But the judicial functions of the scírgeréfa were by no means all that he had to attend to. It is clear that the execution of the law was also committed to his hands. The provisions of the council of Greatanleah conclude with these words:—“But if any of my reeves will not do this, and care less about it than we have commanded, let him pay the fine for disobeying me, and I will find another reeve who will do it[[374]];” where reference is generally made to all the enactments of the council. And the same king requires his bishops, ealdormen and reeves (the principal shire-officer) to maintain the peace upon the basis laid down in the Judicia civitatis Londoniae, that is to put in force the enactments therein contained, on pain of fines and forfeiture[[375]]. In pursuance also of this part of their duty, they were commanded to protect the abbots on all secular occasions[[376]], and to see the church dues regularly paid; viz. the tithes, churchshots, soulshots and plough alms[[377]]. And Eádgár, Æðelred and Cnut arm them with the power to levy for tithe and inflict a heavy forfeiture upon those who withhold it[[378]]. It is also very clear from several passages in the Laws that the sheriff might be called upon to witness bargains and sales, so as to warrant them afterwards if necessary. Æðelstán enacts[[379]]:—“Let no man exchange any property, without the witness of the reeve, or the mass-priest, or the landlord, or the treasurer, or some other credible man:” and though the scírgeréfa is not particularly mentioned here, it is obvious that he is meant, for a subsequent law of Eádmund, following this enactment of Æðelstán, directs that no one shall bargain or receive strange cattle without the witness of the highest reeve (“summi praepositi”), the priest, the treasurer or the port-reeve[[380]]. He was further to exercise a supreme police in his county: it is declared by Æðelred[[381]],—“If there be any man who is untrue to all the people, let the king’s reeve go and bring him under surety, that he may be held to justice, to them that accused him. But if he have no surety, let him be slain, and laid in the foul,”—that is, I presume, not buried in consecrated ground.
From this also it appears probable that the geréfa was the officer to conduct the execution of criminals in capital cases, as he remains to this day; but as far as I remember, there is no instance of this duty recorded. The regulations respecting mints and coinage seem also to show that this part of the public service was under the superintendence of the scírgeréfa[[382]]. As the principal political officer, and chief of the freemen in the shire, it was further his duty to promulgate the laws enacted by the king and his witena gemót, and take a pledge from the members of the county, to observe these: and it is to be concluded that this was solemnly done in the county-court[[383]].
The scírgeréfa was also the principal fiscal officer in the county. It was undoubtedly his duty to levy all fines that accrued to the king from offenders, and to collect such taxes as the land paid for public purposes. We have unhappily no pipe-rolls of the Anglosaxon period, which would have thrown the greatest light upon the social condition of England; but we have a precept of Cnut, addressed to Æðelríc the sheriff of Kent, and the other principal officers and thanes of the county, commanding that archbishop Æðelnóð shall account only as far as he had done before Æðelríc became[became] sheriff, and ordering that in future no sheriff shall demand more of him[[384]]. From this it appears that even the lands of the archbishop himself were not exempt from the sheriff’s authority in fiscal matters, although there can be little doubt that at this period the prelate had a grant of sacu and sócn, or complete immunity from the sheriff’s power in judicial questions. And we shall have little difficulty in admitting that, if he possessed this authority in the case of the archbishop, he exercised it in that of other less distinguished landowners. It has been already shown that the king possessed certain profitable rights in, and received contributions from, the estates of folcland in private hands: these were exercised and collected by the scírgeréfa. It is probable that the zeal of this officer had sometimes overstepped the bounds of the law, and induced him to burthen the free landowner for the benefit of the crown; for we find Cnut enacting[[385]]: “This is the alleviation which it is my pleasure to secure to all the people, of that which hath heretofore too much oppressed them. First, I command all my reeves that they justly provide for me on my own, and maintain me therewith; and that no man need give them anything, as farm-aid, unless he choose. And if after this any one demand a fine, let him be liable in his wergyld to the king.”
The law then goes on to regulate the king’s rights in case of intestacy, the amount of heriot payable by different classes, the freedom of succession in the wife and children, and the freedom of marriage both for widow and maiden. And as all these laws, numbered respectively from § 70 to 75, appear to be dependent upon one another, and to form a chapter of alleviations by themselves, I conclude that the sheriffs had been guilty of exaction in confiscating the estates of intestates, demanding extravagant heriots and reliefs, and imposing fines for licence to marry,—extortions familiar enough under the Norman rule. It was moreover the sheriff’s duty to seize into the king’s hands all lands and chattels belonging to felons, which would, in the event of a conviction become forfeit to the crown: of this we have instances. About A.D. 900, one Helmstán was guilty of theft; Eanwulf Penhearding, who was then sheriff, immediately seized all the property he had at Tisbury, except the land which Helmstán could not forfeit, as it was only Ordláf’s lǽn or beneficium[[386]]. At the close of the tenth century, Æscwyn a widow had become implicated in the theft of some title-deeds by her own son: judgment was given against her in one of the royal courts, whereby all her property became forfeited to the king: Wulfstán the sheriff of Kent accordingly seized Bromley and Fawkham, her manors[[387]]. There is of course every probability that the sheriff was charged with certain disbursements, required by the public service, and that he rendered a periodical account both of receipts and expenditure, to the officers who then represented the royal exchequer; but upon this part of the subject we are unhappily without any evidence.
The sheriff was naturally the leader of the militia, posse comitatus, or levy of the free men, who served under his banner, as the different lords with their dependents served under the royal officers, the church vassals under the bishop’s or abbot’s officer, and all together under the chief command of the ealdorman or duke. It was his business to summon them, and to command them in the field, during the period of their service: and he thus formed the connecting link between the military power of the king and the military power of the people, for purposes both of offence and defence.
In the earliest periods, the office was doubtless elective, and possibly even to the last the people may have enjoyed theoretically, at least, a sort of concurrent choice. But I cannot hesitate for a moment in asserting that under the consolidated monarchy, the scírgeréfa was nominated by the king, with or without the acceptance of the county-court, though this in all probability was never refused[[388]]. The language of the laws which continually adopt the words, our reeves, where none but the sheriffs are intended, clearly shows in what relation these officers stood to the king: and as the latter indisputably possessed the power of removing, he probably did not want that of appointing them[[389]]. On one occasion indeed Æðelstân distinctly declares, that if his sheriffs neglect their duty, he, the king, will find others to do it[[390]]. The means by which the dignity of the sheriff was supported are similar to those noticed in the case of the ealdorman. He received a proportion of the fines payable to the king: he was, we may presume, always a considerable landowner in the shire; indeed, several of those whom we know to have held the office, were amongst the greatest landowners in their respective districts[[391]]. It is even possible that there may have been some provision in land, attached to the office, for I meet occasionally with such words as geréf-land, geréf-mǽd, where the form of the composition denotes, not the land or meadow of some particular sheriff, but of the sheriff generally. As leader of the shire-fyrd or armed force, the geréfa would have a share of the booty; and it is not unreasonable to suppose that his influence and good-will were secured at times by the voluntary offerings of neighbours and dependents.
The writs of the kings, touching judicial processes, and other matters connected with the public service, were directed to the ealdorman, bishop and sheriff of the district, as a general rule. From these writs, which are numerous in the eleventh century, we learn some of the names of the gentlemen who filled the office at that period: and as those names are not without interest I have collected from such documents as we possess a list of sheriffs for different counties.
| Berks | Cyneweard[[392]]. |
| Gódric[[393]]. | |
| Devonshire | Hugh the Norman[[394]]. |
| Dorsetshire | Ælfred[[395]]. |
| Essex | Leófcild[[396]]. |
| Rodbeard steallere[[397]]. | |
| Hampshire | Eádsige[[398]]. |
| Eádnóð steallere[[399]]. | |
| Herefordshire | Ælfnóð[[400]]. |
| Bryning[[401]]. | |
| Osbearn[[402]]. | |
| Ulfcytel[[403]]. | |
| Hertfordshire | Ælfstán[[404]]. |
| Esgár steallere[[405]]. | |
| Huntingdonshire | Ælfríc[[406]]. |
| Cyneríc[[407]]. | |
| Kent | Æðelríc[[408]]. |
| Æðelwine[[409]]. | |
| Esgár steallere[[410]]. | |
| Leófríc[[411]]. | |
| Osweard[[412]]. | |
| Wulfsige preóst[[413]]. | |
| Wulfstán[[414]]. | |
| Lincolnshire | Osgód[[415]]. |
| Middlesex | Ælfgeát[[416]]. |
| Esgár steallere[[417]]. | |
| Ulf[[418]]. | |
| Norfolk | Eádríc[[419]]. |
| Norfolk and Suffolk | Tolig[[420]]. |
| Northampton | Marleswegen[[421]]. |
| Norðman[[422]]. | |
| Somersetshire | Godwine[[423]]. |
| Tofig[[424]]. | |
| Tauid or Touid[[425]]. | |
| Suffolk | Ælfríc[[426]]. |
| Tolig[[427]]. | |
| Warwickshire | Uua[[428]]. |
| Wiltshire | Eánwulf Penhearding[[429]]. |
| Worcestershire | Leófríc[[430]]. |
It is possible that increased research may extend this list of sheriffs, and much to be regretted that our information is so scanty as it is. We have no means of deciding whether the office was an annual one, or how its duration was limited. The Kentish list shows that the clergy were neither exempt nor excluded from its toils or advantages: and the position of Wulfsige the priest and sheriff recalls to us the earlier times when priest and judge may have been synonymous terms among the nations of the north[[431]]. I now proceed to a third class, the
CYNINGES GERÉFA, or Royal Reeve.—There is some difficulty with regard to this officer, because in many cases where the cyninges geréfa is mentioned, it is plain that the scírgeréfa is meant. For example, Ælfred twice mentions the cyninges geréfa as sitting in the folcmót and administering justice there[[432]], which is hardly to be understood of any but the sheriff. However it is consistent with the general principles of Teutonic society that as there was a scírgeréfa to do justice between freeman and freeman, so also there should be a cyninges geréfa, before whom the king’s tenants should ultimately stand to right, and who more particularly administered the king’s sacu and. sócn in his own private lands. To this officer, under the ealdorman, would belong the investigation of those causes which the king’s manorial courts could not decide: perhaps he might possess some sort of appellate jurisdiction: and it cannot be doubted that it was his duty to superintend the management of the king’s private domains, and to lead the array of the king’s private tenants in the general levy. It is therefore not unlikely that this officer may be identical with the heáhgeréfa already noticed. But in many cases where a king’s reeve is mentioned, and where we cannot understand the term of the scírgeréfa, it is clear that a wícgeréfa or burh- or túngeréfa are intended, and that they are called royal officers merely because the wíc, burh or tún happened to be royal property. The Chronicle under the year 787 mentions a geréfa who was slain by the Northmen:—“This year king Beorhtríc took to wife Eádburh, king Offa’s daughter: and in his time first came three ships of Northmen from Hæretha land. And then the geréfa rode to the place, and would have driven them to the king’s tún, for he knew not who they were: and there on the spot they slew him. These were the first Danish ships that ever sought the land of the English.”