VIDAME (

See also:

• LAT

Lat.

See also:

• VICE

vice-

See also:

• DOMINUS (from an Indo-European root dam-, cf. Gr. Sapav, to subdue, and Eng. " tame ")

dominus)  , a French feudal title . The vidame was originally, like the avoue (advocatus), an official chosen by the bishop of the diocese, with the consent of the count (see ADVOCATE) . Unlike the advocate, however, the vice-dominus was at the outset an ecclesiastic, who acted as the bishop's lieutenant (locum tenens) or vicar . But the causes that changed the character of the advocatus operated also in the case of the vidame . During the Carolingian epoch, indeed, advocatus and vice-dominus were interchangeable terms; and it was only in the 11th century `that they became generally differentiated: the title of avoue being commonly reserved for nobles charged with the protection of an abbey, that of vidame for those guarding an episcopal see . With the crystallization of the feudal system in the 12th century the office of vidame, like that of avoue, had become an hereditary fief . As a title, however, it was much less common and also less dignified than that of avoue . The advocati were often great barons who added their function of protector of an abbey to their own temporal sovereignty; whereas the vidames were usually petty nobles, who exercised their office in strict subordination to the bishop . Their chief functions were: to protect the temporalities of the see, to represent the bishop at the count's court of justice, to exercise the bishop's temporal jurisdiction in his name (placitum or curia vice-domini) and to lead the episcopal levies to war . In return they usually had a house near the episcopal palace, a domain within and without the city, and sometimes the right to levy certain dues on the city . The vidames usually took their title from the see they represented, but not infrequently they styled themselves, not after their official fief, but after their private seigneuries . Thus the vidame de Picquigny was the representative of the bishop of Amiens, the vidame de Gerberoy of the bishop of Beauvais .

In many

sees there were no vidames, their function being exercised by viscounts or chatelains . With the growth of the central power and of that of the municipalities the vidames gradually lost all importance, and the title became merely honorary See A . Luchaire, Manuel des institutions francaises (Paris, 1892); Du Cange,, Glossarium (ed . Niort, 1887), s . " Vice-dominus "; A . Mallet, " Etude hist. sur les avou6s et les vidames," in Position des theses de l'Ecole des chartes (an . 1870-72) .