the superior rank he held in the domesticity of the palace, this fortunate son of a serf vine-grower in the island of Ré, who had run away several times to escape slavery, and had one of his ears cut off in consequence, was made Count of Tours, one of the most considerable cities in the kingdom ruled by Haribert.[1]
The compound word, then, was originally used, it appears, to signify a groom or horse attendant;[2] afterwards, as the importance of the office increased, it was applied to a man who had charge of twelve horses, as exemplified in the following extract from an ancient German law:[3] 'Si mariscalus, qui super xii caballos est, occiditur.'
Subsequently, and particularly in the time of the Merovingians, the individual who had under his charge all the 'mareskalks' was designated by the title of 'Comes Marestalli' or 'Stabulorum;'[4] probably in imitation of the 'contostaulos' of the Byzantine empire,[5] The posi-
- ↑ Megnin. Op. Cit., pp. 30, 63.
- ↑ See Leges Salic. Walter. Corp. Jur. German., vol. i. p. 22.
- ↑ Anton. Geschicte der Deutschen Landwirthschaft, vol. ii. p. 298
- ↑ A. Thierry. Récits de Tems Merovingiens, vol. ii. p. 198.
- ↑ The fondness for display in the matter of horses and stables manifested by the Byzantine Emperors, and which was quickly imitated by the Goths and Franks, gave a great impulse to veterinary science. In the reign of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, the Master of the Horse was one of the lirst dignitaries of the court, and was styled χόμης τοῦ σταβoῦ. 'Magnus contostaulos comes stabuli, Gallis connétable, nomen conflatum ex contos seu conto comes, et staulos stabulum, σταυλος seu σταυλον ex latino stabulum detortum. Habebant quoque veteres Franci comitem stabuli, ut videre est in epist. 3. Hincmari, c. 16, quem vulgus corrupte appellabat constabulum, ut est apud Regionem, I. 2, et apud Tyrium passim legere est conslabularis.'—Codini.
