C — Chair-days to Chancellor of England (Part 3 of 3)

II. Sir John Dymoke succeeded through the female line also. Since then the office has continued in the Dymoke family.

“These Lincoln lands the Conqueror gave,
That England's glove they might convey
To knight renowned amongst the brave-
The baron bold of Fonteney.”
An Anglo-Norman Ballad modernised.

Chance (See Main Chance .)

Chancel means a lattice-screen. In the Roman law courts the lawyers were cut off from the public by such a screen. (Latin, cancellus.)
Chancel of a church. That part of a church which contains the altar, and the seats set apart for the choir. It is generally raised a step or more above the floor of the nave.

Chancellor A petty officer in the Roman law courts stationed at the chancel (q.v.) as usher of the court. In the Eastern Empire he was a secretary or notary, subsequently invested with judicial functions. The office was introduced into England by Edward the Confessor, and under the Norman kings the chancellor was made official secretary of all important legal documents. In France, the chancellor was the royal notary, president of the councils, and keeper of the Great Seal.

Chancellor of England (The). The Lord Chancellor, or the Lord High Chancellor. The highest judicial functionary of the nation, who ranks above all peers, except princes of the blood and the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is “Keeper of the Great Seal,” is called “Keeper of His (or Her) Majesty's Conscience,” and presides on the Woolsack in the House of Lords.