Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 2.djvu/620

 6o4 APPENDIX D THE HEREDITARY GREAT OFFICES Five of the great offices of state, namely, those of the Steward, the Constable, the Marshal, the Chamberlain and the Butler, were held by- certain families dealt with in this work. It will, therefore, be convenient to deal with them here collectively, though this has been already done to some extent by the writer in his work The Kings Serjeants and their Corona- tion services (^1911). It is important that the reader should bear in mind the distinction between these offices and others of similar name which will be met with in this work. The " Steward," for instance, of the Norman Kings is now represented by an officer who is appointed only for coronations or for the trial of peers, "the Lord High Steward." His place at court is occupied by " the Lord Steward," who was originally his deputy. So also the Norman " Chamberlain " finds his representative now in " the Lord Great Chamberlain," while " the Lord Chamberlain " (with his Vice-Chamberlain), though originally his deputy, is now better known than himself as the holder of the office at court. Again, the offices of Chamberlain and Vice- Chamberlain to the Queen are of distinct origin from that of the (Lord Great) Chamberlain. On the other hand the offices of Earl Marshal and of Marshal (of England) are not (as was supposed) historically distinct, the Marshals having on becoming earls, gradually prefixed that title to their office. The office of Steward is identical with that of " Seneschal " and appears alternatively in Latin as Dapifer and Senescallus. Its distinctive service appears to have been that of placing the dishes on the Lord's table at solemn feasts {dapes). The Royal House of Stewart or Stuart derived its name from its hereditary tenure of the office of Steward of Scotland, as do the Butlers, Marquesses of Ormonde, from their ancient office of Butler of Ireland. In England, according to the latest view, there were several stewards in Norman times, but the Beaumonts, Earls of Leicester, and the Bigods, Earls of Norfolk, emerged very early as chief claimants. The Beaumonts bought off the claim of the Bigods, and from them the office passed to the great Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, in whose hands it assumed greater importance. There is no foundation for the old belief that the office came to the Beaumonts with the (Grantmesnil) Honour of Hinckley. After the fall of Simon de Montfort, Henry III bestowed on his younger son Edmund (afterwards Earl of Lancaster) all the Earl's possessions, and further gave him the Stewardship of England for life. Edward II, on his accession, gave this Edmund (his uncle) the Stewardship in fee, and thenceforth it descended with the Earldom and Dukedom of Lancaster. John of Gaunt, as holder of the office, presided over the Court of Claims at the accession of Richard II. On his son ascending the throne as Henry IV, the office became merged in the Crown, and has so remained since, appointments being only made pro hac vice.