As the honorary holder of the office of alcaide did not often live near the castle, a delegate started to be appointed to effectively govern it in his place.

Later, the role of the alcaide became an honorary title awarded by the King of Portugal to certain nobles. In Portugal, a castellan was known as an Alcaide. So happened in the case of the castellan of Bruges, when the burghers stood up for more privileges and liberties from the counts of Flanders. Later the castellan came to serve as the representative of the people of his castellany. Castellans had the power to administer all local justice, including sentencing and punishments up to and including the death penalty, as when, in 1111, the Salzburg castellan caught the minister fomenting armed rebellion and had the offender blinded, 'as one would a serf'. There are similarities with a Lord of the Manor. A castellan could exercise the power of the 'ban' â that is, to hear court cases and collect fines, taxes from residents, and muster local men for the defence of the area or the realm. The responsibility applied even where there was no resident castellan at the castle, or if he was frequently absent. Usually the duties of a castellan consisted of military responsibility for the castle's garrison, maintaining defences and protecting the castle's lands, combined with the legal administration of local lands and workers including the castle's domestic staff.

Fisicoquimica de castellan