High-reeve ( ang, hēahgerēfa) 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; many other places used the title; e.g. there was an Ordulf "High-Reeve of Dumnonia".
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 praepositus''.
[Williams, ''Æthelred the Unready'', p. 64] Alfred Smyth thought ''heah-gerefa'' was influenced by the Scottish word ''
mormaer'', the meaning of which, supposedly ''great steward'', is possibly similar.
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
Ealdorman (, ) was a term in Anglo-Saxon England which originally applied to a man of high status, including some of royal birth, whose authority was independent of the king. It evolved in meaning and in the eighth century was sometimes applied ...
.
[Seebohm, ''Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law'', p. 363]
North People's Law (Halsall)
/ref> 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.[
]
Hogrefe
Hogrefe (Low Saxon
Low Saxon, also known as West Low German ( nds, Nedersassisch, Nedersaksies; nl, Nedersaksisch) are a group of Low German dialects spoken in parts of the Netherlands, northwestern Germany and southern Denmark (in North Schleswig by parts of th ...
''hoghe greve'', younger forms Hogrebe, Hogrefe, Hogreve, and Hogrewe, also as modern surnames) was a title and function taken by judges presiding over a so-called '' Gogericht'', which was part of the local jurisdiction mainly in the formerly Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
areas in Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Northern Germany
Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...
. In 1164, a preliminary form of Hogrefe appears first in a document of Medebach
Medebach () is a town in the Hochsauerland district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Geography
Medebach is situated approximately east of Winterberg, south-west of Korbach and north of Marburg.
Neighbouring municipalities
* Korbach
* L ...
. The title remained in use until the 17th century mainly in parts of Electoral Hanover, today's State of Lower Saxony.
See also
*Reeve
Reeve may refer to:
Titles
*Reeve (Canada), an elected chief executive of some counties, townships, and equivalents
*Reeve (England), an official elected annually by the serfs to supervise lands for a lord
*High-reeve, a title taken by some Englis ...
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:High-Reeve
Anglo-Saxon law
Anglo-Saxon society
Medieval occupations
Feudalism in England