Ealdorman
The term first appears in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 568.  But it was probably used long before then.  As early as the seventh century ealdormen were seen as judges. But the development of the shire may have come later. As ealdormanries began to become hereditary (passed down from father to son) the families who held them became more and more powerful. Several rose in power second only to the king. They were described in documents by the term patricius. In the eighth century these occurred in Northumbria, Mercia and Kent. The term patricius was roughly the same as the office of mayor of the palace in the Merovingian dynasty of Frankish kings. This could be dangerous for a king to have someone so powerful exercising power in his name. In the eighth and ninth centuries the most dangerous ealdormen were those who claimed royal descent. They could and in some cases did rise up against a king and took the throne themselves. In the very basic royal administrations of the time a king needed to depend on his ealdormen. A king could create ealdormen from his own family. But he could only fill only a portion of the ealdormanries in that way. As the families of ealdormen banded together in ties of mutual support it became more difficult to remove an ealdorman.