Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/76

68 had been sheriff of these two counties at some date preceding Michaelmas 1125, at which time Maenfinin must already have been sheriff. Richard's probable term of service was 1124–5, though possibly he held the office for a year or term of years preceding that period.

Berkshire

William de Pontearch accounts for the farm of 1129–30. Immediately after the entry relating to William, follows one in which his predecessor, Anselm, renders account of £522 and more de veteri firma Berchescirae. Since the amount of Anselm's indebtedness exceeds the total, £521, for the farm of the year 1129–30, as appearing in the accounts of William de Pontearch, it would seem that this amount represents a remnant of at least a two years' farm. That this was the case is made even more certain by other items of Anselm's account. Thus he pays down on the farm more than £250, and in other items gives evidence of a willingness and ability to meet the demands on him. The probability, indeed, is that at Michaelmas of the year before he paid down a sum as large as, if not larger than, in the present instance, for the amount paid down when the farm was first due usually exceeded the amount paid in subsequent years. In any case, one can safely say that the sum of £522 and more represents a remnant of at least a two years' farm, and that consequently Anselm was in office for at least two years. That Anselm's term of office should be dated earlier than Michaelmas 1129 may be taken as certain, since there is not the slightest suggestion or probability that William de Pontearch had held office before that date.

Anselm's predecessor, Baldwin, is entered as owing £412 and more de veteri firma Berchescirae, £28 and more de Gersoma pro Comitatu, and £17 and more de preterito danegeldo which secum detulit. Now the farm of the county, as has already been shown, totalled a trifle more than £521, so that Baldwin's indebtedness, after being out of office for three years, is only £109 less than the total farm. In other words, on the supposition that Baldwin's original indebtedness represented about £521, or the equivalent of one year's farm, in four accountings, the first of which must have occurred not later than 1126, Baldwin reduced his debt by only £109. Since payment at such a slow rate is exceptional, one might be tempted to think that the amount of Baldwin's