Lýfing steallere[[221]].
Ælfred regis strator, 1052[[222]].
Osgod Clapa steallere, 1047[[223]].
The Steward, usually called Dapifer or Discifer regis, answered to the Seneschal of the Franks (the Truchsess of the German empire); his especial business was to superintend all that appertained to the service of the royal table, under which we must probably include the arrangements for the general support of the household, both at the ordinary and temporary residences of the king. His Anglosaxon name was Discþegn, or thane of the table; and I find the following nobles recorded as holding this office:—
| Eata dux et regis discifer, | under | Offa, 785[[224]]. | |
| Wulfgár discifer, | ... | Eádwig, 959[[225]]. | |
| Æðelmǽr discþegn, | ... | Æðelred, 1006[[226]]. | |
| Raulf dapifer, Ésgar dapifer, | } | ... | Eádweard, 1060[[227]]. |
| Atsur regis dapifer, Yfing regis dapifer, | } | ... | Eádweard, 1062[[228]]. |
In the year 946 Florence tells us of a dapifer regis, whom he does not name. The queen and princes of the blood had also a similar officer for the management of their households. In 1060 we read of Godwine, reginae dapifer[[229]], and Æðelred’s son Æðelstán had a Discþegn named Ælfmǽr[[230]]. High as this office was, we yet cannot expect to find in it that overwhelming power wielded in later times by the Seneschal or Dapifer Angliae,—a power which might easily have converted the Grandmesnils and De Montforts into the Ebroins or Pepins of a newly established dynasty, and after their fall was wisely retained in the royal family by our kings. We have now, as is well known, only a Lord High Steward, or Major domus, on particular occasions, for which he is especially created: but the Lord Steward of the Household is an officer of great power and high dignity in the Court of our kings. A Major domus regiae occurs, as far as I know, but once in our Ante-Norman history, and may there probably denote only the dapifer or seneschal: he is mentioned by Florence, an. 1040, as “Stir, major domus ... magnae dignitatis vir”; but we hear nothing more of him, or of any such influence as the corresponding high officer exercised in the Frankish court. The title Regiae procurator aulae, borne by the great Esgár, whom we have also seen among the Marshals, may very likely only refer to his office of dapifer[[231]], which, from the list given above, it will be evident that he held.
The last great officer is the Pincerna, in Germany the Schenk or Buticularius,—the Butler. What his particular duties were, beyond his personal service at the royal board, and no doubt his general superintendence of the royal cellars, we cannot now discover; but the office was one of the highest dignity, and was held by nobles of the loftiest birth and greatest consideration. Óslác, a direct descendant from the royal Jutish blood of Stuff and Wihtgár, was the pincerna of king Æðelwulf; and by this prince’s daughter, “femina nobilis ingenio, nobilis et genere,”—his first wife Ósburh,—Æðelwulf became the father of Ælfred[[232]]. The Anglosaxon name of this officer may have been Byrele, or Scenca, but I am not aware of its occurrence. The following are among the Pincernae mentioned.
Dudda pincernus, about 780[[233]].
Sigewulf pincerna, 892[[234]].
Æðelsige pincerna, 959[[235]].