Castellania

A castellania was the smallest administrative subdivision of land in medieval Malta, Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands, signifying the territory over which the master of a castle exercised his ordinary rights.

[1] In south-eastern France from the 11th century onwards such a subdivision was called a castellania, a châtellenie or a mandement (from the Latin mandamentum) and covered the administrative, military and financial functions of a territory held, exploited from and protected by a castle.

[2] In France the term mandement or châtellenie were used for a new territory which gathered around a motte and bailey castle built by a member of the rural aristocracy after the failure of central power.

They appeared very early on in the north of what is now the Drôme département, more specifically in the Romanais, which during that period was overrun by around twelve motte and bailey castles, including eight outside the ancient Carolingians districts.

By extension and by tort, any owner of a castle (whether received, taken over as a fiefdom or raised on his allod) over which a lord exercised his rights was also called a castellan.