ed to the inferior
officer, or _concierge chatelain_, who was merely a castellan in the
English sense. The power and status of chatelains necessarily varied
greatly at different periods and places. Usually their rank in the
feudal hierarchy was equivalent to that of the simple _sire_
(_dominus_), between the baron and the _chevalier_; but occasionally
they were great nobles with an extensive jurisdiction, as in the Low
Countries (see BURGRAVE). This variation was most marked in the cities,
where in the struggle for power that of the chatelain depended on the
success with which he could assert himself against his feudal superior,
lay or ecclesiastical, or, from the 12th century onwards, against the
rising power of the communes. The _chatellenie_ (_castellania_), or
jurisdiction of the chatelain, as a territorial division for certain
judicial and administrative purposes, survived the disappearance of the
title and office of the chatelain in France, and continued till the
Revolution.

See Achille Luchaire, _Manuel des institutions francaises_ (Paris,
1892); Du Cange, _Glossarium, s._ "Castellanus."

CHATELAINE (Fr. _chatelaine_, the feminine form of _chatelain_, a keeper
of a castle), the mistress of a castle. From the custom of a chatelaine
to carry the keys of the castle suspended from her girdle, the word is
now applied to the collection of short chains, often worn by ladies, to
which are attached various small articles of domestic and toilet use, as
keys, penknife, needlecase, scissors, &c.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th
Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8, by Various

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYC. BRITANNICA, VOL 5 SL 8 ***

***** This file should be named 33427.txt or 33427.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/4/2/33427/

Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.

Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Pro