Description
Book SynopsisSheriffs were among the most important local office-holders in early modern England. They were generalist officers of the king responsible for executing legal process, holding local courts, empanelling juries, making arrests, executing criminals, collecting royal revenue, holding parliamentary elections, and many other vital duties. Although sheriffs have a cameo role in virtually every book about early modern England, the precise nature of their work has remained something of a mystery.The Tudor Sheriff offers the first comprehensive analysis of the shrieval system between 1485 and 1603. It demonstrates that this system was not abandoned to decay in the Tudor period, but was effectively reformed to ensure its continued relevance. Jonathan McGovern shows that sheriffs were not in competition with other branches of local government, such as the Lords Lieutenant and justices of the peace, but rather cooperated effectively with them. Since the office of sheriff was closely related to ever
Trade ReviewDrawing upon impressively wide-ranging archival work in administrative and legal records... the book ably succeeds in its central ambition of demonstrating in comprehensive detail the workings of the shrieval system under the Tudors. * K. J. Kesselring, English Historical Review *
This could, like so much institutional history, have been a somewhat dry book, but McGovern has skilfully leavened his discussion with a plethora of colourful examples... McGovern has produced a valuable addition to the literature, based on extensive archival work in both national and local repositories, and one that is not only informative, but readable and even enjoyable. This is administrative history at its best, and a book that should be essential reading for anyone concerned with the government or politics of the long 16th century. * Hannes Kleineke, Parliamentary History *
Anyone who has worked on the administrative history of Tudor England has glimpsed the sheriff, a key figure in regional governance. Dr McGovern's book offers the most comprehensive effort so far to survey and summarise the work of these officers... [A]n exhaustively detailed study... attests to the capacity for painstaking administrative reconstruction to be valuable in its own right * Laura Flannigan, Northern History *
[P]erhaps what is most striking about this book is the confidence and flair with which it is written...there is much to commend, from the depth and breadth of archival research on display, to the comprehensive and ambitious nature of the study...At a fair price, there is no reason why this book should not occupy a valuable space in university libraries across the kingdom. Perhaps this publication will inspire others and pave the way for a series of new studies into the other various key offices of local administration in early modern England. * Simon Lambe, Institute of Historical Research, History: Reviews of New Books *
In McGovern's trenchant commentary, industrious research, and explanatory clarity, The Tudor Sheriff is an Eltonian book. * Paul Cavill, Journal of British Studies *
Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Fundamentals 3: Appointment and First Days in Office 4: The Execution and Return of Writs 5: Police Powers, Prison Keeping, and Other Duties 6: The County Court 7: The Sheriff's Tourn 8: The London Sheriffs' Court and the York Court of Pleas 9: Revenue Collection and Accounting at the Exchequer Conclusion Appendix 1: List of known sheriffs' tourns in the Tudor period, excluding municipal tourns Appendix 2: Undersheriffs in England, Ireland and Wales Appendix 3: Undersheriffs and Attorneys of the London Sheriffs' Court Appendix 4: Bonds and indentures Appendix 5: The status of sheriffs
