Butler vs. Seneschal — What's the Difference?

A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry.

The word seneschal () can have several different meanings, all of which reflect certain types of supervising or administering in a historic context. Most commonly, a seneschal was a senior position filled by a court appointment within a royal, ducal, or noble household during the Middle Ages and early Modern period – historically a steward or majordomo of a medieval great house.

The chief manservant of a house.

An official in a medieval noble household in charge of domestic arrangements and the administration of servants; a steward or major-domo.

The head servant in a household who is usually in charge of food service, the care of silverware, and the deportment of the other servants.

A steward, particularly (historical) one in charge of a medieval nobleman's estate.

A manservant having charge of wines and liquors.

(historical) An officer of the crown in late medieval and early modern France who served as a kind of governor and chief justice of the royal court in Normandy and Languedoc.

The chief male servant of a household who has charge of other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs various personal services.

An officer in the houses of princes and dignitaries, in the Middle Ages, who had the superintendence of feasts and domestic ceremonies; a steward. Sometimes the seneschal had the dispensing of justice, and was given high military commands.

A valet, a male personal attendant.

The chief steward or butler of a great household

To buttle, to dispense wines or liquors; to take the place of a butler.

An officer in a king's or a nobleman's household, whose principal business it is to take charge of the liquors, plate, etc.; the head servant in a large house.

A manservant (usually the head servant of a household) who has charge of wines and the table