CHATELAIN, in France originally merely the equivalent of the English castellan, i.e., the commander of a castle. With the growth of the feudal system, however, the title gained in France a special significance which it never acquired in England, as implying the jurisdiction of which the castle became the centre. The chdtelain was originally, in Carolingian times, an official of the count ; with the development of feudalism the office became a fief, and so ultimately hereditary. In this as in other respects the chdtelain was the equivalent of the viscount (q.v.) ; sometimes the two titles were combined, but more usually in those provinces where there were chatelains there were no vis counts, and vice versa. The title chdtelain continued also to be applied to the inferior officer, or concierge chdtelain, who was merely a castellan in the English seise. The power and status of chatelains necessarily varied greatly at different periods and places; occasionally they were great nobles with an extensive jurisdiction, as in the Low Countries (see BURGRAVE). The cjiatellenie (castellania), or jurisdiction of the chatelain, as a territorial division for certain judicial and administrative pur poses, survived the disappearance of the title and office of the chdtelain in France, and continued till the Revolution.
See Achille Luchaire, Manuel des institutions francaises (1892) ; Du Cange, Glossarium, s. "Castellanus."