Re: Clarification on medieval terms.

[EoganOg@aol.com]

Poster: EoganOg@aol.com

A "shire-reeve" was one of the officials who presided at a shire moot (or
court of the shire).  Literally, he was a type of estate manager, who spoke
directly for the king in his shire.  He sat with two other officials in the
shire moots (usually a bishop and some other local nobility), and heard cases.
No evidence was given, but both parties presented their sides, and the three
judges gave an Award of Proof.  This was not a final judgement but a
preliminay judgement.  The party Awarded Proof had to then prove himself
innocent or guilty, usually by undergoing some kind of trial by fire or trial
by ordeal.  In that way, God was seen to be giving final judgement.  This was
under the Anglo-Saxon law, mind you, and not 14th century law.

By the 1300's, I believe the office was being referred to as "sherrif" and
it's powers were lessened.  William I had done away with a lot of old Anglo-
Saxon customs, but kept their law system pretty much intact, especially at the
local levels.  Subsequent rulers eroded more and more of the Anglo-Saxon law
sytem away, and by the 1300s the sherrif's powers were confined to small pleas
of debt and trespass, with higher cases being heard in Royal Courts.  Twice a
year he presided over a hundred moot, a shire court concerning land not in
priate hands, and heard cases on matters such as brawls and recieved pleas for
Royal Justice.

It was the sherrif who was also responsible for arresting offenders and
keeping them in custody.  The coroner kept record of this, as well as
inquisitions into sudden deaths, indictments of felonies, etc.

I hope this helps better define the role of the sherrif in the 1300s and where
the office came from.

Aye,
Eogan Og
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