castellany

thumb|1707 map of the castellania of Lille, established in [[1039.]] A castellania was the smallest administrative subdivision of land in medieval Malta, Poland, Hungary and the Netherlands, signifying the territory over which the master of a castle exercised his ordinary rights. At its centre was the castle, the most important place in the castellania, administered by a castellan (castellanus in Latin). In south-eastern France from the 11th century onwards such a subdivision was called a castellania, a châtellenie or a mandement (from the Latin mandamentum) and covered the administrative, military and financial functions of a territory held, exploited from and protected by a castle.

==Origins== In France the term mandement or châtellenie were used for a new territory which gathered around a motte and bailey castle built by a member of the rural aristocracy after the failure of central power. They appeared very early on in the north of what is now the Drôme département, more specifically in the Romanais, which during that period was overrun by around twelve motte and bailey castles, including eight outside the ancient Carolingians districts.