SWÁNGERÉFA.—The Swángeréfa, as his name denotes, was reeve of that forest-court which till a late period was known in England as the _swainmoot_. It was his business to superintend the swánas or swains, the herdsmen and foresters, to watch over the rights of pasture, and regulate the use which might be made of the forests. It is probably one of the oldest constitutional offices, and may have existed by the same name at a time when the organization in Marks was common all over England. From a trial which took place in 825, we find that he had the supervision of the pastures in the shirewood or public forest[465], and from this also it appears that he was under the immediate superintendence and control of the ealdorman. The extended organization which the swána gemót attained under Cnut, may be seen in that prince’s Constitutions de Foresta[466]. It is probable that there were Holtgeréfan and Wudugeréfan, holtreeves and woodreeves among the Saxons, having similar duties to those of the Swángeréfa, but I have not yet met with these names. They are, I believe, by no means extinct in many parts of England, any more than the Landreeve, a designation still current in Devonshire, and probably elsewhere. ----- Footnote 465: Cod. Dipl. No. 219. Footnote 466: Thorpe, i. 426. ----- WEALHGERÉFA.—The last officer whom I shall treat of particularly is the Wealhgeréfa or Welsh-reeve. This singular title occurs in an entry of the Saxon Chronicle, _anno_ 897. “The same year died Wulfríc, the king’s horse-thane, who was also Wealhgeréfa.” There can be no dispute as to the meaning of the word, but the functions of the officer designated by it are far from clear. It denotes a reeve who had the superintendence of the Welsh; but the question where this superintendence was exercised is a very important one. If in the king’s palace, Wulfríc was set over a certain number of unfree Britons, _laeti_ or even serfs, as their judge and regulator: or he may have had the superintendence of property belonging to Ælfred in Wales, which is somewhat less probable: or lastly he may have been a margrave, whose mission it was to watch the Welsh border, and defend the Saxon frontier against sudden incursions. This I think the least probable of all, inasmuch as I find no traces of margraves (mearcgeréfan) in Anglosaxon history. On the contrary the marches in this country seem to have been always committed to the care of a duke or ealdorman, not a geréfa. Wulfríc’s rank however, which was that of a mariscalcus or marshal, is not inconsistent with so great and distant a command. On the whole therefore I am disposed to believe that he was a royal reeve to whose care Ælfred’s Welsh serfs were committed, and who exercised a superintendence over them in some one or in all of the royal domains.