in 1066, the Norman administration turned as much of the existing apparatus of government to their own use as was compatible with their view of the nature of society under feudalism. The English earls were no more, and landholding now devolved from the king to his lords and thus on down to the lowliest landholder, but instead of other functions being devolved similarly, the sheriff remained and his judicial importance actually increased. In time the office of sheriff and the possession of great lands tended to converge, leading to corruption on the part of the office-holders and loss of control by the king. Henry II (1154-89) had to act to correct this and in England the sheriff slowly declined in importance, his powers becoming, eventually, limited to executing writs, attending judges, overseeing parliamentary elections and taking responsibility for the custody of prisoners.