seneschal

plural seneschals · alternative dated rare seneskal

1. A steward, particularly (historical) one in charge of a medieval nobleman's estate.

   […] so the very keenest seneskal can't see no sign […]

   1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter 35, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC

   2 more examples

   Beside stood seneschals, the appointed witnesses of the ensuing games.

   1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 131

   It was in the queer little Church of Vera Cruz, beneath the castle, that the Knights Templar performed their secret rites of chivalry, standing vigil over their arms all night, in all the mysterious splendour of seneschal, gonfalon, and accolade.

   1964, Jan Morris, “Four Cities”, in Spain, Faber and Faber, published 2008, →ISBN

   Synonyms: steward

2. historicalAn officer of the crown in late medieval and early modern France who served as a kind of governor and chief justice of the royal court in Normandy and Languedoc.