We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
The preceding chapter has dealt thematically with various aspects of the careers of royal servants; little has been said specifically about these themes in relation to particular areas of government. This was mainly for practical reasons, in that dividing up royal servants according to the nature of their work produces a number of very small categories with some individuals recurring in several; also it is often difficult to build up lists of all holders of an office during the reign. These problems apply rather less in the case of the shrievalty than to other areas of government, sheriffs being relatively numerous, their careers well documented, and their office being of such importance in the government of England as to suggest that a separate study of appointments is desirable.
Unlike many other royal servants, sheriffs held an established office, to which they were usually appointed for a term of years. Appointments to the office were of great moment to the crown: the king needed his revenues to be collected efficiently, his orders to be. carried out promptly, and the assurance that the office was in trustworthy hands. Beyond these basic considerations, however, other factors could come into play. Was the office to be used as a way of rewarding men for past services ? Was the king to appoint men who would collect as much money as possible for him? How far did local interests have to be accommodated? Were sheriffs to be left in situ for years, or replaced fairly quickly, possibly in response to changing political or administrative circumstances? These are some of the principal questions raised by the evidence which are tackled in this chapter.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
