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Seneschal

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The wordseneschal(/ˈsɛnəʃəl/) 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 acourt appointmentwithin a royal, ducal, or noble household during theMiddle Agesandearly Modern period– historically astewardormajordomoof a medieval great house.[1][2]In a medievalroyal household,a seneschal was in charge of domestic arrangements and the administration of servants,[3]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 thelate medievalandearly modernnation ofFrance,wherein the seneschal (French:sénéchal) was also a royal officer in charge of justice and control of the administration of certain southern provinces calledseneschalties,holding a role equivalent to a northern Frenchbailiff(bailli).

In the United Kingdom the modern meaning of seneschal is primarily as an ecclesiastical term, referring to a cathedral official.[4]

Origin[edit]

TheMedieval Latindiscifer(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 theNorman Conquest.[5][6]

The term, first attested in 1350–1400,[7]was borrowed fromAnglo-Normanseneschal"steward", fromOld Dutch*siniscalc"senior retainer" (attested inLatinsiniscalcus(692 AD),Old High Germansenescalh), a compound of*sini- (cf.Gothicsineigs"old",sinista"oldest" ) andscalc"servant", ultimately acalqueofLate Latinsenior scholaris"senior guard".

Thescholaein the lateRoman Empirereferred to the imperial guard, divided into senior (seniores) and junior (juniores) units. The captain of the guard was known ascomes scholarum.[8]When Germanic tribes took over the Empire, thescholaewere merged or replaced with the Germanic king'swarband(cf.Vulgar Latin*dructis,OHGtruht,Old Englishdryht) whose members also had duties in their lord's household like a royalretinue.[9]The king's chief warbandman and retainer (cf.Old Saxondruhting,OHGtruhting,truhtigomoOEdryhtguma,dryhtealdor), from the 5th century on, personally attended on the king, as specifically stated in theCodex Theodosianusof 413 (Cod. Theod.VI. 13. 1; known ascomes scholae).[10]The warband, once sedentary, became first the king'sroyal household,and then hisgreat officers of state,and in both cases the seneschal is synonymous with steward.

In France[edit]

Inlate medievalandearly modern France,the seneschal was originally a royal steward overseeing the entire country but developed into an agent of thecrowncharged with administration of aseneschalty(French:sénéchaussée), one of the districts of the crown lands in Gascony, Aquitaine,LanguedocandNormandy.Hallamstates that the first seneschals to govern in this manner did so by an 1190 edict ofPhilip II.The seneschals also served as the chief justice of the royal courts of appeal in their areas and were occasionally seconded by vice-seneschals.

The equivalent post throughout most of northern France was thebailiff(bailli), who oversaw abailiwick(bailliage).

Under rulers of England

In Anglo-Saxon England[edit]

Main article:Dish-bearers and butlers in Anglo-Saxon England

InAnglo-Saxon Englanddish-bearers (inMedieval Latindisciferordapifer) were nobles who served at royal feasts. The term is often translated by historians as "seneschal".[5][16]

In Sark[edit]

Main article:Sark § Seneschal

The Seneschal of Sark presides over the Court of the Seneschal, which hears civil and some criminal cases.[17]

Papacy[edit]

Formerly, officers known as Seneschal Dapifers were involved in the ceremony of thepapal conclaveduring the election of a new Pope, to see to mealtimes for the cardinal electors while ensuring secrecy. Cardinals regularly had meals sent in from their homes with much pageantry accompanying the conveyance of food:

Towards noon each day, the Cardinal's gentlemen proceeded to his house and conveyed his dinner to the Vatican in a state coach. They were accompanied by an officer, known as the Seneschal Dapifer, who was charged with the very important duty of seeing that the Cardinal's food was not poisoned!... The dishes were enclosed in hampers or tin boxes, covered with green or violet drapery, and... were carried in state through the entrance halls, preceded by themaceof the Cardinal. The Seneschal Dapifer, bearing a serviette on his shoulder, preceded the dishes.... Before the Cardinal received his dinner, each dish underwent a careful inspection by the prelates on guard, in order that no letter should be concealed in it.[18]

These ceremonies have not been observed since the nineteenth century.

In theKnights Templar,seneschal was the title used by the second-in-command of the Order after theGrand Master.[19]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

  1. ^Oxford University Press: Seneschal
  2. ^Encyclopaedia Perthensis; or Universal Dictionary of the ArtsVolume 20 (1816), p. 437
  3. ^The Free Dictionary: Seneschal.
  4. ^"seneschal"Via theFree Dictionary.Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 HarperCollins Publishers
  5. ^abWilliams, Ann(1982). "Princeps Merciorum Gentis:the Family, Career and Connections of Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia ".Anglo-Saxon England.10:148 n. 29.doi:10.1017/S0263675100003240.ISSN0263-6751.
  6. ^Gautier, Alban (2017)."Butlers and dish-bearers in Anglo-Saxon courts: household officers at the royal table"(PDF).Historical Research:7.
  7. ^"Seneschal definition & meaning".merriam-webster.
  8. ^Leo Wiener,Commentary to the Germanic Laws and Mediaeval Documents(Harvard UP, 1915; reprint Union, NJ: Lawbook Exchange, 1999), 33-4.
  9. ^D. H. Green,Language and history in the early Germanic world(Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1998), 110-2.
  10. ^Wiener, 34.
  11. ^1[failed verification].
  12. ^T. Stapleton (ed.),De Antiquis Legibus Liber. Cronica Maiorum et Vicecomitum Londiniarum,Camden Society, Series I no. 34 (London 1846), Appendix,pp. 237-38.
  13. ^Fotheringham, James Gainsborough (1889)."Felton, William (d.1367)".InStephen, Leslie(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 18. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 311.
  14. ^Fotheringham, James Gainsborough (1889)."Felton, Thomas (d.1381)".InStephen, Leslie(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 18. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 309–310.
  15. ^Lee, Sidney (1887)."Chandos, John".InStephen, Leslie(ed.).Dictionary of National Biography.Vol. 10. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 43.
  16. ^Keynes, Simon(2014). "Thegn". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.).The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England(2nd ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. p. 460.ISBN978-0-470-65632-7.
  17. ^"About the Seneschal's Court".Official Site for The Court of the Seneschal of Sark.Retrieved23 January2023.
  18. ^Wintle, W. J. (June 1903)."How the Pope is Elected: A Popular Account of the Conclave at Rome".London Magazine.10:569, 572–4.
  19. ^Burgtorf, Jochen (2008).The Central Convent of Hospitallers and Templars: History, Organization, and Personnel (1099/1120-1310).Leiden: Brill Publishers. pp. 3–4.ISBN978-90-04-16660-8.

Bibliography[edit]

External links[edit]

The dictionary definition ofseneschalat Wiktionary

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