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Seneschal
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 within a royal, ducal, or noble household during the Middle Ages 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 and early modern nation of France, wherein the seneschal () was also a royal officer in charge of justice a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. These officers initially had household and governmental duties. Later some of these officers became two: one serving state and one serving household. They were superseded by new officers, or were absorbed by existing officers. Many of the officers became hereditary and thus removed from practical operation of either the state or the household. Especially in the Norman kingdoms these offices will have common characteristics. In the United Kingdom, the Great Officers of State are traditional ministers of The Crown who either inherit their positions or are appointed to exercise certain largely ceremonial functions or to operate as members of the government. This cites: * Stubbs, ''Constitutional History'', ch. xi. * Freeman, ''Norman Conquest'', ch. xxiv. * Gneist, ''Constitution of England'', ch. xvi., xxv. and liv. Separate Gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
France In The Middle Ages
The Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages (roughly, from the 10th century to the middle of the 15th century) was marked by the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and West Francia (843–987); the expansion of royal control by the House of Capet (987–1328), including their struggles with the virtually independent principalities (duchies and counties, such as the Normandy#Norman expansion, Norman and County of Anjou, Angevin regions), and the creation and extension of administrative/state control (notably under Philip II of France, Philip II Augustus and Louis IX of France, Louis IX) in the 13th century; and the rise of the House of Valois (1328–1589), including the protracted dynastic crisis against the House of Plantagenet and their Angevin Empire, culminating in the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) (compounded by the catastrophic Black Death in 1348), which laid the seeds for a more centralized and expanded state in the Early modern France, early modern period and the cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bailli
A bailiff (, ) was the king's administrative representative during the ''ancien régime'' in northern France, where the bailiff was responsible for the application of justice and control of the administration and local finances in his bailiwick ('). Name ''Bailli'' is first noted in the 12th century and comes the same word in Old French which means to govern or administer. One 17th Century author credits the Old French word as meaning at the time "guardian" or "protector." This word derives from the Vulgar Latin term ''bajulivus'' meaning "official in charge of a castle" (i.e., a royal castellan or "porter." History In the late 12th and early 13th century, King Philip II, an able and ingenious administrator who founded the central institutions on which the French monarchy's system of power would be based, prepared the expansion of the royal demesne through his appointment of bailiffs in the king's northern lands (the '' domaine royal''), based on medieval fiscal and tax di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Court Appointment
Court appointments are the traditional positions within a monarchy, royal, ducal, or Noble court, 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 advisers were those who served in the household. However, as time went by, most of these positions became hereditary, and their role in the running of the household was gradually eroded. In England, for instance, the Lord Great ChamberlainBruce, Alistair, ''Keepers of the Kingdom'' (Cassell, 2002), and the Earl Marshal were originally responsible for the running of the royal household and the royal stables respectively; however, from the late Middle Ages, late medieval period onwards, their roles became largely honorary, their places in the household being taken by the Lord Chamberlain and the Master of the Horse. Today, many court titles survive in those European nations that retain royal courts. Examples of court appoi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Majordomo
A majordomo () is a person who speaks, makes arrangements, or takes charge for another. Typically, this is the highest (''major'') person of a household (''domūs'' or ''domicile'') staff, a head servant who acts on behalf of the owner of a large or significant residence. A majordomo may also, more informally, be someone who oversees the day-to-day responsibilities of a business enterprise. Historically, many institutions and governments—monasteries, cathedrals, and cities—as well as noble and royal houses, also had the post of majordomo, who usually was in charge of finances. Additionally, the Hispanos of New Mexico use the related term ''mayordomo'' to refer to the manager of an ''acequia'' system for a town or valley. Also, when translated into English, "mayordomo" means butler. Etymology The origin is from , and it was borrowed into English from Spanish or Old Italian . Also, it is found as French , modern Italian , Portuguese and Galician , and Romanian and Cat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steward (office)
A steward is an official who is appointed by the legal ruling monarch to represent them in a country and who may have a mandate to govern it in their name; in the latter case, it is synonymous with the position of regent, vicegerent, viceroy, Luogotenente, king's lieutenant (for Romance languages), governor, or deputy (the Roman ''Roman governor, rector'', ''prefect, praefectus'', or ''vicarius''). Etymology From Old English ''stíweard, stiȝweard'', from ''stiȝ'' "hall, household" + ''weard'' "wikt:warden, warden, keeper"; corresponding to Dutch language, Dutch: ''stadhouder'', German language, German ''Statthalter'' "place holder", a Germanic parallel to French ''lieutenant''. The Old English term ''stíweard'' is attested from the 11th century. Its first element is most probably ''stiȝ-'' "house, hall" (attested only in composition; its cognate ''stiȝu'' is the ancestor of Modern English ''sty''). Old French and Old Norse ''stívarðr'' are adopted from the Old English. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gothic Language
Gothic is an extinct language, extinct East Germanic languages, East Germanic language that was spoken by the Goths. It is known primarily from the ''Codex Argenteus'', a 6th-century copy of a 4th-century Bible translation, and is the only East Germanic language with a sizeable text corpus. All others, including Burgundian language (Germanic), Burgundian and Vandalic language, Vandalic, are known, if at all, only from proper names that survived in historical accounts, and from loanwords in other, mainly Romance languages, Romance, languages. As a Germanic language, Gothic is a part of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family. It is the earliest Germanic language that is attested in any sizable texts, but it lacks any modern descendants. The oldest documents in Gothic date back to the fourth century. The language was in decline by the mid-sixth century, partly because of the military defeat of the Goths at the hands of the Franks, the elimination of the Goths ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Codex Theodosianus
The ''Codex Theodosianus'' ("Theodosian Code") is a compilation of the laws of the Roman Empire under the Christian emperors since 312. A commission was established by Emperor Theodosius II and his co-emperor Valentinian III on 26 March 429 and the compilation was published by a constitution of 15 February 438. It went into force in the eastern and western parts of the empire on 1 January 439. The original text of the codex is also found in the ''Breviary of Alaric'' (also called ''Lex Romana Visigothorum''), promulgated on 2 February 506 by Visigoth King Alaric II. Development On 26 March 429, Emperor Theodosius II announced to the Senate of Constantinople his intention to form a committee to codify all of the laws (''leges'', singular ''lex'') from the reign of Constantine up to Theodosius II and Valentinian III.Peter Stein, pp. 37–38 The laws in the code span from 312 to 438, so by 438 the "volume of imperial law had become unmanageable". Twenty-two scholars, working in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 is a West Germanic language, closely related to the Anglo-Frisian languages. It is documented from the 8th century until the 12th century, when it gradually evolved into Middle Low German. It was spoken throughout modern northwestern Germany, primarily in the coastal regions and in the eastern Netherlands by Saxons, a Germanic tribe that inhabited the region of Saxony. It partially shares Anglo-Frisian's ( Old Frisian, Old English) Ingvaeonic nasal spirant law which sets it apart from Low Franconian and Irminonic languages, such as Dutch, Luxembourgish and German. The grammar of Old Saxon was fully inflected with five grammatical cases ( nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), three grammati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Retinue
A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary; a ''suite'' (French "what follows") of retainers. Etymology The word, recorded in English since circa 1375, stems from Old French ''retenue'', itself from ''retenir'', from the Latin ''retenere'': to hold back or retain. Employment Such retainers were not necessarily in the domestic service or otherwise normally close to the presence of their lord, but also include others who wore his livery (a kind of uniform, in distinctive colours) and claimed his protection, such as musicians and tutors. Some were a source of trouble and abuse in the 15th and early 16th century. Often their real importance was very different from their rank: on the one hand, sinecures and supernumerary appointments allowed enjoying benefits without performing full service. On the other hand, "having the ear" of the master can allow one to act as a confidant in an informal capacity; or in some cases, eve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English
Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literature dates from the mid-7th century. After the Norman Conquest of 1066, English was replaced for several centuries by Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman (a langues d'oïl, type of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during the subsequent period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into what is now known as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles (tribe), Angles, Saxons and Jutes. As the Germanic settlers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
