Note 20 — Chapter VIII · SOCIAL AND POLITICAL ORGANIZATION IN SPAIN, 1031-1276

The word “merino” is an untranslatable term for an official in Spanish administration whose powers varied greatly from century to century. While the merinos were at times “judges of sheep-walks,” as the word is often translated, they usually had much broader power as officials of the king. The merinos mayores, or greater merinos, were appointed by the king, with functions largely judicial in character and with authority extending over the greater provinces, such as Castile, León, or Galicia. Merinos menores, or lesser merinos, might be the appointees and subordinates of merinos mayores, or, similarly, of the corregidores, or rulers of districts.