In the Charters granted to Geoffrey, Stephen gives him the “Shrievalties of London and Middlesex,” while the Empress gives him the “Shrievalty of London and Middlesex.” Again, “the Pipe Rolls of Henry the Second denote the same firma as that of ‘London,’ and also as that of ‘London and Middlesex.’” In the Roll of Richard the First there is the phrase “de veteri firma Comitat’ Lond’ et Middelsexa.” And Henry the Third grants to the citizens of London—
“Vicecomitatum Londoniæ et de Middelsexia, cum omnibus rebus et consuetudinibus quæ pertinent ad predictum Vicecomitatum, infra civitatem et extra per terras et aquas ... Reddendo inde annuatim ... trescentas libras sterlingorum blancorum.”
Round also maintains that the Royal Writs and Charters bear the same witness. When they are directed to the local authorities it is to those of London, or of “London and Middlesex,” or of “Middlesex.” The three are, for all purposes, used as equivalent terms. “There was never but one ferm and never but one shrievalty.”
I need not follow Round in his arguments against other opinions. The treatment of Middlesex, he says, including London, was exactly like that of other counties. The firma of Herts was £60; that of Essex £300; that of Middlesex, the very small shire, because it included London, and for no other reason, was £300 also.
In other counties the “reeve” took his title from the “shire.” In Middlesex, where the “port” was the most important part of the shire, the “reeve” took his name from the port. The Vicecomes of “London,” or “London and Middlesex,” was the successor of the Portreeve, or he was the Portreeve under another name. The Shirereeve and the Portreeve, then, are never mentioned together; writs are directed to a Portreeve, or to a Shirereeve, but never to both. William the Conqueror addresses, in Anglo-Saxon, the Portreeve; in Latin, the Vicecomes. Round sums up (p. 359):—
“This conclusion throws a new light on the Charter by which Henry I. granted to the citizens of London Middlesex (i.e. Middlesex inclusive of London) at Farm. Broadly speaking, the transaction in question may be regarded in this aspect. Instead of leasing the corpus comitatus to any one individual for a year, or for a term of years, the king leased it to the citizens as a body, leased it, moreover, in perpetuity, and at the low original firma of £300 a year. The change effected was simply that which was involved in placing the citizens, as a body, in the shoes of the Sheriff ‘of London and Middlesex.’”
We find Stephen and the Empress in turn bestowing upon Geoffrey de Mandeville the shrievalty of London and Middlesex. Therefore no regard at all was paid to Henry’s Charter by Stephen or the Empress.
Valentine & Sons, Limited.
THE TEMPLE CHURCH
From all this it follows that if Henry’s Charter should be dated 1130, the citizens enjoyed the right of electing their Sheriffs and paying the moderate rent of £300 for five years only, out of the whole century. Let me once more quote Round (p. 372):—