[1] The first reference to a high-reeve was perhaps in the third code of Edmund I of England, where there is an official known as a summus praepositus.
[2] Alfred Smyth thought heah-gerefa was influenced by the Scottish word mormaer, the meaning of which, supposedly great steward, is possibly similar.
[4] Ann Williams believes that the High-Reeve was originally an urban official whose job was to deputise for an ealdorman, but unlike other such figures could lead provincial armies.
[2] Hogrefe (Low Saxon hoghe greve, younger forms Hogrebe, Hogrefe, Hogreve, and Hogrewe, also as modern surnames) was a title and function taken by judges presiding over a so-called Gogericht, which was part of the local jurisdiction mainly in the formerly Saxon areas in Westphalia and Lower Saxony in Northern Germany.
The title remained in use until the 17th century mainly in parts of Electoral Hanover, today's State of Lower Saxony.