Vidame

Vidame, a French term descended from mediaeval Latin vicedominus ('vice-lord', which may mean 'vice-count', depending on the feudal status of the territory), was a feudal title in France. The vidame was originally, like the avoué (advocatus), the royal or crown judge, a secular official chosen by the bishop of the diocese, with the consent of the count, to perform functions on-behalf of the prince-count in the church's earthly interest, canonically incompatible with the clerical state, or at least deemed inappropriate, especially involving violence, even in the service of justice, and to act as protector, rather in the tradition of the Roman Defensores.

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.

History

During the Carolingian epoch, advocatus and vice-dominus were interchangeable terms; and it was only in the 11th century that they became generally differentiated: the title of avoué being commonly reserved for nobles charged with the protection of an abbey, that of vidame for those guarding an episcopal see.