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CHATELAIN (Med. Lat. castellanus, fro...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 964 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHATELAIN (Med. See also:Lat. castellanus, from castellum, a See also:castle) , in See also:France originally merely the See also:equivalent of the See also:English castellan, i.e. the See also:commander of a castle. With the growth of the feudal See also:system, however, the See also:title gained in France a See also:special significance which it never acquired in See also:England, as implying the See also:jurisdiction of which the castle became the centre. The chdtelain was originally, in Carolingian times, an See also:official of the See also:count; with the development of See also:feudalism the See also:office became a See also:fief, and so ultimately hereditary. In this as in other respects the chatelain was the equivalent of the See also:viscount (q.v.); sometimes the two titles were combined, but more usually in those provinces where there were chatelains there were no viscounts, and See also:vice versa. The title chatelain continued also to be applied to the inferior officer, or See also:concierge ch&telain, who was merely a castellan in the English sense. The See also:power and status of chatelains necessarily varied greatly at different periods and places. Usually their See also:rank in the feudal See also:hierarchy was equivalent to that of the See also:simple sire (See also:dominus), between the See also:baron and the See also:chevalier; but occasionally they were See also:great nobles with an extensive jurisdiction, as in the See also:Low Countries (see See also:BURGRAVE). This variation was most marked in the cities, where in the struggle for power that of the chatelain depended on the success with which he could assert himself against his feudal See also:superior, See also:lay or ecclesiastical, or, from the 12th See also:century onwards, against the rising power of the communes. The chdtellenie (castellania), or jurisdiction of the chatelain, as a territorial See also:division for certails judicial and administrative purposes, survived the disappearance of the title and office of the chatelain in France, and continued till the Revolution. See Achille See also:Luchaire, See also:Manuel See also:des institutions francaises (See also:Paris, 1892) ; Du Cange, Glossarium, s.

End of Article: CHATELAIN (Med. Lat. castellanus, from castellum, a castle)

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