Gospatric is the first known

sheriff A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...

Roxburgh Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at leas ...

, a

burgh A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...

Teviotdale Roxburghshire or the County of Roxburgh ( gd, Siorrachd Rosbroig) is a historic county and registration county in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. It borders Dumfriesshire to the west, Selkirkshire and Midlothian to the north-west, and Berw ...

. His father is thought to have been Uhtred son of Ulfkill. A ''Cospatricio vicecomite'' ("Gospatric the Sheriff") is mentioned in the foundation charter of

Selkirk Abbey Kelso Abbey is a ruined Scottish abbeys, Scottish abbey in Kelso, Scottish Borders, Kelso, Scotland. It was founded in the 12th century by a community of Tironensian monks first brought to Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland in the reign of Alexander ...

. The charter was issued by Earl David (later King David I) and probably dates to between either 1120 and 1121, or 1123 and 1124, though it could be as early as 1114. A ''Gospatricus Vicecomes'' ("Gospatric the Sheriff") witnessed a grant by David, now king of Scotland, to

Durham Cathedral Priory Durham Priory was a Benedictine priory associated with Durham Cathedral, in Durham in the north-east of England. Its head was the Prior of Durham. It was founded in 1083 as a Roman Catholic monastery, but after Dissolution of the Monasteries in ...

, sometime between April 1126 and March 1127. He witnessed a grant of land in Roxburgh to the church of St John of the castle of Roxburgh sometime between 1124 and 1133. Although Sir Archibald Campbell Lawrie was uncertain what sheriffdom Gospatric held,

G. W. S. Barrow Geoffrey Wallis Steuart Barrow (28 November 1924 – 14 December 2013) was a Scottish historian and academic. The son of Charles Embleton Barrow and Marjorie née Stuart, Geoffrey Barrow was born on 28 November 1924, at Headingley near Leeds. ...

and Norman Reid believed it to be Roxburghshire because of this charter. Gospatric came to know

Aelred of Rievaulx Aelred of Rievaulx ( la, Aelredus Riaevallensis); also Ailred, Ælred, and Æthelred; (1110 – 12 January 1167) was an English Cistercian monk, abbot of Rievaulx from 1147 until his death, and known as a writer. He is regarded by Anglicans a ...

while he (Aelred) was serving as steward in the household of King David I in Roxburgh. During the reign of David I, the barony of Crailing belonged to Gospatric, who conferred its churches to the abbot of Jedburgh. The ancient cross of the barony still stands on the A698 across from Lothian Hall in Crailing.

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* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gospatric 12th-century deaths Anglo-Saxon people People associated with the Scottish Borders 11th-century Scottish people Year of birth unknown 12th-century Scottish people Scottish sheriffs

See also

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