a dictionary of medieval terms and phrases say on estate management written c.1025, probably in Mercia. It treats of the various obligations and duties owed on an estate in late AS England. There are two versions: the earlier is in OE; the later is a Latin translation made in the 12c, which is taken to be accurate. The text is useful for the evidence it offers of agrarian conditions in England shortly before the time of Edward the Confessor; it shows also some of the features of the organisation of a *manor. – Cf. Receiver Recursant. Her. Describes any figure – but most often an eagle – shown with its back towards the viewer. – Cf. Regardant Reek-silver. Lit. ‘smoke silver’. A hearth tax. – Cf. Fumagium Reeve. Generic term for an official, esp. a royal official. The king’s estates were administered by reeves. It was a reeve who in *ASC 787 rode out to meet the *Viking ships which turned up near Portland, Dorset, and was killed by them – the first recorded English victim of the Vikings. After 1066, the term is used of a village headman, the peasants’ spokesman at the *manorial court. He cited the manor’s customs, refuting demands by the lord’s *bailiff or *steward. However, so reluctant were some men to accept the post that in some custom rolls it was noted that every holder of a *virgate could be compelled to accept. The reward was exemption from some or all labour services. The Latin term in the documents for the reeve was *praepositus, i.e. the one ‘in command’ or ‘in front’; also *praefectus. The title of ‘reeve’ is to be found in the placename Reaveley in Northumbria. [< OE gerefa, refa = a high official, steward, reeve] – Cf. Sheriff and Fabliau Regal. A reed-organ, small enough to be carried about by a minstrel band. Regalia. Crown, orb, sceptre and other ornaments used at the coronation of English monarchs. In October 1216, King John lost his baggage train in crossing the Wash; amidst much royal treasure, the ancient regalia were lost, including the crown of Edward the Confessor. At Henry III’s coronation at Gloucester Abbey, in lieu of a real crown, i.e. the one lost by John, the papal legate is said to have placed a chaplet or coronal of flowers on the childking’s head. An early representation of the regalia in use can be found in the *Bayeux Tapestry showing King Harold’s coronation at Westminster in 1066. After Charles I’s execution (1649) all royal regalia were melted down or sold off. [< L regalis = royal] – Cf. Charing Cross; Royalty; Sumpter Regalian right. Lit. ‘royal right’. The right claimed by a monarch to the estates, income and other dues of a vacant bishopric. This claim often led to considerable delays in the election and appointing of a new bishop. [< L regalis = royal] – Cf. previous Regard. Extra money paid by the king to one of his captains for each threemonth period the captain kept a 30-man troop in service in France during the
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