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162
THE SHERIFFS AND THE
April

finds the names of obscure sheriffs;[1] but well after 1100 the heads of a dozen shires were still either sheriffs of the Domesday period or their sons. William of Cahagnes was in office in the earliest years of the reign,[2] Roger Bigod apparently until his death in 1107,[3] Edward of Salisbury possibly until about the same date,[4] Urse d'Abetot some years longer,[5] and Aiulf the king's chamberlain until fairly late in the reign.[6] Devon, formerly in the hands of William, son of Baldwin of Exeter, about 1107 was passing to his brother Richard fitz Baldwin.[7] Haimo the dapifer and Robert,[8] sons of Haimo the dapifer of the Conqueror, for fifteen years or more served as sheriffs of Kent. In the place of Robert of Stafford was his son Nicholas,[9] and in that of Hugh de Port in Hampshire his son Henry.[10] Ivo de Grantmesnil probably held his father's position in Leicestershire[11] until in 1102 he suffered forfeiture for his rebellion. Finally, another hereditary shrievalty had towards the end of the late reign

  1. ↑ These include 'P.', sheriff of York before 1104 (Monasticon, vi, part iii, 1178); Roger, sheriff of Huntingdon (Ramsey Chartul., Rolls Series, i. 238), who may well be the same as Roger, sheriff of Surrey (Farrer, Itinerary of Henry I (1920), no. 86); Helgot, sheriff of Nottingham before 1108 (Blythe Chart., Harl. MS. 3759, fo. 120); Alfred of Essex (Cartul. Monast. S. Iohannis de Colecestre, p. 27; Chron. Monast. de Abingdon, ii. 57–60); William of Oxford (ibid. ii. 84, 93), who was a tenant-in-chief (Farrer, no. 302); Foucher, sheriff of Shropshire (ibid. nos. 38, 51); Roger Picot of Northumberland (Monasticon, vi. 144), who stands in place of Robert Picot, sheriff in 1095 (Davis, Regesta, no. 51). Geoffrey, sheriff of Buckingham (Monasticon, i. 165), may belong to this period, but possibly only to the preceding reign. Richard son of Gotse, sheriff of Nottingham (Monasticon, vi, part iii, 1179), and apparently of Derby also (Farrer, no. 38), is a better-known figure.
  2. ↑ Farrer, Itinerary, nos. 44, 123. The succeeding sheriff of Northamptonshire, Robert de Paville, is mentioned between 1104 and 1106 (ibid. no. 147).
  3. ↑ A writ of the period 1102–6 (Ramsey Chartul., Rolls Series, i. 249) shows that he was sheriff of Suffolk; the form of address in various writs (Farrer, Itinerary, nos. 78, 79) indicates that in 1105 he also held Norfolk.
  4. ↑ See ante, xxvi. 490. Active at the curia as early as 1170 (Selby Coucher Book, i. 11–12; Monasticon, iii. 499), and still earlier if we accept Hist. Monast. Selebiensis, p. 9. Cf. p. 164, n. 6, below.
  5. ↑ Roger, his son and successor, was sheriff of Worcestershire at some time 1110–September 1113 (Farrer, no. 290 A).
  6. ↑ Domesday sheriff of Dorset, holding Somerset also in the preceding reign (ante, xxxiii. 151, n. 48); sheriff of both counties in this reign before the death of Urse d'Abetot (Monasticon, i. 44, no. 67). Cf. p. 167, n. 2, below.
  7. ↑ Certainly sheriff in 1107 (Montacute Chartul., Somerset Record Soc., p. 121), hardly in 1100 (Farrer, Itinerary, no. 32).
  8. ↑ Haimo appears as sheriff quite early in the reign (Monasticon, i. 164, no. 14; Farrer, no. 21), also within the period July 1107–July 1108 and in the period 1114–16 (Farrer, nos. 202, 359); Robert at some time within the period 1103–9 (Round, Calendar of Docs. in France, no. 1377).
  9. ↑ Sheriff in the preceding reign (Davis, no. 456), mentioned as in office in a document possibly as late as 1117 (Monasticon, vi, part ii, 1043, no. 7).
  10. ↑ Davis, nos. 377, 379; Round, Calendar, no. 154; Farrer, no. 37. Cf. p. 165, below.
  11. ↑ Bateson, Leicester Records, p. xiii; Ordericus Vitalis, ed. Prevost, iv. 169: 'municeps erat et vicecomes et firmarius regis.'
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