burgomaster

Burgomaster (alternatively spelled burgermeister, literally "master of the town, master of the borough, master of the fortress, master of the citizens") is the English form of various terms in or derived from Germanic languages for the chief magistrate or executive of a city or town. The name in English was derived from the Dutch burgemeester. In some cases, burgomaster was the title of the head of state and head of government of a sovereign (or partially or de facto sovereign) city-state, sometimes combined with other titles, such as Hamburg's First Mayor and President of the Senate). Contemporary titles are commonly translated into English as mayor. Historical use The title "burgermeister" was first used in the early 13th century. In history (sometimes until the beginning of the 19th century) in many free imperial cities (such as Bremen, Hamburg, Lübeck, etc.) the function of burgomaster was usually held simultaneously by three persons, serving as an executive college. One of the three being burgomaster in chief for a year (called in some cases in ; in presiding burgomaster), the second being the prior burgomaster in chief, the third being the upcoming one. Präsidierender Bürgermeister is now an obsolete formulation sometimes found in historic texts. In an important city, especially in a city state (Stadtstaat), where one of the Bürgermeister has a rank equivalent to that of a minister-president (governor), there can be several posts called Bürgermeister in the city's executive college, justifying the use of a compound title for the actual highest magistrate (also rendered as lord mayor), such as: Regierender Bürgermeister (literally 'governing burgomaster', commonly translated as governing mayor) in West Berlin and reunited Berlin, while in Berlin the term Bürgermeister without attribute – English Mayor – refers to his deputies, and while the heads of the 12 boroughs of Berlin are called Bezirksbürgermeister, English borough mayor. Erster Bürgermeister (literally First Burgomaster) in Hamburg Bürgermeister und Präsident des Senats ('Burgomaster and President of the Senate') in Bremen Amtsbürgermeister (German; roughly translated: 'District Burgomaster') can be used for the chief magistrate of a Swiss constitutive canton, as in Aargau 1815–1831 (next styled Landamman).