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Y303: English Government and the Church 1066–1216

The organisation and administration of local government: sheriffs, local courts and the growth of the Common Law

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on shires and hundreds, sheriffs and the county farm, frankpledge and the murdrum fine, the eyre, the Common Law, writs and the possessory assizes, Clarendon and Northampton, Glanvill, ordeal and the forest.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Key term

Describe the sheriff's role.

Evaluation

Why did the county farm encourage sheriffs to abuse their office, and what did Henry II do about it?

Process

Name the three main possessory assizes and say what each decided.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name the basic units of English local government after the Conquest.

    Model answer

    The shire, subdivided into hundreds and, in the former Danelaw, into wapentakes.

  2. 2

    Describe the sheriff's role.

    Model answer

    The sheriff was the king's chief agent in the shire: he collected royal revenue and answered for the county farm, presided over the shire court, executed royal writs and raised the county levy.

  3. 3

    Define the county farm.

    Model answer

    It was the fixed annual sum a sheriff undertook to pay the Exchequer from the revenues of his shire, keeping any surplus he could raise above it.

  4. 4

    How did Domesday Book serve the link between centre and locality?

    Model answer

    It gave the Crown a shire-by-shire and manor-by-manor record of who held what and what it was worth, so royal claims to land, service and revenue could be checked against a written survey.

  5. 5

    Explain the system of frankpledge.

    Model answer

    Men over twelve, unless exempt by rank or wealth, were grouped into tithings that were collectively responsible for producing any member accused of an offence, and the sheriff checked the tithings twice a year at the view of frankpledge.

  6. 6

    Explain the murdrum fine.

    Model answer

    It was a heavy penalty imposed on the hundred where a Norman was found slain if the killer was not produced, introduced to protect the conquerors from covert English revenge.

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