 FACT: The Sheriff keeps raising the taxes on the peasants to bribe  the barons and challenge the kingship. In the first place, under the  feudal system, the Sheriff did not have the power to tax. That only  belonged to the king. Even more troubling is that the Sheriff of  Nothingham could not lay claim to the throne. Sure, he had land  rights because he stole land from some of the Lords, but he has no  royal lineage.