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Ministerialis (plural ministeriales; a post-classical Latin word, used in English, meaning originally "servitor" or "agent", in a broad range of senses) were people raised up from serfdom to be placed in positions of power and responsibility. In the Holy Roman Empire, in the High Middle Ages, the word and its German translations, ''Ministeriale(n)'' and ''Dienstmann'', came to describe those unfree nobles who made up a large majority of what could be described as the German knighthood during that time. What began as an irregular arrangement of workers with a wide variety of duties and restrictions rose in status and wealth to become the power brokers of an empire. The ''ministeriales'' were not legally free people, but held social rank. Legally, their liege lord determined who they could or could not marry, and they were not able to transfer their lords' properties to heirs or spouses. They were, however, considered members of the nobility since that was a social designation, not a legal one. ''Ministeriales'' were trained knights, held military responsibilities and surrounded themselves with the trappings of knighthood, and so were accepted as noblemen.〔Arnold 12–29 and especially 69〕 Both women and men held the ministerial status, and the laws on ministeriales made no distinction between the sexes in how they were treated.〔 * Leyser 33〕 ==Origins to 11th century== The origin of the ministerial pedigree is obscure. A mediaeval chronicler reported that Julius Caesar defeated the Gauls and rewarded his Germanic allies with Roman rank. Princes were awarded senatorial status and their lesser knights ('minores...milites') received Roman citizenship. He assigned these 'knights' to princes but urged the princes "to treat the knights not as slaves and servants but rather to receive their services as the knights' lords and defenders. "Hence it is," the chronicler explained, "that German knights, unlike their counterparts in other nations, are called servants of the royal fisc and princely ministerials."〔''Chronicon Ebersheimense'', ed. Ludwig Weiland, MGH SS 23 (Hanover, 1874), pp. 432–33, as quoted in Freed, RMGN 30〕 In England there was no group of knights referred to as ''ministeriales,'' for the tight grip that English lords held upon their knights gave them less freedom than their German counterparts who had codified (and well-defended) rights.〔Delbrűck 230〕 Abbot Adalard of Corbie (d. 826) was Emperor Charlemagne's chief adviser, and described the running of the government in his work ''De ordine palatii''. There he praises the great merits of his imperial staff, made up of household ''servii proprii'' (serfs) who were the first ministerials authoritatively recorded.〔Bachrach, Bernard S. "Charlemagne and the Carolingian General Staff" ''Journal of Military History'' 66, no. 2 (2002) p. 316-7〕 His letters specify that not only were they considered exceptional by their superiors, but the ministerials also mentored their successors in a form of administrative apprenticeship program.〔Bachrach, p. 325〕 This may be the origin of ministerials as individuals in a set position. It was Emperor Conrad II (990-1039) who first referred to ministerials as a distinct class. He had them organized into a staff of officials and administrators. In documents they are referred to as ''ministerialis vir'', or ministerial men.〔Thompson 470.〕 ''Ministeriales'' (or "ministerials", as Anglicized by Benjamin Arnold) of the post-Classical period who were not in the royal household were at first bondsmen or serfs taken from the ''servi proprii'', or household servants (as opposed to the ''servi casati'' who were already tilling the land on a tenure.) These servants were entrusted with special responsibilities by their overlords, such as the management of a farm, administration of finances (chancery) or of various possessions. Free nobles (''Edelfreie'') disliked entering into servile relationships with other nobles, so lords of a necessity recruited bailiffs, administrators and officials from among their unfree servants who could also fulfill a household warrior role.〔Freed, RMGN 569〕 From the 11th century the term came to denote functionaries living as members of the knightly class with either a lordship of their own or one delegated from a higher lord as well as some political influence (''inter alia'' the exercise of offices at court). Kings placed military requirements upon their princes, who in turn, placed requirements upon their vassals. The free nobles under a prince may have a bond of vassalage that let them get out of serving, so kings, princes, bishops and archbishops were able to recruit unfree persons into military service. Such a body made up the group called ''ministeriales''.〔Delbrück 101–103, 111 note 10〕 There were two sorts of ministerials: ''casati'', who administered lands and estates for a liege and were paid from the proceeds of the land and ''non-casati'', who held administrative and military positions but were paid in either a fixed amount of coin or by a portion of the proceeds of mills, road or bridge tolls, or ferry fees or port taxes.〔Ganshof 151〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ministerialis」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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