An advocatus was an advocate in the Middle Ages. It was used in Continental Europe as the title of the lay lord charged with the protection and representation in secular matters of an abbey. The office is traceable as early as the beginning of the 5th century in the Roman Empire, the churches being allowed to choose defensores from the body of advocates to represent them in the courts. In the Frankish Kingdom, under the Merovingians, these lay representatives of the churches appear as agentes, defensores and advocati; and under the Carolingians it was made obligatory on bishops, abbots and abbesses to appoint such officials in every county where they held property. The office was not hereditary, the advocatus being chosen, either by the abbot alone, or by the abbot and bishop concurrently with the count. The same causes that led to the development of the feudal system also affected the advocatus. In times of confusion churches and abbeys needed not so much a legal representative as an armed protector, while as feudal immunities were conceded to the ecclesiastical foundations, these required a representative to defend their rights and to fulfill their secular obligations to the state, such as leading the ecclesiastical levies to war. A new class of advocatus thus arose, whose office, commonly rewarded by a grant of land, crystallized into a fief, which, like other fiefs, had by the beginning of the 12th century become hereditary. It has been suggested that Barrister#Advocates in Scotland be merged into this article or section. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Continental Europe, also referred to as mainland Europe or simply the Continent, is the continent of Europe, explicitly excluding European islands and peninsulae. ... A lord is a male who has power and authority. ... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ... An abbey (from the Latin abbatia, which is derived from the Syriac abba, father), is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serve as the spiritual father or mother of the community. ... Europe in 450 The 5th century is the period from 401 - 500 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... For other uses, see Roman Empire (disambiguation). ... Statue of Charlemagne (also called Karl der Große, Charles the Great) in Frankfurt, Germany. ... For other uses of the term Merovingian, see Merovingian (disambiguation). ... A church building (or simply church) is a building used in Christian worship. ... The Carolingians were a dynasty of rulers that eventually controlled the Frankish realm and its successors from the 8th to the 10th century, officially taking over the kingdom from the Merovingian dynasty in 751. ... A bishop is an ordained member of the Christian clergy who, in certain Christian churches, holds a position of authority. ... Abbots coat of arms The word abbot, meaning father, has been used as a Christian clerical title in various, mainly monastic, meanings. ... An Abbess (Latin abbatissa, fem. ... A county is generally a sub-unit of regional self-government within a sovereign jurisdiction. ... // Use of the term In common usage, property means ones own thing and refers to the relationship between individuals and the objects which they see as being their own to dispense with as they see fit. ... For the scientific journal Heredity see Heredity (journal) Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characters from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and... Look up Count in Wiktionary, the free dictionary Countess redirects here. ... Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ... Immunity confers a status on a person or body that makes that person or body free from otherwise legal obligations such as, for example, liability for damages or punishment for criminal acts. ... This article should be transwikied to wiktionary Ecclesiastical means pertaining to the Church (especially Christianity) as an organized body of believers and clergy, with a stress on its juridical and institutional structure. ... The United States detonated an atomic bomb over Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, effectively ending World War II. The bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima (on August 6) immediately killed between 100,000 and 200,000 people and are the only known instances nuclear weapons have ever been used in war. ... Under the system of feudalism, a fiefdom, fief, feud or fee, consisted of heritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord in return for a vassal knights service (usually fealty, military service, and security). ... (11th century - 12th century - 13th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 12th century was that century which lasted from 1101 to 1200. ...

In France, the advocati (avoués) were of two classes. The first class was the great barons, who held the advocateship of an abbey or abbeys rather as an office than a fief, though they were indemnified for the protection they afforded by a domain and preach revenues granted by the abbey: thus the "duke of avoué". Normandy was advocatus of nearly all the abbeys in the duchy. The second class was the petty seigneurs, who held their avoueries as hereditary fiefs and often as their sole means of subsistence. The avoid of an abbey, of this class, corresponded to the vidame of a bishop. Their function was generally to represent the abbot in his capacity as feudal lord; to act as his representative in the courts of his superior lord; to exercise secular justice in the abbot's name in the abbatial court; to lead the retainers of the abbey to battle under the banner of the patron saint. Baron is a specific title of nobility or a more generic feudal qualification. ... Domain has several meanings: // General some kind of territory, such as (for example) a demesne or a realm synonymous with a metaphorical field, e. ... Preaching is an activity usually found in church services, and is often performed by ordained ministers of religion or authorised laypeople. ... Mont Saint Michel, one of the famous symbols of Normandy. ... A duchy is a territory, fief, or domain ruled by a duke or duchess. ... Generic plan of a mediaeval manor; open-field strip farming, some enclosures, triennial crop rotation, demesne and manse, common woodland, pasturage and meadow Manorialism or Seigneurialism describes the organization of rural economy and society in medieval western and parts of central Europe, characterised by the vesting of legal and economic... For the scientific journal Heredity see Heredity (journal) Heredity (the adjective is hereditary) is the transfer of characters from parent to offspring, either through their genes or through the social institution called inheritance (for example, a title of nobility is passed from individual to individual according to relevant customs and... Vidame, a French corruption of the official Latin term vicedominus (vice-lord), was a feudal title in France. ... Lady Justice - allegory of Justice as woman with sword and with book - statue at court building. ... A court is an official, public forum which a sovereign establishes by lawful authority to adjudicate disputes, and to dispense civil, labour, administrative and criminal justice under the law. ... In several forms of the church of Christianity, but especially in Roman Catholicism, a patron saint has special affinity for a trade or group. ...

In England, the word advocalus was never used to denote a hereditary representative of an abbot; but in some of the larger abbeys there were hereditary stewards whose functions and privileges were not dissimilar to those of the continental advocati. The word advocatus, however, was in constant use in England to denote the patron of an ecclesiastical benefice, whose sole right of any importance was a hereditary one of presenting a parson to the bishop for institution. In this way the hereditary right of presentation to a benefice came to be called in English an "advowson" (advocatio). Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004... Generally, patronage is the act of supporting or favoring some person, group, or institution. ... Originally a benefice was a gift of land for life as a reward (Latin beneficium, means to do well) for services rendered. ... A parson is a member of the Protestant clergy. ... Advowson is the right in English law of presenting a nominee to a vacant ecclesiastical benefice. ...

The advocatus played a more important part in the feudal polity of the Empire and of the Low Countries than in France, where his functions, confined to the protection of the interests of religious houses, were superseded from the 13th century onwards by the growth of the central power and the increasing efficiency of the royal administration. They had, indeed, long ceased to be effective for their original purpose; and from the time when their office became a fief they had taken advantage of their position to pillage and suppress those whom it was their function to defend. The medieval records, not in France only, are full of complaints by abbots of their usurpations, exactions and acts of violence. The Low Countries, the historical region of de Nederlanden, are the countries (see Country) on low-lying land around the delta of the Rhine, Scheldt, and Meuse (Maas) rivers. ... Religious is a term with both a technical definition and folk use. ... (12th century - 13th century - 14th century - other centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. ... The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times. ... Violence refers to acts of aggression and abuse which causes or intends to cause criminal injury or harm to persons, and (to a lesser extent) animals and property. ...

In Germany, the title of advocatus (Vogt) was given not only to the advocati of churches and abbeys, but to the officials appointed, from early in the Middle Ages, by the German emperor to administer their immediate domains, in Vogt contradistinction to the counts, who had become hereditary princes of the Empire. The territory so administered was known as Vogtland (terra advocatorum), a name still sometimes employed to designate the strip of country which embraces the principalities of Reuss and adjacent portions of Saxony, Prussia and Bavaria. These imperial advocati tended in their turn to become hereditary. Sometimes the emperor himself assumed the title of Vogt of some particular part of his immediate domain. In the Netherlands as well as in Germany advocati were often appointed in the cities, by the overlord or by the emperor, sometimes to take the place of the bailiff, sometimes alongside this official. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... An emperor is a (male) monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. ... Domain has several meanings: // General some kind of territory, such as (for example) a demesne or a realm synonymous with a metaphorical field, e. ... Prince Albert of Monaco on the left represents a principality where he wields adminisitrative authority. ... Alternate use: Reuss River Reuss is the name of several historical states in todays Thuringia, Germany. ... The Free State of Saxony (German: Freistaat Sachsen; Sorbian: Swobodny Stata Sakska) is at a land area of 18,413 km² and a population of 4. ... Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 Prussia (German: ; Latin: Borussia, Prutenia; Lithuanian: ; Polish: ; Old Prussian: PrÅ«sa) was, most recently, a historic state originating in East Prussia, an area which for centuries had substantial influence on German and European history. ... The Free State of Bavaria  (German: Freistaat Bayern), with an area of 70,553 km² (27,241 square miles) and 12. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... A city is an urban area, differentiated from a town, village, or hamlet by size, population density, importance, or legal status. ... In feudalism, an overlord is a supreme lord; one who is the lord of other lords. ... A Bailiff in a United States courtroom Bailiff (from Late Latin bajulivus, adjectival form of bajulus) is a governor or custodian (cf. ...

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.