BBB Etymology - Sheriff

In Anglo-Saxon England, a reeve was an officer who was appointed by the king to be responsible for the public business of the locality. A high-ranking official, the shire-reeve was the representative of the royal authority in a shire or county. The office of sheriff was continued after the Norman conquest, then known as a viscount. The office eventually returned to the title "Sheriff", and "Viscount" became an inherited title of nobility.

The most famous holder of this office was the folkloric Sheriff of Nottingham, enemy of Robin Hood.