Dish-bearers and butlers were thegns who acted as personal attendants of kings in Anglo-Saxon England. Royal feasts played an important role in consolidating community and hierarchy among the elite, and dish-bearers and butlers served the food and drinks at these meals. Thegns were substantial landowners who occupied the third lay (non-religious) rank of the aristocracy in English society, after the king and ealdormen. Dish-bearers and butlers ranked above ordinary thegns in lists of witnesses to charters, and they probably also carried out diverse military and administrative duties as required by the king. No dish- bearer or butler is known to have served in the reigns of two different kings, suggesting that the position was a personal one which ended with the king's death. Some went on to have illustrious careers as ealdormen, but most never rose higher than thegn. In the later Anglo-Saxon period, queens (example depicted) and æthelings (sons of kings) also had dish- bearers.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dish-bearers_and_butlers_in_Anglo-Saxon_England
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1591:
Eighty Years' War: Dutch and English forces relieved the siege of Knodsenburg in the Spanish Netherlands, having defeated the Duke of Parma's army in the field. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Knodsenburg
1893:
The Corinth Canal was formally opened, bisecting the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in Greece to connect the Ionian Sea's Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea's Saronic Gulf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corinth_Canal
1950:
Korean War: After American troops withdrew, North Korean forces captured the village of Yongdong in South Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Yongdong
2007:
Pratibha Patil was sworn in as the first female president of India. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pratibha_Patil
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
caddie: 1. (Scotland) 2. (also attributively, obsolete) Synonym of cadet (“a gentleman (often a younger son from a noble family) who joined the military without a commission as a career”) 3. (by extension, archaic) A young man; a boy, a lad; specifically (derogatory), one regarded as of low social status; a ragamuffin. 4. (by extension, historical) A person engaged to run errands such as carrying goods and messages; a commissionaire, an errand boy or errand girl, a gofer; specifically, a member of an organized group of such persons working in large Scottish cities and towns in the early 18th century. 5. (by extension, golf, also attributively) A person hired to assist a golfer by carrying their golf clubs and providing advice. 6. (intransitive, golf) Chiefly followed by for: to serve as a caddie (noun sense 2) for a golfer. [...] https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/caddie
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
A just society must strive with all its might to right wrongs even if righting wrongs is a highly perilous undertaking. But if it is to survive, a just society must be strong and resolute enough to deal swiftly and relentlessly with those who would mistake its good will for weakness. --Eric Hoffer https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_Hoffer