Terminology help?

[kengr]

Working on a story idea. It's mostly set in a large "household" Somewhere between late medieval and Victorian. Not our history, but should have a fair bit in common.

The "master" is either a really low ranking noble, or just an important merchant or some such. Even a doctor/lawyer/other "profession".

Lots of staff, etc.

What do you call the person in charge of keeping the household running? I'm thinking more of the female staff and "housekeeping type stuff. For now I'm just call her "the Housekeeper".

Important character is a young girl, not a servant, but not exactly family either. Supposedly she's an orphan, and the Master of the house owed her family a great debt (of honor) or some such. Not sure what to call her? "Fosterling " comes to mind, but I think that's more early medieval.

I have reasons for not wanting her to be adopted. At the same time, I see her spending at least some time helping out around the household as directed by the Housekeeper.

But she is also spending time with the Master's wife. And being sent out for some schooling.

So any ideas on what I should refer to her as?

Comments

[freetrav.livejournal.com]

Since I get the impression you’re more interested in a Victorian feel than a medieval one (and what happened to the Renaissance, between them?), I googled “Victorian household staff” and came up with http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/servantwages.htm. Your “for now …” turns out to be more or less correct; the Housekeeper was in charge of the female staff and furnishings; running the household as an entity (including dealing with vendors and tradesmen) was in the hands of the (male) Butler or Majordomo.

As far as the orphan?-not-family-not-servant, “fosterling” would be more-or-less OK, but historically, there’s a fairly bright line between servant and not-servant. What you describe would be a servant, the “lady’s maid”, and she would be in the personal employ of the Lady-of-the-House, not part of the household staff under the Butler/Majordomo and Housekeeper. An alternative might be “lady-in-waiting”, with much the same duties, but acknowledged not to be a servant even in the Lady-of-the-House’s personal employ. That you are having her sent for schooling suggests lady-in-waiting to be more appropriate than lady’s-maid.

[kengr]

I wasn't going to list all the periods from "late medieval" thru Victorian. Also, it's about as Victorian (or Edwardian) as Lord Darcy's milieu.

The "helping out around the house was based on the sort of things pages did. Though that went out of fashion a bit earlier than I want to go.

I'd thought about "lady in waiting", except there's a *big* snag. The Master's wife *dies* and the new wife needs to be kept away from the girl as much as is practical (among other things, I had that "debt of honor" bit to help preclude her trying to dismiss the girl. That's also why I don't want her adopted by the Master.

Without getting *too* spoilery, the new wife is *not* a nice person, but hides it well most of the time...

I neeed the girtl to seem to be someone not worthy of *her* notice, yet have been spending a fair bit of time with the late wife.

Also need to insulate her from dismissal or assignment to the nastier jobs.

Thanks for Majordomo. I couldn't recall it, and "butler" doesn't quite "feel" right for the male "head servant".

[polydad.livejournal.com]

The term I'm familiar with from my early SCA days was "Chatelaine." I think the English equivalent is "Castellan," i.e., Keeper of the Castle.

[kengr]

I meant a term for the *girl*, not the female in charge. But thanks anyway.