Godric the Sheriff

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Godric (died c.1066 ) was the sheriff of Buckinghamshire and Berkshire in the 11th century. As a sheriff, he had the powers of arrest, he could raise armies, collect taxes and levies, and he presided over courts, dealt with traitors and generally supervised on the King’s behalf everything that went on in the Kingdom. It was recorded that Godric was "a colourful old scoundrel".

Godric had, at least one daughter, who was taught gold embriodery by a maid called Aelfgyth in Oakley, Buckinghamshire before the Norman Conquest. Henry de Ferrers had acquired lands at Stanford in the Vale, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire) belonging to Godric the Sheriff, probably between 1055–67. Finally, there is a mention of "Godric the Sheriff, of Fyfield (Berkshire, now Oxfordshire)" as being a member of King Harold Godwinson's forces at the Battle of Hastings in 1066.