![]() He covered all the right jobs to trouble Robin. So who was the real Sheriff? Eustace of Lowdham, Sheriff of Yorkshire is the most likely candidate to form the basis of the Sheriff of Nottingham. He was the Sheriff of Yorkshire 1225-6, Forest Justice north of the Trent 1226, and Sheriff of Nottinghamshire 1232-3. They were the King’s representative in each county and were charged with keeping the peace and upholding the law. Sheriff's were powerful men in medieval society. Yet he's also a comic foil, often being humiliated as seen in Robin Hood and the Potter. He's a seriously dangerous opponent in Robin Hood and the Monk who commands a powerful body of men to capture Robin at St Mary’s Church in Nottingham. The Sheriff veers between serious and comedy roles. The first female sheriff was appointed in 1931.The hatred between Robin Hood and the Sheriff forms a fundamental part of the tales. There are interviews with Joan Casson, John Hartshorne and Leon Unczur all recent sheriffs, describing the role of the present-day Sheriff of Nottingham. The office is considered largely ceremonial, expected to attend local events when the monarch is present and promoting the city in tourism and business. The Sheriff of Nottingham for 2022/23 is Councillor Nicola Heaton. The reversion to a single sheriff was explained by the mayor and aldermen of Lincoln as "Local Government changes" (possibly the Municipal Corporations Act 1835). The sheriffs at that time may have been responsible for "the delivery of prisoners to the courts, the collection of rents and taxes and generally keeping the 'King's Peace'".įrom 1450 until 1835, the office was shared between two people, one of whom may have been chosen by the Mayor, the other by the town council. In 1449, the city of Nottingham itself appointed its own sheriff for the first time (although the post was held simultaneously between two men, William Sadler and Thomas Lyng). Marc was so unpopular that he was specifically mentioned in Magna Carta, which demanded his removal. ![]() The Sheriff during the reign of King John was Philip Marc. Nottingham would have come under the "High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire" after the Norman Conquest. Īfter the Norman Conquest, specific counties appointed sheriffs to enforce the law (such as Yorkshire for example), although sometimes the duties of these sheriffs would cross the border of their respective counties. The reeve of an entire shire was a shire-reeve, predecessor to the sheriff. Groups of 10 families or " tithings" under a hundredman (later constable) could call upon them. ![]() England in the early 11th century employed the services of shire reeves to assist in the detection and prevention of crimes. Different types of reeves attested before the Conquest include the high-reeve, town-reeve, port-reeve, shire-reeve (predecessor to the sheriff), reeve of the hundred and the reeve in charge of a manor, its post-conquest meaning. Responsibility for enforcing the law and keeping the peace in Anglo-Saxon England fell to the sheriff or shire-reeve (which is a contraction of the Old English word for county and reeve or greave). The office is sometimes confused with that of the High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire (that office had previously existed, from 1068 until 1568, as High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and the Royal Forests). However the historical position goes back to Anglo-Saxon times. For years the post has been directly appointed by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham and in modern times, with the existence of the police force, the position is entirely ceremonial and sustained to boost tourism due to the legendary connection with the fictional Sheriff of Nottingham in the tales of Robin Hood. The Sheriff of Nottingham was historically the office responsible for enforcing law and order in Nottingham and bringing criminals to justice. An illustration of the Sheriff of Nottingham from Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band: Their Famous Exploits in Sherwood Forest. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |