Who was the real Sheriff of Nottingham? | King John and Magna Carta | 3 Minute History

[Music] council the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans no more merciful beheadings and call off Christmas this was Alan Rickman portraying the Sheriff of Nottingham in the 1991 film Robin Hood Prince of Thieves the Sheriff of Nottingham is one of history's best-known baddies and unlike the mythical Robin Hood Rickman's character was based on a real person who then was the real Sheriff of Nottingham whilst he as bad as the Robin Hood legend suggests and what is his story tell us about the reign of King John and the origins of Magna Carta on one level Magna Carta was a revolt against heavy taxes raised by John to fund his Foreign Wars these taxes were collected by officials called sheriffs medieval sheriff's had many duties they executed the king's orders in the counties collected money owed to the king and presided over local courts the sheriff was typically a large landowner in the county where he served and this meant that they could build up local power bases and unscrupulous sheriff's could exploit their position for personal gain sheriff's weren't paid instead they kept a portion of the money they collected for themselves incentivizing them to collect as much as possible King John Sheriff of Nottingham was the Frenchman Philip Marc an ex-soldier appointed in 1208 Marc and his family were unpopular and were frequently described as a bad lot accused of extortion demanding money with a threat of violence mark was even singled out by name in Clause 50 of Magna Carta for dismissal but he was not the only Sheriff of Nottingham to behave badly another possible inspiration for the sheriff of Robin Hood fame is John of Oxford John was sheriff in the 1330s and was also guilty of fraud and extortion sheriffs like Philip Mark and John of Oxford were part of a widespread and easily corruptible system of exploitation designed to raise money while Kings were constantly in need of money John was particularly creative and ruthless in efforts to raise the funds he needed for his forum likewise while corruption was widespread in the Middle Ages in John's room the corruption of figures like philip mark combined with heavy taxation military failure and John's paranoid and vindictive nature which led to civil war and the sealing of Magna Carta at Runnymede [Music]