Page:Englishhistorica36londuoft.djvu/500

 492 'ADVENT US V1CEC0M1TUM 1258-72 October lished by an examination of the sums of money actually paid into the treasury. At the lower exchequer, the number of sheriffs in attendance is slightly higher in the second and fifth periods than in the first, and in this respect differs from the attendances for the account. But the marked decline in the third period is the same in both cases. Here again, the atten- dances show a sudden drop after Michaelmas 1263 ; during the year ending at Michaelmas 1263, twenty -three sheriffs sent or paid in the money which they had collected during the year 1262/3, only six paid in anything for the following year. The drop in this case is even more marked than in the earlier tables. If the figures for the whole of the third period are examined, it will be seen that, though the attendances improved in the follow- ing year, they again declined for the three remaining years of the period. The total number of sheriffs who came up to the lower exchequer in these five years is only sixty-six as against one hundred and fourteen in the second and best period. As before, recovery begins in the last few years of the reign, and is steadily maintained after Edward I's accession. The total attendances are noticeably higher here than they were at the exchequer of audit. The explanation is probably that attorneys were much more frequently admitted for purposes of payment than of account. The Adventus Vicecomitum frequently contains a note that the sheriff made his payment through his clerk ; these payments have been included in the tables, though the sheriff was not actually present. If they had been omitted, the number of attendances would have been very much lower. The Sheriffs' 1 Attendances at the Exchequer of Receipt i First Period. Second Period. Third Period. Fourth Period. Fifth Period. Number of Year. Sheriffs. Number of Year. Sheriffs. Number of Year Sheriffs. Number of Year. Sheriffs. 1269 17 1270 21 1271 19 1272 17 1273 22 Total 96 Number of Year. Sheriffs. 1254 22 1255 23 1256 22 1257 18 1258 18 Total 103 1259 24 1260 22 1261 22 1262 23 1263 23 Total 114 1264 6 1265 19 1266 14 1267 13 1268 14 Total 66 1274 23 1275 23 1276 21 1277 22 1278 21 Total 110 Thus the sheriffs attended, on the whole, more regularly to make their payments than to render accounts ; but this apparent difference is due to the rules governing the procedure in the two departments of the exchequer and not to a greater zeal on 1 The first year ran from Michaelmas 1253 to Michaelmas 1254, the payments being made at Easter and Michaelmas 1254, the money being collected from 1253-4, whilst the 1253 account was being heard