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The hundreds of Saxon England were organised into shires, the precursors of our modern counties, well over 1,000 years ago. The need to live in compact villages was brought about by the necessities of defence against the raids of the Danes, as was the need to organise into shires from which military levies could be raised for defence from larger forces. Just as each hundred was administered by the reeve, so was the county. To distinguish the two officers, the latter became known as the 'shire-reeve', from whence is derived our modern word 'sheriff'.
Originally, the Saxon communities would have governed themselves, electing their own tithingmen and reeves. In time however, government became more centralised in the person of a monarch although the early kings of England distributed huge tracts of the country among powerful nobles who were fairly autonomous.
As monarchs became stronger, they appointed the sheriffs as representatives of the monarch's authority to check the power of the barons. This was particularly so after the Norman conquest of 1066; William the Conqueror and his successors honed feudalism as nowhere else in Eruope - all property was vested in and power derived from the monarch and there was no room for local government. More than ever before, the shire-reeve became the agent of the king.
The medieval sheriff became responsible for ensuring that the king's taxes were collected and delivered together with the profits of justice due to the crown. He was also responsible for promulgating new laws. The Ordnance of Labourers of 1349, for example, is addressed individually to the sheriffs of the shires "The king to the sheriff of Kent, greeting. . . " (copies were also distributed to the clergy - "Like letters of request are directed to the serveral bishops of England, and to the keeper of the spiritualities of the archbishopric of Canterbury, during the vacancy of the see, under the same date.").
Increasing power of the monarchs and the despotic rule of King John almost threw the country into civil war between king and barons but this was averted when the barons, with the aid of the clergy, forced King John to sign the Magna Carta in 1215 ensuring the rights of the nobles. Sheriffs are mentioned no less than nine times in the Great Charter.
To be appointed sheriff was considered no small honour but many did all they could to avoid being appointed as the office was costly to the incumbent who was required by law to serve once appointed; not only was the office unpaid but any shortfall by the non-payment of taxes or fines in the county had to be made up personally by the sheriff who also had to recieve itinerant judges and other visiting dignitaries and provide them with lavish entertainment at his own expense.
As early as the reign of King Alfred the Great of Wessex (c.871-c.901), the sheriff was responsible for the maintainance of law and order within his county and it was the duty of every citizen to assist the sheriff in keeping the peace. It was the sheriff's responsibility to give the alarm, the 'hue and cry', if a criminal was at large in the county and every member of the community who heard the hue and cry was then legally responsible for helping to bring the criminal to justice.
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