IV.

The Sources

1.

Inquest of Sheriffs.

In the first place the barons shall require security and pledge from all sheriffs who have been sheriffs since the lord king last crossed into Normandy, and from all who have been bailiffs or ministers of these [sheriffs], whatever bailiwick they have held from them; also from all those who since that time have held hundreds of the barons which they [the barons] have in the county, whether they have held them at firm or in custody;—that they will be before the lord king on the day which they [the barons] shall set for them for the purpose of doing right and redressing to him and his men what they ought to redress. . . .

Afterward they [the barons] shall take oath from all the barons and knights and free men of the county that they will tell the truth concerning that which shall be asked of them on behalf of the lord king; and that they will not conceal the truth for love of any one or for hatred or for money or reward or for fear or promise or for anything else.

[There follows here a large number of items of inquiry grouped in some twelve articles. They relate mainly to the doings of the sheriffs and other local officials, to various sources of revenue, both royal and baronial, and the condition of the royal demesne.]