The Shire and the Shiremot

The earliest Anglo-Saxon shires were regions originally occupied by small but independent tribes, conquered by the West Saxons and made subject to the authority of the West Saxon king. Before the middle of the ninth century Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, and Surrey had been transformed into shires. In 851 Devon was added; in 860 Hants and Berks; and later in the century Essex, Sussex, Kent, and Middlesex. As the West Saxon kings continued their conquests north of the Thames, they made use of the shire system there also, but in different ways. In the northeast they kept the old tribal divisions, as the names Norfolk, Suffolk, and Northumbria attest; but in Mercia, where the tribal groups of the Middle Anglians had been wiped out by the Danish conquest, they seem to have applied a more artificial system. They selected a leading town, such as Cambridge, Leicester, or Nottingham, and forming the surrounding district into a shire, named it after that town. Some of the shires were not formed until the twelfth century.

At the head of a shire, or a group of shires, was the ealdorman, an official generally selected by the king and the witan from among the most prominent men of the locality. For this reason the ealdorman were apt to be natives of the territory they governed; their lands and kin would be there, and their interests would lie with the locality rather than with the king. In this respect they differed from that other prominent man of the shire the shire-reeve or sheriff. The sheriff was in origin a royal servant, sent to take charge of the royal lands in the shire, to collect the king's revenue there, and to receive the king's share of the fines imposed by the courts. The ealdorman was of great dignity, and could frequently trace his descent from the tribal kings of the region. The sheriff was at first a subordinate, an underling; but he was to rise as monarchy rose until in time his office became one of the most influential in the kingdom, sought for by men of highest rank.

The shiremot, although in most cases the direct successor of the old tribal folkmot, had by the time of Eadgar and his sons become of less consequence than the mot of the hundred. The shire usually coincided with the diocese, and bishop and ealdorman sat in the shiremot and together presided over it. There were present at this court the landowners of the shire, who, if they did not wish to go, could send their reeves or stewards in their place. There seem also to have been present some of the better sort of villagers but for what purpose or in what capacity we do not know. The shiremot met only twice a year, although at a later time provision was made for more frequent meetings if necessary. This court concerned itself chiefly with land questions and guarded the folklaw," that is, saw that the old tribal customs were maintained. It was also called upon, probably, to deal with some matters of an ecclesiastical character, and to consider cases for which, after three trials, a hearing could not be obtained in the hundred court.

The Hundred and the Hundredmot

The origin of the hundred is uncertain; it had probably existed from very early times as a division of the older tribal kingdoms. Eadmund was the first, however, to mention it in his laws by that name, though it is probably referred to in earlier laws under more general terms. Eadgar was the first, so far as we know, to use it as a convenient division in the maintenance of peace and justice. In the Danish region of the north the corresponding district was called the wapentake. The hundreds were much smaller in eastern than in western England, because the people, at first conquering slowly, had settled more compactly.

The hundred was the busiest of all the divisions of the kingdom, and the most important. It performed its work through a court, or mot, which met every four weeks. At the head of the mot was the sheriff or one of his subordinates, and possibly some ecclesiastic, like an archdeacon, sat with the sheriff, just as in the shiremot the bishop sat with the ealdorman. Probably those who were present at this court were much the same as those who were present at the shiremots. The court had a great variety of matters to deal with : some civil, concerning land; others criminal, concerning house-breaking, blood-shedding, assault, theft, and the like; and still others ecclesiastical, concerning breaches of church law. Each person was summoned seven days before the court met; if he did not appear, he was heavily fined, and if after three summons he still remained away, he lost his property. Every one had to seek justice first in the hundred court, which met frequently, and in which a decision was consequently speedily reached. If after three trials the freeman could not obtain justice in the hundred court, he might then go to the shire court; but from the latter court there was usually no higher appeal.