View source for Ealdorman

{{short description|Term in Anglo-Saxon England for a man of high status}}
{{other uses|Alderman (disambiguation)}}
[[File:Anglo-Saxon Chronicle - ealdormen (British Library Cotton MS Tiberius A VI, folio 4r).jpg|thumb|A mention of ealdormen in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'']]
{{Anglo-Saxon status}}

'''Ealdorman''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɔː|l|d|ər|m|ə|n}} {{respell|AWL|dər|mən}} {{small|or}} {{IPAc-en|(|eɪ|)|ˈ|æ|l|d|ər|m|ə|n}} {{respell|(ay|)AL|dər|mən}}, {{IPA|ang|ˈæɑɫdorˌmɑn|lang|link=yes}})<ref>[https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/ealdorman "ealdorman"]. ''[[Collins English Dictionary]]''.</ref> was an office in the [[Government in Anglo-Saxon England|government of Anglo-Saxon England]]. During the 11th century, it evolved into the title of [[earl]].

==Early use==
The [[Old English]] word ''ealdorman'' was applied to high-ranking men. It was equated with several [[Latin]] titles, including {{Lang|la|[[princeps]]}}, {{Lang|la|[[dux]]}}, {{Lang|la|[[comes]]}}, and {{Lang|la|[[praefectus]]}}. The title could be applied to kings of weaker territories who had submitted to a greater power. For example, a [[Anglo-Saxon charters|charter]] of King [[Offa of Mercia]] described [[Ealdred of Hwicce]] as "''[[Ecgberht, King of Wessex#Subregulus|subregulus]]''{{nbsp}}... ''et dux'' ({{gloss|underking and ealdorman}})."{{Sfn|Stafford|2014|p=156}}

In [[Wessex]], the king appointed ealdormen to lead individual [[shire]]s.{{Sfn|Stafford|2014|p=156}} Under [[Alfred the Great]] ({{reign|871|899}}), there were nine or ten ealdormen. Each West Saxon shire had one, and Kent had two (one for East Kent and one for West Kent).{{Sfn|Loyn|1984|p=75}}

==10th century==
From the late ninth to the 10th century, the kings of Wessex unified the [[Heptarchy]] into the Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons, then the [[Kingdom of the English]], then into the [[Kingdom of England]]. Ealdormen became the local representatives of the monarch.{{Sfn|Stafford|2014|p=156}} The ealdorman commanded the shire's [[fyrd]] (army), co-presided with the [[bishop]] over the [[shire court]], and enforced royal orders. He had a right to the "third penny": one-third of the income from the shire court and one-third of the revenue from tolls and dues levied in the boroughs. The king could remove ealdormen.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=6}}{{Sfn|Lyon|1980|pp=62–63}}

Starting with [[Edward the Elder]] ({{reign|899|924}}), it became customary for one ealdorman to administer three or four shires together as an ealdormanry.{{Sfn|Lyon|1980|p=63}} One ealdormanry covered Wessex east of [[Selwood Forest|Selwood]] and another covered Wessex west of Selwood.{{Sfn|Stafford|2014|p=156}} By 965, Mercia had four or five ealdormen and Northumbria only one.{{Sfn|Loyn|1984|p=77}} The boundaries of the ealdormanries are unknown, and they may not have covered the entire kingdom. It is possible that the king kept some areas under his personal jurisdiction.{{Sfn|Powell|Wallis|1968|p=6}}

In the 11th century, the term ''eorl'', today's [[earl]], replaced that of ealdorman, but this reflected a change in terminology under Danish influence rather than a change in function.{{Sfn|Stafford|2014|p=157}}

==Notable ealdormen==
* [[Æthelmund|Æthelmund, Ealdorman of the Hwicce]]
* [[Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia|Ælfhere, ealdorman of Mercia]] (d. 983)
* [[Ælfhelm, Ealdorman of York|Ælfhelm, ealdorman of southern Northumbria]] (d. ''c''. 1006)
* [[Ælfric of Hampshire|Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire]]
* [[Æthelweard the Chronicler]]
* [[Byrhtnoth|Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex]] (d. 991)
* [[Eadric Streona|Eadric Streona, ealdorman of the Mercians]] (d. 1017)
* [[Odda, Ealdorman of Devon]] (fl. 878)
* [[Wulfhere, Ealdorman of Wiltshire]] (fl. ''c''. 855–877)
* [[Wulfstan, ealdorman of Wiltshire]] (d. 802)

==See also==
* [[Alderman]]
* [[Earls, ealdormen and high-reeves of Bamburgh]]
* [[Starosta]], the Slavic equivalent of ealdorman

==Citations==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book | last = Loyn | first = H. R. | author-link = H. R. Loyn | title = The Governance of Anglo-Saxon England, 500–1087 | publisher = Stanford University Press | series = Governance of England | volume = 1 | year = 1984 | url = https://archive.org/details/governanceofangl0000loyn |url-access=registration | isbn = 9780804712170}}
* {{cite book | last = Lyon | first = Bryce | author-link = Bryce Lyon | title = A Constitutional and Legal History of Medieval England | publisher = W. W. Norton & Company | edition = 2nd | year = 1980 | isbn = 0-393-95132-4}} 1st edition available to read online [https://archive.org/details/constitutionalle0000bryc here].
* {{cite book | last1 = Powell | first1 = J. Enoch | author-link1 = Enoch Powell | last2 = Wallis | first2 = Keith | title = The House of Lords in the Middle Ages: A History of the English House of Lords to 1540 | publisher = Weidenfeld & Nicolson | year = 1968 | location = London | url = https://archive.org/details/houseoflordsinmi0000powe | url-access = registration | isbn = 0297761056}}
* {{cite encyclopedia | last = Stafford | first = Pauline | author-link = Pauline Stafford | title = Ealdorman | encyclopedia = Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England | editor-last1 = Lapidge | editor-first1 = Michael | editor-last2 = Blair | editor-first2 = John | editor-last3 = Keynes | editor-first3 = Simon | editor-last4 = Scragg | editor-first4 = Donald | edition = 2nd | year = 2014 | pages = 156–157 | publisher = Wiley Blackwell | doi = 10.1002/9781118316061 | isbn = 9780470656327 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tZkzAQAAQBAJ| hdl = 11693/51269 | hdl-access = free }}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*Banton, N., "Ealdormen and Earls in England from the Reign of King Alfred to the Reign of King Æthelred II", D.Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, 1981
*[[Loyn, Henry R.]] "The term ''ealdorman'' in the translations prepared at the time of King Alfred." ''[[English Historical Review]]'' 68 (1953): 513–25.
*[[Frank Stenton|Stenton, Sir Frank M.]] ''Anglo-Saxon England''; 3rd ed. London: [[Oxford University Press]], 1971.
*[[Ann Williams (historian)|Williams, Ann]]. ''Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England, c. 500–1066''. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999 {{ISBN|0-333-56797-8}} 
{{refend}}

[[Category:Anglo-Saxon ealdormen| ]]
[[Category:Anglo-Saxon society]]