The Revival of an Ancient Ecclesiastical Office (The Second Part)

The Revival Of The Office Of Vidame Today



As the office of the Vidame is a venerable ecclesiastical office, the honorable title of Vidame maybe granted canonically i.e., in accordance with canon law, to deserving Christians by bishops possessing valid Apostolic Succession. A bishop may restore this ancient honorable office if he so pleases.

The Revival of the Office and Title of Vidame.


We, The Most Reverend Valdiveso Paschal Matthews, in ecclesia, Tau Mikael III Basilides, by the grace of the Eternal, Metropolitan Catholicos of The Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, Sovereign Catholicate of the Inland Seas, following the ancient custom of Our August Predecessors in the One Undivided Church in accordance with Article 50 of the Council of Mayence (813 A.D) and the canons and traditions of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, hereby declare:

Article the First: The Office of the Metropolitan Catholicos possesses the Episcopal prerogative to and shall there by grant the ecclesiastical title and office of Vidame or Vidamesse in four degrees, in accordance with the canons and needs of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar.

The Office and Title of Vidame shall be granted as a hereditary (transmissible) or life (personal) title. Within the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, the office and title of Vidame is recognized as an ecclesiastical chivalric office and an ecclesiastical noble title. This office and title may be bestowed by any, any combination of, or all of the following:

Taking an oath of fidelity (All members)
Letters Patent (All members)
A Chivalric Accolade (All members)
A medal (Knight Commander, Knight Grand Cross, Prince Grand Master)
By the presentation of a ring (Knight Grand Cross, Prince Grand Master)

Grand Master – Sovereign Prince (hereditary)
Knight Grand Cross (hereditary)
Knight Commander (personal/life)
Knight (personal/life)
Knight Banneret (personal/life)

Knight Bachelor (personal/life)
Squire (renews)
Page (renews)
Companion (renews)

A) The Vidame of the First Degree shall be a Vidame Paladin, which title is bestowed and held at the pleasure of the Office of Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, or Our duly appointed agents; the prenominal title being “His Serene Highness” for males and “Her Serene Highness” for females; The Office and Title of Vidame Paladin shall only be held by Prince or Princess Grand Masters of ecclesiastical chivalric orders founded by The Office of the Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar. The Office and Title of Vidame Paladin is the only office/title of Vidame that may be non-initiatic and yet hold a Damcaran noble title, that of Abeto or Prince/ss. This title must be bestowed/granted by taking an oath of fidelity, Letters Patent, a Chivalric Accolade, presentation and acceptance of a medal, and presentation and acceptance of a ring. A Prince Grand Master is a Vidame Paladin.

B) The Vidame of the Second Degree shall be a Vidame Castellan, which is bestowed and held at the pleasure of The Office of the Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, or Our duly appointed agents; the prenominal title being “Lord” for males and “Lady” for females, and the post nominal being those of the Order to which the Knight belongs. This title must be bestowed by taking an oath of fidelity, Letters Patent, a Chivalric Accolade, and presentation and acceptance of a medal. A Knight Grand Cross and a Knight Commander are Vidame Castellans.

C) The Vidame of the Third Degree shall be a Vidame Defensor, which is bestowed and held at the pleasure of The Office of Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, or Our duly appointed agents; the prenominal title being “Sir” for males and “Syr” or “Dame” for females, and the post nominal being those of the Order to which the Knight belongs. This title must be bestowed by taking an oath of fidelity, the presentation and acceptance of Letters Patent, and receiving a Chivalric Accolade.

A Knight and a Knight Banneret are Vidame Defensors.

D) The Vidame of the Fourth Degree shall be a Vidame Advocate, which is bestowed and held at the pleasure of The Office of Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, or Our duly appointed agents; the prenominal title being “Sir” for males and “Syr” or “Dame” for females for Knight Bachelors, and “Frater” for males and “Soror” for females, and the post nominal being those of the Order to which the Knight belongs. This title must be bestowed by taking an oath of fidelity, and the presentation and acceptance of Letters Patent. A Knight Bachelor, a Squire, a Page and a Companion are Vidame Advocates.

Article the Second: The hereditary title of Vidame is transmissible to all the legitimate male or female descendants in the lineage of the Vidame or Vidamesse. The life title of Vidame is not transmissible.

Article the Third: Thus the spouse and the children of a hereditary Vidame or Vidamesse bear legitimately the same title of Vidame or Vidamesse hereditarily for their children.

Article the Fourth: This Office and Title is awarded to the deserving defenders and/or supporters of the Church of Jesus Christ and the Christian Faith. These persons are chosen by decree by the Office of the Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, or Our duly appointed agents.

Article the Fifth: The title of nobility of Vidame or Vidamesse is attached to the patronymic or matronymic surname.

Article the Sixth: As an Armiger, the Vidame or Vidamesse of the First, Second and Third Degrees has the right to use and to have on their armorial bearings the traditional coronet of a Vidame: A gold circle decorated with pearls and precious stones, surmounted by four crosses, three being visible.

Article the Seventh: The Vidame/ Vidamesse is a direct vassal, i.e. agent, of the Lord Bishop, as an Episcopal Paladin, Castellan, Defensor or Advocate , and as such, the Vidame/ Vidamesse takes an oath of fidelity to the Lord Bishop, and by the presentation of, and accepting of, a ring, a medal, a Chivalric Accolade, and/or a Letters Patent, contingent upon the custom of any particular order established by The Office of the Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, The Vidame or Vidamesse is ennobled. While some Vidames will receive hereditary appointments and others life appointments, all Vidames serve at the pleasure of the Office of the Metropolitan Catholicos of the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar, and may be removed for bringing disrepute to their office and title, their Order or the Oriental Apostolic Church of Damcar.

The Revival of an Ancient Ecclesiastical Office (The First Part)

The Office of Vidame

In the Ninth century, Bishops and Abbots ruled important estates and lands. But the Canon Law of the Church forbade the clerics from participating in the judicial and military aspects of the administration of these estates. Therefore, it became necessary for the bishops and abbots to appoint ecclesiastical officers to serve as their secular agents.

During May and June of 813 A.D., the Council of Mainz was held at a time when the Churches of the Occident and Orient were still in full communion, i.e., before the schism of 1054. This local Council took place in Mainz, Germany in the monastery of Saint Alban. It was convoked by order of the Emperor Charlemagne in the presence of four representatives of the Emperor, the four Archbishops (of Cologne, Mainz, Salzburg and Worms), thirty bishops and twenty-five abbots and an indeterminate number of laymen. The Fathers of the Council promulgated 56 canons which were enforced first in the empire of Charlemagne. They later became part of the Church for centuries to come as elements of the Western Canon Law. One can find here notably the reminder that the bishop only manages properties of the Church, but he has to be assisted by laymen. So, in its Fiftieth Article, the Council of Mainz states: "We decree that it is good for the bishops, abbots and other clerics to have vidames (pronouned "veedaams"), employees, advocates and defenders."

In the "History of Flodoard" (10th century) we read that, “...they (The Bishops and Abbots) should have good and capable Vidames and Advocates, and where they should come, they should accomplish acts of justice...” also in "Le Carpentier" (17th century) paraphrasing: the Vidames were particularly created and chosen to the protection of the bishops and the administration of their properties, just as the Advocates were established to govern and to defend the temporal properties of the great and wealthy abbeys and churches, and the lords of the manor were established to maintain the obedience and good discipline of the towns and their peoples.”

During the Ninth century these terms are used interchangeably. However, in the 11th century one sees the term of Advocate reserved only for the protectors of abbeys while the Vidames were appointed by the bishop. Often the Advocates were powerful local lords. They added their abbatial function to their other offices, like the Count of Vexin, who was the Advocate of the abbey of Saint Denis.

Around the 13th century the institution of Advocate has virtually disappeared. On the other hand, the Vidames were not powerful lords, and exercised always their duties under the jurisdiction of their bishops. Originally ecclesiastical officers, the Vidames became hereditary like all other feudal officers (though the office of Vidame did not ennoble its' possesor: they held whatever rank they possessed before) passing to the eldest son and next to the eldest daughter. The wife or the daughter of a Vidame, as well as any woman who held the office, was titled Vidamesse.

The historian François Velde writes: “As Loyseau (Traité des Seigneuries, 1608, p.153) says, the Vidame was to the bishop what the viscount was to the count; their role was to administer, manage and protect the estates and possessions of the episcopal see, to exercise, under the bishop’s seal, the episcopal jurisdiction, to represent the bishop at the count’s court, and to lead the bishop’s troops in battle.

Gille André de la Roque writes in “Le Traité de la Noblesse” in 1678: “Pasquier (16th century) ranks the Vidames after the counts, and says that they must precede the viscounts because they represent the bishop.”

In his juridical study entitled “Les diverses espèces de noblesse... “[The diverse kinds of nobility...] Claude François Ménestrier (XVIIIth century) defines the Vidame as “...a secular lord who represented the bishop in the exercise of temporal justice and in the command of armies incompatible with the episcopal nature.” (p.498) To these judicial and military powers various powers were added, depending on the particular diocese : Collection of tax, guard of the episcopal palace and management of the estates of the bishop.

The lordship of the Vidame consisted in a house near the episcopal palace and a territorial domain in the city or nearly countryside: thus the vidamé [lordship of the Vidame in French] of Chartres consisted in a "parcel" in the city (located within the episcopal gardens, in the 17th century on the Grand Rue) and the lordship of La Ferté-Arnault, renamed La Ferté-Vidame.”

The Vidame was a direct ecclesiastical agent (a vassal) of the bishop to whom he takes an oath and pays homage. A new Vidame would be appointed by the bishop who marked this appointment to the office by the presentation of a ring to the new officer. As an Armiger, the Vidame bore a coronet on their armorial bearings; the coronet was a gold circle, decorated with pearls and precious stones, and surmounted by four crosses. These coronets of rank didn’t come into use before the Sixteenth century.

Vidames were mainly found in Northern France, though some Vidames had existed in England, Germany and in the "Low Countries" (Netherlands and Belgium).