first the king's royal household, and then his great officers of state, and in both cases the seneschal is synonymous with steward. In France In late medieval and early modern France, the seneschal was originally a royal steward overseeing the entire country but developed into an agent of the crown charged with administration of a seneschalty (), one of the districts of the crown lands in Languedoc and Normandy. Hallam states that the first seneschals to govern in this manner did so by an 1190 edict of Philip II. 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 (). William de Gometz was Seneschal of France . Osbern the Steward was seneschal to two dukes of 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, and Keeper of the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and shortly to become Constable of the Tower of London, 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 in 1360. Sir Thomas Felton, an English knight, was appointed seneschal of Aquitaine in 1362 and seneschal of Bordeaux in 1372. Sir John Chandos, an English knight, was appointed seneschal of Poitou in 1369. In Anglo-Saxon England In Anglo-Saxon England dish-bearers (in Medieval Latin discifer or dapifer) were nobles who served at royal feasts. The term is often translated by historians as "seneschal". In Sark The Seneschal of Sark presides over the Court of the Seneschal, which hears civil and some criminal cases. See also Grand maître de France – the Great Officer of the Crown of France in charge of the Royal Household (the "Maison du Roi") Marshal Majordomo Sheriff, another Germanic-rooted title of command over a jurisdiction, derived from "shire" and "reeve". Sir Kay, a legendary seneschal in the court of King Arthur. Ednyfed Fychan, 13th-century Seneschal of the Kingdom of Gwynedd. Barons Dunboyne, Seneschal of Tipperary, Ireland. Kingdom of Alba Seneschals, Scottish Steward References Citations Bibliography EtymologyOnline This entry is in part from Webster's Dictionary (1913) External links Court titles Court titles in the Ancien Régime Legal history of the Ancien Régime Offices in the Ancien Régime Historical legal occupations Obsolete occupations