Eike von Repgow

Eike of Repgow (German: Eike von Repgow, also von Repkow, von Repchow or von Repchau; c. 1180 – c. 1233) was a medieval German administrator who compiled the Sachsenspiegel code of law in the 13th century.

Little is known about Eike of Repgow, but he is mentioned in several documents dating from the period between 1209 and 1233. He was a scion of the Eastphalian gentry and it is thought that his family were vassals of the Magdeburg archbishops. His ancestors had moved to the Gau of Serimunt, south of Magdeburg, in the 12th century, where they acquired land in the village of Reppichau (in present-day Saxony-Anhalt). Other members of the family are mentioned earlier in 1156 and 1159. From his mention in court proceedings in 1209 it is inferred that he was born around 1180. Lack of mentions after 1233 suggests that he died shortly after that.

From the prologue to the Sachsenspiegel it is clear that Eike could read Latin as well as German. It is not actually known if he could write, since it was quite common, at the time, to employ scribes. He was versed both in Canon and Roman law; so it is thought that he was educated at a cathedral school, possibly in Halberstadt, or more likely at Magdeburg under Archbishop Wichmann von Seeburg.

It is clear that he was a respected personage, but his precise place in the feudal hierarchy is not known with certainty, since he is sometimes listed among the free nobles and sometimes among the bondsmen (Dienstmannen). Eike of Repgow may have been a bondsman of Count Henry I of Anhalt or of Count Hoyer of Falkenstein, who then served as Vogt of Quedlinburg Abbey. Nevertheless, he was probably a free noble, one of the so-called schöffenbar freie, which entitled him to sit in the Thing (baron's court). One theory is that he was of noble birth, but like many others, became a ministerialis or bondsman, while retaining his noble status.

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