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Webster 1913 Edition

Seneschal

Sen′es-chal

,
Noun.
[OF.
seneschal
, LL.
seniscalcus
, of Teutonic origin; cf. Goth.
sineigs
old,
skalks
, OHG.
scalch
, AS.
scealc
. Cf.
Senior
,
Marshal
.]
An officer in the houses of princes and dignitaries, in the Middle Ages, who had the superintendence of feasts and domestic ceremonies; a steward. Sometimes the seneschal had the dispensing of justice, and was given high military commands.
Then marshaled feast
Served up in hall with sewers and
seneschale
.
Milton.
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 demains.
Hallam.

Webster 1828 Edition

Seneschal

SEN'ESCHAL

,
Noun.
A steward; an officer in the houses of princes and dignitaries, who has the superintendance of feasts and domestic ceremonies. In some instances, the seneschal is an officer who has the dispensing of justice, as the high seneschal of England, &c.

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