it is formed from the Breton word signifying 'horse;' but as the Britons, expelled from this country in the 5th century, took refuge there, giving it their name, and as the Bas-Bretons yet speak a dialect of the Celtic, this only lends additional proof as to the origin of the term. Pausanias, in his ' hocians,' intimates that the term march is ancient Gaulish.
The first part of the word 'maréschal' is evidently Celtic, and the second, schal, Teutonic; the designation being therefore composed of a Celtic and Teutonic root, it does not appear to date earlier than the fixation of the Francs on the soil of Gaul, and their renunciation of vagabond habits, and in this way characterizes the amalgamation of the two people. The history of the first maréschal mentioned in the early chronicles, supports this opinion. This individual, whose name was Leudaste, was a Gaulish slave belonging to the island of Ré, who at a later period of his life became a great dignitary. Markowefe, the wife of Haribert (A.D. 556), confided the charge of her best horses to him; and among the domestics of the royal household he was enrolled by the title of 'Mariskalk.'[1] Encouraged by his success, he did not remain satisfied with this title, which gave him the highest rank among the fiscalin serfs, but aspired to have the entire control of the royal stud, and to gain the position of comes stabuli, or constable, a dignity the barbarous kings, with many other things, had introduced at the imperial court. At the death of the queen, he so cultivated the growing esteem of King Haribert, as to distance all competitors and gain his object. After enjoying for a year or two
- ↑ Greg. Turon. Hist. France, vol. ii. p. 261.
