The word ''seneschal'' () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a
court appointment Court appointments are the traditional positions within a royal, ducal, or noble household. In the early Middle Ages, when such households were established, most court officials had either domestic or military duties; the monarch's closest adviser ...
within a royal, ducal, or noble household during the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
and
early Modern period – historically a
steward or
majordomo of a medieval great house. In a medieval
royal household, a seneschal was in charge of domestic arrangements and the administration of servants, which, in the medieval period particularly, meant the seneschal might oversee hundreds of laborers, servants and their associated responsibilities, and have a great deal of power in the community, at a time when much of the local economy was often based on the wealth and responsibilities of such a household.
A second meaning is more specific, and concerns the
late medieval
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...
and
early modern nation of
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
, wherein the seneschal (french: sénéchal) was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration of certain southern provinces called seneschalties, holding a role equivalent to a northern French
bailiff (').
In the United Kingdom the modern meaning of seneschal is primarily as an ecclesiastical term, referring to a cathedral official.
Origin
The
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
''discifer'' (dish-bearer) was an officer in the household of later Anglo-Saxon kings, and it is sometimes translated by historians as seneschal, although the term was not used in England before the
Norman Conquest
The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Conque ...
.
The term, first attested in 1350–1400, was borrowed from
Anglo-Norman Anglo-Norman may refer to:
*Anglo-Normans, the medieval ruling class in England following the Norman conquest of 1066
* Anglo-Norman language
**Anglo-Norman literature
* Anglo-Norman England, or Norman England, the period in English history from 10 ...
''seneschal'' "steward", from
Old Dutch
In linguistics, Old Dutch (Dutch: Oudnederlands) or Old Low Franconian (Dutch: Oudnederfrankisch) is the set of Franconian dialects (i.e. dialects that evolved from Frankish) spoken in the Low Countries during the Early Middle Ages, from aroun ...
"senior retainer" (attested in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
(692 AD),
Old High German
Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050.
There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old High ...
), a compound of - (cf.
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
"old", "oldest") and "servant", ultimately a
calque
In linguistics, a calque () or loan translation is a word or phrase borrowed from another language by literal word-for-word or root-for-root translation. When used as a verb, "to calque" means to borrow a word or phrase from another language wh ...
of
Late Latin
Late Latin ( la, Latinitas serior) is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the , and continuing into the 7th century in t ...
"senior guard".
The ''
scholae
Scholae ( el, Σχολαί) is a Latin word, literally meaning "schools" (from the singular ''schola'', ''school'' or ''group'') that was used in the late Roman Empire to signify a unit of Imperial Guards. The unit survived in the Byzantine Empire ...
'' in the late
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
referred to the imperial guard, divided into senior (''seniores'') and junior (''juniores'') units. The captain of the guard was known as ''comes scholarum''. When Germanic tribes took over the Empire, the ''scholae'' were merged or replaced with the Germanic king's
warband (cf.
Vulgar Latin
Vulgar Latin, also known as Popular or Colloquial Latin, is the range of non-formal Register (sociolinguistics), registers of Latin spoken from the Crisis of the Roman Republic, Late Roman Republic onward. Through time, Vulgar Latin would evolve ...
,
OHG ,
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo ...
) whose members also had duties in their lord's household like a royal
retinue. The king's chief warbandman and retainer (cf.
Old Saxon
Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). It i ...
, OHG ,
OE , ), from the 5th century on, personally attended on the king, as specifically stated in the ''
Codex Theodosianus'' of 413 (''Cod. Theod.'' VI. 13. 1; known as ''comes scholae''). The warband, once sedentary, became first the king's
royal household, and then his
great officers of state
Government in medieval monarchies generally comprised the king's companions, later becoming the Royal Household, from which the officers of state arose, initially having household and government duties. Later some of these officers became ...
, and in both cases the seneschal is synonymous with steward.
In France
In
late medieval
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Europe, the Renai ...
and
early modern France, the seneschal was originally a royal steward overseeing the entire country but developed into an agent of the
crown
A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
charged with administration of a seneschalty (french: ), one of the districts of the crown lands in
Languedoc
The Province of Languedoc (; , ; oc, Lengadòc ) is a former province of France.
Most of its territory is now contained in the modern-day region of Occitanie in Southern France. Its capital city was Toulouse. It had an area of approximately ...
and
Normandy
Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...
.
Hallam states that the first seneschals to govern in this manner did so by an 1190 edict of
Philip II Philip II may refer to:
* Philip II of Macedon (382–336 BC)
* Philip II (emperor) (238–249), Roman emperor
* Philip II, Prince of Taranto (1329–1374)
* Philip II, Duke of Burgundy (1342–1404)
* Philip II, Duke of Savoy (1438-1497)
* Philip ...
. The seneschals also served as the chief justice of the royal courts in their areas.
The equivalent post throughout most of northern France was the
bailiff ('), who oversaw a
bailiwick
A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on th ...
(').
* William de Gometz was Seneschal of France .
*
Osbern the Steward Osbern the Steward, known in French as ''Osbern de Crépon'' († about 1040), was the Steward of two Dukes of Normandy and the father of William FitzOsbern, 1st Earl of Hereford, one of William the Conqueror's closest counsellors.
Biography
Osber ...
was seneschal to two
dukes of Normandy
In the Middle Ages, the duke of Normandy was the ruler of the Duchy of Normandy in north-western France. The duchy arose out of a grant of land to the Viking leader Rollo by the French king Charles III in 911. In 924 and again in 933, Normandy ...
.
Under rulers of England
*
Bertram de Criol, then member of the King's Council,
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, Constable of
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in Dover, Kent, England and is Grade I listed. It was founded in the 11th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history. Some sources say it is the ...
, and Keeper of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and shortly to become
Constable of the Tower of London
The Constable of the Tower is the most senior appointment at the Tower of London. In the Middle Ages a constable was the person in charge of a castle when the owner—the king or a nobleman—was not in residence. The Constable of the Tower had a ...
, is referred to as "our Seneschal" in Letters of
King Henry III of December 1239.
*
Sir William Felton, an English knight, was appointed seneschal of
Poitou
Poitou (, , ; ; Poitevin: ''Poetou'') was a province of west-central France whose capital city was Poitiers. Both Poitou and Poitiers are named after the Pictones Gallic tribe.
Geography
The main historical cities are Poitiers (historical c ...
in 1360.
* Sir
Thomas Felton, an English knight, was appointed seneschal of
Aquitaine
Aquitaine ( , , ; oc, Aquitània ; eu, Akitania; Poitevin-Saintongeais: ''Aguiéne''), archaic Guyenne or Guienne ( oc, Guiana), is a historical region of southwestern France and a former administrative region of the country. Since 1 January ...
in 1362 and seneschal of
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
in 1372.
* Sir
John Chandos
Sir John Chandos, Viscount of Saint-Sauveur in the Cotentin, Constable of Aquitaine, Seneschal of Poitou, (c. 1320 – 31 December 1369) was a medieval English knight who hailed from Radbourne Hall, Derbyshire. Chandos was a close friend of ...
, an English knight, was appointed seneschal of Poitou in 1369.
In Anglo-Saxon England
In
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...
dish-bearers (in
Medieval Latin
Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. In this region it served as the primary written language, though local languages were also written to varying degrees. Latin functioned ...
''discifer'' or ''dapifer'') were nobles who served at royal feasts. The term is often translated by historians as "seneschal".
In Sark
See also
*
Grand maître de France
The Grand Master of France (french: Grand Maître de France) was, during the and Bourbon Restoration in France, one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France and head of the "", the king's royal household. The position is similar to that of L ...
– the
Great Officer of the Crown of France in charge of the Royal Household (the "
Maison du Roi
The Maison du Roi (, "King's Household") was the royal household of the King of France. It comprised the military, domestic, and religious entourage of the French royal family during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration.
Organisation ...
")
*
Marshal
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated o ...
*
Majordomo
*
Sheriff
A sheriff is a government official, with varying duties, existing in some countries with historical ties to England where the office originated. There is an analogous, although independently developed, office in Iceland that is commonly transla ...
, another Germanic-rooted title of command over a jurisdiction, derived from "
shire" and "
reeve".
*
Sir Kay
In Arthurian legend, Sir Kay ( cy, Cai, Middle Welsh ''Kei'' or ''Cei''; la, Caius; French: ''Keu''; Old French: ''Kès'' or ''Kex'') is King Arthur's foster brother and later seneschal, as well as one of the first Knights of the Round Table. ...
, a legendary seneschal in the court of
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
.
*
Ednyfed Fychan
Ednyfed Fychan ( 1170 – 1246), full name Ednyfed Fychan ap Cynwrig, was a Welsh warrior who became Seneschal to the Kingdom of Gwynedd in Northern Wales, serving Llywelyn the Great and his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn. Ednyfed claimed descent fr ...
, 13th-century Seneschal of the
Kingdom of Gwynedd
The Kingdom of Gwynedd (Medieval Latin: ; Middle Welsh: ) was a Welsh kingdom and a Roman Empire successor state that emerged in sub-Roman Britain in the 5th century during the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain.
Based in northwest Wales, th ...
.
*
Barons Dunboyne, Seneschal of Tipperary,
Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
*
Kingdom of Alba Seneschals, Scottish
Steward
References
Citations
Bibliography
EtymologyOnline*''This entry is in part from
Webster's Dictionary
''Webster's Dictionary'' is any of the English language dictionaries edited in the early 19th century by American lexicographer Noah Webster (1758–1843), as well as numerous related or unrelated dictionaries that have adopted the Webster's n ...
(1913)''
External links
{{Use dmy dates, date=October 2019
Court titles
Court titles in the Ancien Régime
Legal history of the Ancien Régime
Offices in the Ancien Régime
Historical legal occupations
Obsolete occupations