A mansion is a large and stately dwelling house for the wealthy. The word itself derives (through Old French) from the Latin word mansus the perfect passive participle of manere "to remain" or "to stay". In the Roman Empire, a mansio was an official stopping place on a Roman road, or via, where cities sprang up, and where the villas of provincial officials came to be placed. The English word "manse" originally defined a property large enough for the parish priest to maintain himself, but a mansion is no longer self-sustaining in this way (compare a Roman or medieval villa). 'Manor' comes from the same root? territorial holdings granted to a lord who would remain there? hence it is easy to see how the word 'Mansion' came to have its meaning.

History

The very first 'mansions', as we understand the term, were probably the villas built for the provincial ruling class of the Roman Empire. As you might expect, they were placed at strategic points on a Roman road, which often grew into provincial towns. Mansions were large buildings or complexes of buildings, often with official functions, placed in full public view.

Within a Roman city, on the other hand, patrician dwellings might be very extensive, but they rarely identified their grandeur to the street, beyond the public amenity of a sheltered portico. For example, Nero's Domus Aurea on the Palatine Hill, Rome was organized as a series of glittering pavilions in gardens. It, however, was not a mansion. From architectural uses of that hill comes the word, palace.

Following the fall of Rome the practice of building unfortified villas ceased, and we lost mansions for a time. The building most suitable for the troubled times in which the leaders of nations found themselves was the castle or chateau, from Latin castellum. In effect, the leadership moved from the way station to the fortified camp.

Today, many of the oldest inhabited mansions around the world began their existence as fortified castles in the middle ages. As social conditions slowly changed and stabilised fortifications were able to be reduced, and over the centuries gave way to comfort. Castles were abandoned in favor of stately country homes. Today the fortified homes litter the countryside or have been turned into museums to help pay fo their upkeep. It became fashionable for the elite society of Europe to pursue the social circuit from country home to country home, with intervals at town homes. Thus a nice home in the country was once again a mansion, or "stopping place" and the modern mansion began to evolve.

It was in the 16th century that mansions really began to be built in a completely unfortified and gracious style, with gardens, parks and drives. This was the era of Renaissance architecture. Hatfield House is a superb example of a house built during the transition period in England. In Italy classic villas such as Villa Farnese and Villa Giulia were typical, but individually diverse forms, of the new style of mansion.

The reasons for building and owning these magnificent edifices were parallel to the Roman uses, nor was this an unintentional effect. It was extremely important for powerful people and families to keep in social contact with each other, as they were the primary molders of society in these times before democracy was able to reemerge. The rounds of visits and entertainments were an essential part of the societal process. The novels of Jane Austen paint an informal picture of it. State business was often discussed and determined in informal settings. Human nature being what it is, there probably was also a motive of providing the owner with an obvious status symbol. And yet, as Charles II of England discovered during his restoration, the ordinary people typically expected and demanded such symbols, and would accept nothing less! Times of revolution reversed this value. During its revolution, France lost a large part of its country homes to incendiary committees, who removed them from the future heritage of the country in anger.

Until World War II it was not unusual for a moderately sized mansion in England such as Cliveden to have an indoor staff of 20 and an outside staff of the same size, while, in a ducal mansion such as Chatsworth House the numbers were far higher. In the great houses of Italy, the number of retainers employed to staff them was often even greater than in England, whole families plus extended relations would often inhabit warrens of rooms in basements and attics. It is doubtful that a 19th century Marchesa would even know the exact numbers who served her. Most European mansions also were the hub of vast estates. A true estate (the mediaeval villa, French ville) always contains at least one complete village and its church. Large estates such as that of Woburn Abbey have several villages attached.