Definition
A historical legal term from old criminal law denoting a person who broke into and robbed a house or enclosed place (a burg). The burgator was the precursor concept to the modern burglar, but the term carried a specific distinguishing function: it separated the housebreaker who committed his offense within an enclosed settlement from the robber who preyed upon victims in open country. The latter — sometimes called a highway robber or latrocinator — was treated as a distinct category of offender in medieval English and continental law.
Common Confusion
Burgator is not simply an archaic synonym for burglar, though the two concepts are closely related. The significance of the term lies in its definitional contrast with open-country robbery. Medieval law treated these as meaningfully different offenses, in part because the enclosed place (the burg or borough) carried its own legal protections and peace. A researcher who reads burgator as merely an old spelling of burglar will miss the categorical distinction the term was doing at the time.
Why It Matters in Research
Burgator is a term of Latin legal vocabulary (Law Latin) found almost exclusively in medieval and early modern sources. Researchers will encounter it in glossaries, treatises, and ecclesiastical or crown records from the Norman and Plantagenet periods, not in modern statutory or case law.
The primary research trap is treating the term as interchangeable with burglary in its modern common-law form. Modern burglary has specific elements — breaking, entering, dwelling house, nighttime, felonious intent — none of which are necessarily embedded in burgator, which simply described the category of person who broke into enclosed places. The distinction the term draws (enclosed place versus open country) reflects a legal geography that does not map onto modern offense categories.
Researchers tracing the history of burglary as a concept should use burgator as a gateway to Spelman's Glossarium (the source cited by every historical dictionary that carries this entry) and to Fleta, the 13th-century English legal treatise cited in Burrill. Both are primary sources in the Law Mind corpus. Burrill's entry, though partially corrupt in transmission, contains the most analytical content, distinguishing the burgator from other offenders and pointing toward Fleta Book 1, Chapter 47 for the surrounding legal context.
Because the term appears in Latin legal texts, it will surface in searches for burglaria (the corresponding abstract noun for the offense) and burgus (the place term from which it derives). Searching only for burgator in isolation may miss related passages where the offense is discussed without naming the offender in this specific form.
Historical Dictionary Support
All four dictionary sources agree on the core definition: a person who broke into houses or enclosed places, as opposed to one who committed robbery in open country. The source uniformly cited is Spelman's Glossarium Archaiologicum, the authoritative 17th-century glossary of Latin legal and historical terms, under the entry Burglaria.
Black's (both editions) and Bouvier's present nearly identical minimal entries, sufficient for identification but offering no analytical depth. Burrill's entry is the most substantive, providing the etymological grounding in burgus (borough or enclosed place) and the contrast with open-country robbery, and additionally referencing Fleta for a related exemption provision. The Burrill text as preserved appears corrupt at the point of contrast — the sentence distinguishing burgator from another category of offender breaks off — but the reference to Fleta, lib. 1, c. 47, § 21 is legible and potentially useful for researchers investigating related privileges or exemptions connected to burg status.
None of the historical dictionaries address how burgator interacted with the developing elements of burglary at common law, nor do they trace whether the term appears in year books or plea rolls. The entries are essentially glossarial rather than doctrinal.
Jurisdictional Note
Burgator is a term of English and continental medieval law with no current jurisdictional application. It appears in historical legal literature and is relevant primarily to English legal history research. Researchers working in Scottish or continental European historical sources may encounter related but distinct terminology.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Burglary (Historical Development); Breaking and Entering