Hostarius


The Hostarius was an office in medieval Scotland whose holders, eventually hereditary, had the theoretical responsibility of being warden of the king's door: protecting the king's property. This is a list of hostarii.
The family of "Durward" may have held the office hereditarily after Thomas of Lundie, and certainly kept the title as a surname The office was no longer hereditary by the second half of the 13th century, and indeed, by then, there were many hostarii. Unlike many other hereditary royal office holders, the "Durward" family were not of Anglo-Norman or French origin but native Gaelic origin. It was a sept of the native comital dynasty of Mar.