Norfolk and Suffolk

Who holds it

Name

Robert FitzRoger

Title

Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk

Since

Michaelmas 1197 (until Easter 1200); he had held the shires before, Michaelmas 1190 to Easter 1194

Confidence

high

Terms from the Wikipedia article on him, based on the List of Sheriffs.

Overlord

King John (the Exchequer)

What it holds

• The farm of the two shires and the profits of their courts
• Norwich castle (the sheriff's seat)
• The farms of Yarmouth, Ipswich and Dunwich; Norwich pays its own fee farm since 1194
• Escheats in the shires (Eye, Haughley) where the king's keepers do not account separately

How it was acquired

A shire of the English kingdom since before the Conquest.

How things stand that morning

At peace; the sheriff in office. The bishop of Norwich, John of Oxford, is old (he dies on 2 June 1200).

Wealth

Wool and worsted cloth, corn, the herring of Yarmouth and Dunwich, the ports of Lynn, Yarmouth, Ipswich and Dunwich.

Military

The shire levy; the castles above. The earl of Leicester's Flemish mercenaries landed at Walton in 1173 and were destroyed at Fornham.

Sheriff in 1200

Robert FitzRoger, sheriff from Michaelmas 1197 to Easter 1200, keeping Norwich castle.

Hundreds

Norfolk: about thirty-three hundreds (among them Blofield, Clackclose, Depwade, Diss, Earsham, Erpingham, Eynsford, the Fleggs, Forehoe, Freebridge, Gallow, the Greenhoes, Grimshoe, Guiltcross, Happing, Henstead, Holt, Humbleyard, Launditch, Loddon, Mitford, Shropham, Smithdon, Taverham, Tunstead, Walsham and Wayland). Suffolk: the geldable hundreds (Blything, Bosmere and Claydon, Hartismere, Hoxne, Lothingland, Mutford, Samford, Stow, Wangford); the Liberty of St Edmund, eight and a half hundreds of west Suffolk where the abbot of Bury's officers do the sheriff's work; and the Liberty of St Etheldreda, the five and a half hundreds of Wicklaw round Woodbridge, the bishop of Ely's.

Forests

No royal forest. Lords' chases and warrens (Rising chase, the Thetford warrens).

Castles

Royal: Norwich, Orford. Escheated: Eye; Haughley burnt in 1173. Earl's and barons': Framlingham and Bungay (Bigod), Castle Rising and New Buckenham (Aubigny), Castle Acre (Warenne), Clare (Clare), Horsford (FitzRoger). Thetford and Walton were destroyed after 1173-76.

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1. Easter 1200FitzRoger leaves the shrievalty; a successor is appointed.Depends on: the king's Easter appointments Stopped by: John keeping him

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Sheriff firm; hundred list from later medieval evidence, essentially stable since Domesday.

On the map: Historic county outlines, approximate; Lothingland (Gorleston and Lowestoft) is in Suffolk.

Primary sources for England

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Jocelin of Brakelond, Jocelin of Brakelond (about 1198 to 1203). An inside account of Bury St Edmunds under Abbot Samson, written while the events were fresh. Read online
• Chronicle of Melrose, Anonymous (monks of Melrose abbey) (about 1173 to 1270, in many hands; the 1200 entries are near contemporary). The main Scottish annal for the year, kept at a Cistercian house on the Tweed. Read online
• Chronicle of Roger of Howden, Roger of Howden (about 1192 to 1201). The fullest single narrative for the year. Read online
• Chronicle of the Princes, Anonymous (Welsh translation of a lost Latin chronicle kept at Strata Florida) (Latin original to about 1282, compiled from contemporary annals; Welsh versions about 1300 and later). The native Welsh record of the year. Read online
• Chronicle; Deeds of the Kings, Gervase of Canterbury (Chronica about 1188 to 1199; Gesta Regum about 1199 to 1210). The Chronica stops in 1199, so for 1200 the witness is the briefer Gesta Regum, which notes John's peace with Philip, the coronation of Isabella at Westminster on 8 October 1200, and matters touching Canterbury: the archbishop Hubert Walter as chancellor, the cathedral priory's quarrel with him, and the Lambeth college dispute lately settled by the pope. Read online
• English Chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall, Ralph of Coggeshall (about 1200 to 1224, in stages). Short but independent entries for 1200 from a Cistercian house in Essex: John's levy on the Cistercians and the carucage, the peace with Philip, the king's new marriage and the queen's coronation, and the death of Hugh of Lincoln. Read online
• Flowers of History, Roger of Wendover (about 1220 to 1235 at St Albans). For 1200 Wendover is mostly Howden rewritten, so he is a second witness only where he adds St Albans material: a long account of Hugh of Lincoln's last months, death and funeral, and anecdotes about John's conduct toward the Cistercians and his new queen. Read online
• Images of History, Ralph de Diceto (about 1188 to 1202). A London view of the year from the dean of St Paul's, who knew the justiciar and the bishops personally. Read online

22 more in the sources library for The British Isles.