- Castellan
A castellan was the
governor or caretaker of acastle orkeep . The word stems from the Latin "Castellanus", derived from "castellum" 'castle'.Duties
Usually, a castellan combined the duties of both a majordomo (responsible for a castle's domestic staff) and a military administrator (responsible for maintaining defences and protecting the castle's lands). This was particularly the case if there was no lord resident at the castle, or if the resident lord was frequently absent.
France
In
France , castellans (known in French asChâtelain s) who governed castles without resident nobles acquired considerable powers, and the position actually became a hereditaryfiefdom .Jerusalem
At times, there was a castellan among the
Officers of the Kingdom of Jerusalem .Poland
In the Kingdom of Poland and later the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth , the Castellans ( _pl. Kasztelan) were in most cases lower in precedence to thePalatine s (with the exception of the Lord Castellan ofCracow who had precedence before LordPalatine ofKraków ). Castellans were in charge of a part of aPalatinate calledCastellany (Polish: "Kasztelania ") until the15th century and from that time on their domain was divided intoprovince s for Greater Castellans andpowiat s for Minor Castellans.Japan
ee also
*
Medieval warfare
*Castle
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