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.