A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



recognized as a fiscal unit at the exchequer. It is the ' honour ' and not the 

 'county ' which from i 164 appears in the Pipe Rolls "* charged with a fixed 

 farm of jTaoo a year, representing a rough estimate of demesne income, farms 

 of wapentakes, rent of thegnlands, &c., after making allowance for expenses 

 and the sheriffs profit."^ But from the outset two-thirds of this income and 

 nearly all the casual profits (which were separately accounted for) accrued 

 from the county, and this ratio tended to increase with the disproportionate 

 amount of subinfeudation in the other parts of the honour as the century 

 advanced. ^"^ 



The farm of the honour and the casual profits were accounted for and 

 the administration of the county conducted by a separate sheriff, except for a 

 short period from 1 166, when these duties were entrusted to the sheriff of 

 Northumberland. 



From 1 164 to 1 166 Geoffrey de Valognes, who may have acted in the 

 same capacity for the earl of Warenne, was sheriff of Lancaster.^"' During 

 the next three and a half years William de Vesci, sheriff of Northumberland, 

 half brother of Richard Fitz Eustace, constable of Chester and lord of Widnes, 

 rendered the accounts of the honour.*"* On Vesci's removal from office, with 

 the other baronial sheriffs, at Easter, 1 170, Roger de Herleberga was appointed 

 sheriff of Lancaster. In the critical year 1 173 he gave way to a better known 

 servant of the crown, Ranulf de Glanville. A Scottish invasion in concert 

 with the feudal rebels in France and England was imminent ; their king had 

 not abandoned hope of recovering all that David had held in England, includ- 

 ing Lancaster,"' and the earl of Chester was one of the leaders of the revolt. 

 It was important, therefore, to have Lancaster Castle and the county which it 

 guarded in strong hands, and though Glanville was not yet famous his ability 

 had doubtless been recognized. He fully justified the confidence placed in 

 him, suppressed the rising of Hamon de Masci, baron of Dunham (Massey),"' 

 and in July, 1174, at the head probably of the forces of his county, took a 

 leading part in the defeat and capture of the Scottish king at Alnwick. The 

 worst danger over, he resigned his sheriffdom to Ralph Fitz Bernard. Neither 

 had any leisure to render accounts during the years 1 173 and 1 174, and indeed 

 when peace came Glanville, in spite of an allowance of ^45 for expenditure 

 upon the siege of Leicester and the struggle with Hamon de Masci, was 

 unable to pay any part of his farm to the treasury."' A considerable sum was 

 charged to him for a year or two, but in view of the difficulty of collecting 

 revenue in the war time and the heavy expenses incurred by him, Henry 

 allowed the whole amount to be wiped off."' 



"" The accounts of escheated honours were usually appended to those of the shires in which their capita 

 I37. But Lancaster being in none of the older counties the clerb of the exchequer taclced it on to Yorlcshire, 

 whose sheriff had collected its Danegeld in 1 162 {Lanes. Pipe R. 4), or more generally to Northumberland, with 

 which it was united for some years under a common sheriff ; see below. Exigencies of space sometimes com- 

 pelled a departure from this arrangement, as in 1 1 65-6, when its accounts were appended to those of Bucicing- 

 hamshire and in 1 1 8 1-2, when it was made a separate entry 'quia non erat ei locus in Northumberland ' ; 

 ibid. 9, 46. 



"" The absence during the years 1 1 64-8 of allowances for grants made out of the demesne seems to show 

 that the 6rm had been newly fixed in the former year. The gross revenue was probably nearly double the 

 amount of the farm ; ibid. 268. 



'" Ibid. 264 et seq. The demesne lands of the honour when Henry took it over were assessed at nearly 

 120 hides or carucates (ibid. 4-5), of which at least three-fifths lay in the county. 



"» Ibid. 6-9. - '"Ibid. 10-13. 



Cf. Hoveden, Ciron. (Rolls Sen), iii, 243. '"^ Laves. Pipe R. 26 ; Ormerod, Hist.ofChes. i, 1:3?. 

 Lanes. Pipe R.xi-T. "« Ibid. 34. 



lor 



