CHAMBERLAIN, etymologically, and also to a large extent historically, an officer charged with the superintendence of do mestic affairs. Such were the chamberlains of monasteries or cathedrals, who had charge of the finances, gave notice of chapter meetings, and provided the materials necessary for the services. In these cases, as in that of the apostolic chamberlain of the Roman see, the title was borrowed from the usage of the courts of the western secular princes. A royal chamberlain is now a court official whose function is in general to attend on the person of the sovereign and to regulate the etiquette of the palace. He is the representative of the mediaeval camberlanus, cambellanus or cubicularius, whose office was modelled on that of the prae f ec tus sacri cubiculi or cubicularius of the Roman emperors. But at the outset there was another class of chamberlains, the camerarii, i.e., high officials charged with the administration of the royal treasury (camera). The camerarius of the Carolingian emperors was the equivalent of the hordere or thesaurarius (treasurer) of the Anglo-Saxon kings; he develops into the Erzkamsnerer (archi cainerarius) of the Holy Roman Empire, an office held by the margraves of Brandenburg, and the grand chambrier of France, who held his chamberie as a fief. Similarly in England after the Norman conquest the hordere becomes the chamberlain. This office was of great importance. Before the Conquest the hordere had been, with the marshal, the principal officer of the king's court ; and under the Norman sovereigns his functions were mani fold. As he had charge of the administration of the royal house hold, his office was of financial importance, for a portion of the royal revenue was paid, not into the exchequer, but in camera regis. In time the office became hereditary and titular, but the complexity of the duties necessitated a division of the work, and the office was split up into three : the hereditary and sinecure office of magister camerarius or lord great chamberlain (q.v.) the more important domestic office of camerarius regis, king's chamberlain or lord chamberlain (q.v.) and the chamberlains (camerarii) of the exchequer, two in number, who were originally representatives of the chamberlain at the exchequer, and after wards in conjunction with the treasurer presided over that depart ment. In 1826 the last of these officials died, when by an act passed 44 years earlier they disappeared.
In France the office of grand chambrier was early overshad owed by the chamberlains (cubicularii, cambellani, but sometimes also camerarii), officials in close personal attendance on the king, men at first of low rank, but of great and ever-increasing influ ence. As the office of grand chambrier, held by great feudal no bles seldom at court, became more and more honorary, the cham berlains grew in power, in numbers, and in rank, until, in the 13th century, one of them emerges as a great officer of State, the chambellan de France or grand chambellan (also magister cam bellanorum, mestre chamberlenc), who at times shares with the grand chambrier the revenues derived from certain trades in the city of Paris. The honorary office of grand chambrier survived till the time of Henry II., who was himself the last to hold it before his accession; that of grand chambellan, which in its turn soon became purely honorary, survived till the Revolution. Among the prerogatives of the grand chambellan, which survived to the last, was the right to hand the king his shirt at the ceremonial levee. The offices of grand chambellan, premier chambellan, and chum bellan were revived by Napoleon, continued under the Restora tion, abolished by Louis Philippe, and again restored by Napoleon III.
In the papal Curia the apostolic chamberlain (camerarius) is at the head of the treasury (camera thesauraria) and, in the days of the temporal power, not only administered the papal finances but possessed an extensive civil and criminal jurisdiction. During a vacancy of the Holy See he is at the head of the administration of the Roman Church. The office dates from the nth century, when it superseded that of archdeacon of the Roman Church, and the close personal relations of the camerarius with the pope, to gether with the fact that he is the official guardian of the cere monial vestments and treasures, point to the fact that he is also the representative of the former vestararius and vice-dominus, whose functions were merged in the new office.
In England the modern representatives of the cubicularii are the gentlemen and grooms of the bed-chamber; in Germany were the Kammerherr (Kammerer, from camerarius, in Bavaria and Austria) and Kammerjunker. The insignia of their office is a gold key attached to their coats behind.
Many corporations appoint a chamberlain. The chamberlain of the corporation of the city of London, who is treasurer of the corporation, admits persons to the freedom of the city, and, in the chamberlain's court, of which he and the vice-chamberlain are judges, exercises concurrent jurisdiction with the police court in determining disputes between masters and apprentices. For merly nominated by the crown, since 1688 he has been elected annually by the liverymen. He has a salary of £2,000 a year. Similarly in Germany the administration of the finances of a city is called the Kammerei and the official in charge of it the Kam merer.
See LORD CHAMBERLAIN ; LORD GREAT CHAMBERLAIN ; HOUSEHOLD,