Seneschal

A seneschal is an officer in the houses of princes and dignitaries, in the Middle Ages, who had the superintendence of feasts and domestic ceremonies; a steward; a major-domo. Sometimes the seneschal had the dispensing of justice, and was given high military commands. Term is probably of Gothic (German) origin.

Philip Augustus, by a famous ordinance in 1190, first established royal courts of justice, held by the officers called baitiffs, or seneschals, who acted as the king's lieutenants in his domains. --Henry Hallam.

"The seneschal", writes the British scholar H.S. Bennett, "must know the size and needs of every manor; how many acres should be plowed and how much seed will be needed. He must know all his bailiffs and reeves, how they conduct the lord's business and how they treat the peasants. He must know exactly how many penny loaves can be made from a quater of corn, or how many cattle each pasture should support. He must for ever be on the alert lest any of the lord's franchises lapse or are usurped by others. He must think of the lord's needs, both of money and of kind, and see that they are constantly supplied. In short, he must be all-knowing and he is all-powerful".

This entry in part from Webster's Dictionary (1913)