I was wondering what’s the difference (if there’s any) between seneschal, a castellan and a steward? the only seneschal I found in the books is Garth the Gross and Vayon Poole the only steward.

warsofasoiaf:

Well, a castellan is typically in charge of military matters of a castle (hence the name, derived from the word castle). So he would be in charge of the garrison, dispensing justice in the name of his lord, and so on. A seneschal is in charge of the domestic administration, servants and finances of a household. A steward was a chief representative and enabled to make decisions and act on the behalf of his patron. As you can imagine, all three of these positions have a great deal of overlap, as does a majordomo or a viceroy. Often the duties were combined and entrusted to a single person, this person would be in essence the lord’s representative to handle affairs when he was not present, a combined representative and chief of staff. I’ve seen the terms be used in fashions where they’re almost interchangeable.

But @racefortheironthrone, please correct me if I’m wrong.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

One complicating fact, however. Some of these titles went in and out of use over time, and could sometimes be used to describe overlapping offices. So at times, the titles of steward and seneschal were interchangeable, for example.