Replacing village elders with "reeves" and stewards (sherrif's)

[BobSels]

Hi, I have been independently researching lately about medieval life in England from 11th century an up and came upon some interesting facts and knowledge. Is it possible for the developers to replace village elders in lets say the Rhodok and Swadian factions with "reeves" (now known as sheriff as derived from the words "shire" and "reeve"). Here is the information and link I got on this particular group of people from about.com.

The chief administrative and judicial officer of a shire was known as a sheriff. The office evolved from that of the Anglo-Saxon reeve, (the magistrate of a town or district); the sheriff was the reeve for the whole shire, or "shire reeve."

It was the job of a sheriff to deal with legal matters on a local level. He also collected taxes and turned them over to the Exchequer (after taking his share). Initially, sheriffs performed the duties that would later be the province of itinerant judges, coroners, and justices of the peace.

In some cases, as the royally-appointed overseer of the county, it fell to the sheriff to make sure that the king's hunting preserves were protected; and when the monarch was in his shire, it was the sheriff's job to see to it that his king had all the necessary provisions (food, comfortable lodging, etc).

Source

 

[FrisianDude]

Oh, that's easy-peasy to do, even without being a developer, but wouldn't a reeve have a lot larger jurisdiction than one of those measly little villages?

 

[BobSels]

Oh, that's easy-peasy to do, even without being a developer, but wouldn't a reeve have a lot larger jurisdiction than one of those measly little villages?

No, I believe you've confused a reeve with the steward of which actually controls the reeves. Plus, I see the villages as being their own counties in itself since hamlets I believe were more frequent than villages.

 

[FrisianDude]

Your info says reeves were chiefs over towns or districts, so having one for each village would be too much, was what I meant.

 

[BobSels]

Your info says reeves were chiefs over towns or districts, so having one for each village would be too much, was what I meant.

Here's another source I looked into weeks ago. The text that describes the occupation a reeve had states the following.

REEVE - Medieval Occupations & Jobs
The Reeve supervised all work on a lord's property. The Reeve ensured that everyone began and stopped work on time

This means a reeve can be stationed at any property a lord owned. Villages in the medieval ages where quite important for a means in which outlying hamlets can sell their goods which will give villages extra resources to sell at a towns market.