In early Angevin England, sheriffs played an important part in local government, representing the Crown, keeping the peace, running the operations of the county and royal hundred courts and managing summons and similar legal orders.
[1] They usually managed the royal manors in their shire, collecting the rents and spending money locally on the Crown's behalf.
[3] In 1170, King Henry II, who ruled over a network of lands across Europe, returned to England after several years of absence.
[5] The inquiry was widespread, extending not just to the King's sheriffs but to other royal officers, and even to the financial practices of the leaders of the clergy, the barons and burgesses in the towns.
[10] The sweeping changes undermined the links between the local barons and the office of sheriffs, leaving the majority of holders as ministeriales.