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England in 1086 showing hundreds, wapentakes and wards. Before the Conquest, the largest and most important unit of local government was the shire. [61] The shire system covered all of England except the far north. A shire was governed by the sheriff and the shire court.
[106] [107] All of England was divided into administrative units called shires, with subdivisions; the royal court was the centre of government, and a justice system based on local and regional tribunals existed to secure the rights of free men. [108] Shires were run by officials known as shire reeves or sheriffs. [109]
Following the Norman Conquest of England, the hidage assessments were recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086, and there was a tendency for land producing £1 of income per year to be assessed at 1 hide. The Norman kings continued to use the unit for their tax assessments until the end of the 12th century.
The Norman French term for an earl was a comte or count; whilst in England the title count was not used for the person, the territory they controlled nevertheless became known as a 'county'. As the shires and counties were generally the same areas from the 12th century onwards, the terms shire and county came to be used interchangeably.
Norman attitudes toward the French and other neighbours were complex. There was a strong streak of hostility towards their neighbours, and particularly towards the French, expressed in their works" [11] Between 1066 and 1204, as a result of the Norman conquest of England, most of the kings of England were also dukes of Normandy.
{{Information |Description=This map shows kingdoms in the island of Great Britain at about the year 800. |Source=self-made. Vectorized version of en:Image:British kingdoms c 800.gif , based on Image:Uk-map.svg (both images are in public domain) |D
The history of local government in England is one of gradual change and evolution since the Middle Ages. England has never possessed a formal written constitution, with the result that modern administration (and the judicial system) is based on precedent, and is derived from administrative powers granted (usually by the Crown) to older systems, such as that of the shires.
The Norman counts of Rouen were: Rollo, 911–927; William Longsword, 927–942; The Norman dukes of Normandy were: Richard I, 942–996 [7] Richard II, 996–1027 [8] Richard III, 1026–1027 [9] Robert I, 1027–1035 [10] William, 1035–1066 (became King of England as William the Conqueror) The Norman monarchs of England and Normandy were: