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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 to the former kings of territories which had submitted to great powers such as 
Mercia
la, Merciorum regnum
, conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia
, common_name=Mercia
, status=Kingdom
, status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879) Client state of Wessex ()
, life_span=527–918
, era= Heptarchy
, event_start=
, date_start=
, ...
. In Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
in the second half of the ninth century it meant the leaders of individual shires appointed by the king. By the tenth century ealdormen had become the local representatives of the West Saxon king of England. Ealdormen would lead in battle, preside over courts and levy taxation. Ealdormanries were the most prestigious royal appointments, the possession of noble families and semi-independent rulers. Their territories became large, often covering former kingdoms such as Mercia or East Anglia. Southern ealdormen often attended court, reflecting increasing centralisation of the kingdom, but the loyalty of northern ealdormen was more uncertain. In the eleventh century the term ''eorl'', today's earl
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form '' jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particula ...
, replaced that of ealdorman, but this reflected a change in terminology under Danish influence rather than a change in function.
Aldermen
Although earls may be regarded as the successors of ealdormen, the word ''ealdorman'' itself did not disappear and survives in modern times asalderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...
in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. This term, however, developed distinctly different meanings which have little to do with ealdormen, who ruled shires or larger areas, while aldermen are members of a municipal assembly or council, such as the City Council of Chicago
The Chicago City Council is the legislative branch of the government of the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 50 alderpersons elected from 50 wards to serve four-year terms. The council is gaveled into session regularly, usually mont ...
and the City of Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
.
Similar titles also exist in some Germanic countries, such as the Swedish ''Ålderman'', the Danish ''Oldermand'' and West Frisian ''Olderman'', the Dutch ''Ouderman'', the (non-Germanic) Finnish ''Oltermanni'' (a borrowing from the neighboring Germanic Swedes) and the German ''Ältester'', which all mean "elder man" or "wise man".
See also
* Starosta, the Slavic equivalent of ealdorman *Earls, ealdormen and high-reeves of Bamburgh
The Rulers of Bamburgh were significant regional potentates in what is now northern England and Lothian and Borders, south-eastern Scotland during the Viking Age. Sometimes referred to in modern sources as the Earldom of Bamburgh, their polity ex ...
* Æthelmund, Ealdorman of the Hwicce
* Ælfhere, ealdorman of Mercia
Ælfhere (died in 983) was Ealdorman of Mercia. His family, along with those of Æthelstan Half-King and Æthelstan Rota, rose to greatness in the middle third of the 10th century. In the reign of Edward the Martyr, Ælfhere was a leader of the ant ...
(d. 983)
* Ælfhelm, ealdorman of southern Northumbria (d. ''c''. 1006)
* Ælfric, ealdorman of Hampshire
* Æthelweard the Chronicler
* Byrhtnoth, ealdorman of Essex (d. 991)
* Eadric Streona, ealdorman of the Mercians (d. 1017)
* Odda, Ealdorman of Devon
Odda, also known as Oddune,Harding p. 6 was a ninth-century ealdorman of Devon. He is known for his victory at the Battle of Cynwit in 878, where his West Saxon forces defeated a Viking army led by Ubba, brother of the Viking chiefs Ivar the Bon ...
(fl. 878)
* Wulfhere, Ealdorman of Wiltshire
Wulfhere (fl. AD 855-?877) was Ealdorman for Wiltshire, when the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, of England, were experiencing turbulent times. An invading Danish army had landed in East Anglia, in 865 and had conquered all of the English kingdoms apart f ...
(fl. ''c''. 855–877)
* Wulfstan, ealdorman of Wiltshire
Weohstan (died 802) was the ealdorman of Wiltshire, part of the kingdom of Wessex, at the beginning of the ninth century. In 802 King Beorhtric died, and on the same day ealdorman Æthelmund of the Hwicce invaded Wiltshire. He was met by a Wilt ...
(d. 802)
References
Sources
*Further reading
*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
''The English Historical Review'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed academic journal that was established in 1886 and published by Oxford University Press (formerly Longman). It publishes articles on all aspects of history – British, European, and ...
'' 68 (1953): 513–25.
* Stenton, Sir Frank M. ''Anglo-Saxon England''; 3rd ed. London: Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
, 1971.
* Williams, Ann. ''Kingship and Government in Pre-Conquest England, c. 500–1066''. Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1999 {{ISBN, 0-333-56797-8
Anglo-Saxon society