What is "lord of misrule"

Misrule \Mis*rule"\, n.

1. The act, or the result, of misruling.

2. Disorder; confusion; tumult from insubordination.

   Enormous riot and misrule surveyed.
   --Pope.

   Abbot of Misrule, or Lord of Misrule. See under Abbot, and Lord.

Abbot \Ab"bot\, n. [AS. abbod, abbad, L. abbas, abbatis, Gr. 'abba^s, fr. Syriac abb[=a] father. Cf. Abba, Abb['E].]

1. The superior or head of an abbey.

2. One of a class of bishops whose sees were formerly abbeys.
   --Encyc. Brit.

   Abbot of the people. a title formerly given to one of the chief magistrates in Genoa.

   Abbot of Misrule (or Lord of Misrule), in medi[ae]val times, the master of revels, as at Christmas; in Scotland called the Abbot of Unreason.
   --Encyc. Brit.

Lord \Lord\, n. [OE. lord, laverd, loverd, AS. hl[=a]ford, for hl[=a]fweard, i. e., bread keeper; hl[=a]f bread, loaf + weardian to look after, to take care of, to ward. See Loaf, and Ward to guard, and cf. Laird, Lady.]

1. One who has power and authority; a master; a ruler; a governor; a prince; a proprietor, as of a manor.

   But now I was the lord Of this fair mansion.
   --Shak.

   Man over men He made not lord.
   --Milton.

2. A titled nobleman., whether a peer of the realm or not; a bishop, as a member of the House of Lords; by courtesy; the son of a duke or marquis, or the eldest son of an earl; in a restricted sense, a baron, as opposed to noblemen of higher rank. [Eng.]

3. A title bestowed on the persons above named; and also, for honor, on certain official persons; as, lord advocate, lord chamberlain, lord chancellor, lord chief justice, etc. [Eng.]

4. A husband. ``My lord being old also.''
   --Gen. xviii. 12.

   Thou worthy lord Of that unworthy wife that greeteth thee.
   --Shak.

5. (Feudal Law) One of whom a fee or estate is held; the male owner of feudal land; as, the lord of the soil; the lord of the manor.

6. The Supreme Being; Jehovah.

   Note: When Lord, in the Old Testament, is printed in small capitals, it is usually equivalent to Jehovah, and might, with more propriety, be so rendered.

7. (Christianity) The Savior; Jesus Christ. House of Lords, one of the constituent parts of the British Parliament, consisting of the lords spiritual and temporal. Lord high chancellor, Lord high constable, etc. See Chancellor, Constable, etc. Lord justice clerk, the second in rank of the two highest judges of the Supreme Court of Scotland. Lord justice general, or Lord president, the highest in rank of the judges of the Supreme Court of Scotland. Lord keeper, an ancient officer of the English crown, who had the custody of the king's great seal, with authority to affix it to public documents. The office is now merged in that of the chancellor. Lord lieutenant, a representative of British royalty: the lord lieutenant of Ireland being the representative of royalty there, and exercising supreme administrative authority; the lord lieutenant of a county being a deputy to manage its military concerns, and also to nominate to the chancellor the justices of the peace for that county. Lord of misrule, the master of the revels at Christmas in a nobleman's or other great house. --Eng. Cyc. Lords spiritual, the archbishops and bishops who have seats in the House of Lords. Lords temporal, the peers of England; also, sixteen representative peers of Scotland, and twenty-eight representatives of the Irish peerage. Our lord, Jesus Christ; the Savior. The Lord's Day, Sunday; the Christian Sabbath, on which the Lord Jesus rose from the dead. The Lord's Prayer, (Christianity) the prayer which Jesus taught his disciples, also called the Our Father. --Matt. vi. 9-13. The Lord's Supper.

   1. The paschal supper partaken of by Jesus the night before his crucifixion.

   2. The sacrament of the eucharist; the holy communion. The Lord's Table.

      1. The altar or table from which the sacrament is dispensed.

      2. The sacrament itself.

Lord of Misrule may refer to:

• Lord of Misrule, an officer to preside over the medieval Feast of Fools
• Lord of Misrule, a 2010 novel by Jaimy Gordon
• Lord of Misrule: The Autobiography of Christopher Lee
• Lord of Misrule, a 2009 novel by Rachel Caine (book 5 of The Morganville Vampires series)

Lord of Misrule is a 2010 novel Jaimy Gordon. The novel is set a "down on the luck" horse racing track and the drama that unfolds during four horseraces—around which the sections of the novel are divided.

The novel was well received, with many reviewers focusing on Gordon's successful and complex language and style. The novel received the National Book Award for Fiction in 2010. The novel was a "dark horse" winner of the National Book Award, and the publishing house, McPherson & Company, did not expect the win, and did not have enough copies on hand to meet demand immediately after the win.

In England, the Lord of Misrule – known in Scotland as the Abbot of Unreason and in France as the Prince des Sots – was an officer appointed by lot at Christmas to preside over the Feast of Fools. The Lord of Misrule was generally a peasant or sub-deacon appointed to be in charge of Christmas revelries, which often included drunkenness and wild partying, in the pagan tradition of Saturnalia.

The Church held a similar festival involving a Boy Bishop. This custom was abolished by Henry VIII in 1541, restored by the Catholic Queen Mary I and again abolished by Protestant Elizabeth I, though here and there it lingered on for some time longer. On the Continent it was suppressed by the Council of Basle in 1431, but was revived in some places from time to time, even as late as the eighteenth century. While mostly known as a British holiday custom, the appointment of a Lord of Misrule comes from antiquity. In ancient Rome, from the 17th to the 23rd of December, a Lord of Misrule was appointed for the feast of Saturnalia, in the guise of the good god Saturn. During this time the ordinary rules of life were subverted as masters served their slaves, and the offices of state were held by slaves. The Lord of Misrule presided over all of this, and had the power to command anyone to do anything during the holiday period. This holiday seems to be the precursor to the more modern holiday, and it carried over into the Christian era.

In the Tudor period the Lord of Misrule is mentioned a number of times by contemporary documents referring to revels both at court and among the ordinary people.