Landdrost

Landdrost was the title of various officials with local jurisdiction in the Netherlands and a number of former territories in the Dutch Empire. The term is a Dutch compound, with land meaning "region" and drost, from Middle Dutch drossāte which originally referred to a lord's chief retainer (who later became the medieval seneschal or steward), equivalent to:

Originally, a drost in the Low Countries – where various titles were in use for similar offices – was essentially a steward or seneschal under the local lord, exercising various functions depending on the endlessly varied local customary law, e.g. tax collection, policing, prosecution, and carrying out sentences.

In many Lower Rhenish and Westphalian and Lower Saxon estates of the Holy Roman Empire the term Landdrost or Drost[e] described the chief executive official of a military, jurisdictional and/or police ambit, representing his lord-paramount of the territory, therefore often appearing with the affix 'land-'. Among the many territories using the term are the Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, the Prince-Bishopric of Hildesheim, the County of Mark, and the Duchy of Mecklenburg.

The office was also introduced in the Dutch colony established at the Cape of Good Hope.

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