Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/86

78 Thus William's indebtedness amounts to £1,023. If Warin had accounted for the farms of Dorset and Wiltshire separately instead of jointly, it would have been possible to state definitely the amount of the annual farm of Wiltshire. Yet this amount can be estimated with a fair degree of accuracy, for on the Pipe Rolls of Henry II the farms of the two counties are given separately. From the early rolls of this reign it appears that the annual farm for Dorset was about £120; that for Wiltshire, a trifle more than £500. The combination of the two sums produces a total of £620, an amount slightly less than the total, £650, of the combined farms as accounted for by Warin in the year 1129–30. If any change in the size and relative amounts of the two farms has taken place between the end of the reign of Henry I and the early years of Henry II, such change would seem to have been comparatively slight. It would, therefore, seem reasonable to estimate the amount of the farm of Wiltshire as having been about £500 during the years when William was sheriff. If this is the case, it then becomes at once apparent that William's indebtedness of more than £1,000, twice the amount of the annual farm, must represent at least two years' tenure of office. But this is not all, for it is inconceivable that during the two years since William's departure from office, and during the added years when the farms respectively came due, no payments at all had been made; even in this year William makes a payment of £47. It is, therefore, almost necessary to assume that William's indebtedness must have exceeded that of the total farm for two years; indeed it would not be at all improbable that it exceeded the total farm for three years. In other words, it is difficult to conceive that William held office for less than three years, and there is some probability that he held it for four. Since Warin's term of service began at least as early as Michaelmas 1128, William's tenure of office must have come before that date. In all probability William was in office during the years 1125–8; it is possible, also, that he held the office for the year 1124–5.

Yorkshire

In the accounts of Yorkshire, Bertram de Bulemer renders account both for the 'old farm' and the 'new farm'. Immediately following these accounts occurs this entry:

"Et Idem Vicecomes reddit compotum de. xxv. m. argenti de debito patris sui pro forisfacturis comitatus. Et de .cc. m. argenti pro terra et ministerio patris sui. In thesauro .lij. l. .vj. s. et .viij. d. Et debet .c. et .xlv. m. argenti."