A conservator (from Latin: conservator, lit. 'a keeper, preserver, defender'),[1] was a judge delegated by the pope to defend certain privileged classes of persons – as universities, Catholic religious orders, chapters, the poor – from manifest or notorious injury or violence, without recourse to a judicial process. Conservators were appointed as early as the 13th century;[2] the title was given to officers appointed by the Synod of Würzburg in 1287 to protect the privileges of certain religious persons.[3]