Sheriffs dealt directly with the king instead of through an earl.
From 1150 to 1400, resistance was an ordinary remedy for political
disagreements. If a popular leader raised his standard in a
popular cause, an irregular army could be assembled in a day.
(There was no regular army, since England was protected by the sea
from invasion.) So misgovernment by a king would be quickly
restrained. Society recovered quickly from conflict and civil war
because the national wealth consisted chiefly in flocks and herds
and in the simple buildings inhabited by the people. In a week
after armed resistance, the agricultural worker was driving his
team. There was little furniture, stock of shops, manufactured
goods, or machinery that could be destroyed.
To support a war with France in 1353, the staple was reinstated by
statute of 1353 after an experiment without it in which profits of
a staple went to staples outside the nation. Wool exports were
inspected for quality and taxed through his officials only at the
designated staple ports. These officials included collectors,
controllers, searchers [inspectors], surveyors, clerks, weighers,
and crane-keepers. Wool, woolfells, leather, and lead sold for
export had to go through the staple town. The penalty was
forfeiture of lands, tenements, goods, and chattel. (The staple
statute remained basically unchanged for the next 200 years.
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