See SPANISH COINS.
MARBURG CONFERENCE, The.
See SWITZERLAND: A. D. 1528-1531.
MARCEL, Etienne, and the States General of France.
See FRANCE: A. D. 1356-1358.
MARCELLUS II., Pope, A. D. 1555, April to May.
MARCH.
MARK.
The frontier or boundary of a territory; a border. Hence came
the title of Marquis, which was originally that of an officer
charged with the guarding of some March or border district of
a kingdom. In Great Britain this title ranks second in the
five orders of nobility, only the title of Duke being superior
to it. The old English kingdom of Mercia was formed by the
Angles who were first called the "Men of the March," having
settled on the Welsh border, and that was the origin of its
name. The kingdom of Prussia grew out of the "Mark of
Brandenburg," which was originally a military border district
formed on the skirts of the German empire to resist the Wends.
Various other European states had the same origin.
See, also, MARGRAVE.