High-reeve (Old English heah-gerefa) was a title taken by some English magnates during the 10th and 11th-centuries, and is particularly associated with the rulers of Bamburgh. It was not however only used by rulers of Bamburgh. There is for instance , among a large number of other known high-reeves, an Ordulf "High-Reeve of Dumnonia".[1]
The first reference to a "high-reeve" was perhaps in the third code of Edmund I of England, where there is an official known as a summus praepostis.[2] Alfred Smyth thought heah-gerefa was influenced by the Scottish word mormaer, the meaning of which, supposedly "Great Steward", is possibly similar.[3]
In the North People's Law, a high-reeve is given a wergild of four thousand thrymsas, the same as a hold and half the wergild of an ealdorman.[4] Ann Williams believes that the High-Reeve was originally an urban official whose job was to deputise for an ealdorman, but unlike other such figures could lead provincial armies.[2]
Notes
References
- "The North People's Law", Medieval Sourcebook: The Anglo-Saxon Dooms, 560-975, Fordham University Center for Medieval Studies, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/560-975dooms.html#The%20North%20People%27s%20Law, retrieved on 2009-01-19
- Fleming, Robin (1991), Kings and Lords in Conquest England, Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: 4th Series, Volume 15, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-39309-4
- Seebohm, Frederic (1902), Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law : Being an Essay Supplemental to: (1) The English Village Community, (2) The Tribal System in Wales, London: Longmans, Green & Co.
- Smyth, Alfred P. (1984), Warlords and Holy Men: Scotland AD 80–1000, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-0100-7
- Williams, Ann (2003), Æthelred the Unready: The Ill-counselled King, London: Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 1852853824
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