hello. i want to ask about earls and earldomes. as i know, since IX century england was divided into counties (shires). their heads were earldormen. since X century the new leaders of shires became sheriffs. what happened to earldormens after that, what did they rule? when did erldormans become earls? i have read your answer about the difference between earldoms and counties (shires), but did not understand. as i think, shires were ruled by sheriifs and earldoms were ruled by earls. so country was divided in earldoms and shires, or country was divided into shires and shires were divided into earldoms? p.s. if i have some mistakes, i'm sorry, i'm a foreigner. thank you in advance
Nobody's dealt with any of this yet, and someone really versed in Anglo-Saxon government would be better able to define the positions of high-reeves and earldormen. But I think the problem may be that you are confusing the later medieval position of sherriff, or shire-reeve, with the Anglo-Saxon high-reeve. In AngloSaxon England, the king sometimes had very weak power over the nobility, their lands, and their feuds. Reeves or high-reeves, whatever they did, did not seem to have been working for him. Earls could dispense justice. After the Norman conquest the king had more direct control of his subjects . There were some "palatine" counties, typically on the borders, still directly controlled by earls, but more often if the king was traveling through a region, he could sit and hear cases, deliver justice- or he would send traveling justices who would do the same- and the sheriff was the county royal official who would carry out that judgement.