The ancient name of the valley of the Murghab or Moorghab
(called the Margos). It is represented at the present day by
the oasis now called Merv; was the Bactrian Mourn and the
Marghush of the old Persians. It was inhabited by the
Margiani.
_M. Duncker,
History of Antiquity,
book 7, chapter 1._
MARGRAVE.
MARQUIS.
"This of Markgrafs (Grafs of the Marches, 'marked' Places, or
Boundaries) was a natural invention in that state of
circumstances [the circumstances of the Germany of the 10th
century, under Henry the Fowler]. It did not quite originate
with Henry; but was much perfected by him, he first
recognising how essential it was. On all frontiers he had his
'Graf' (Count, 'Reeve,' 'G'reeve,' whom some think to be only
'Grau,' Gray, or 'Senior,' the hardiest, wisest steel-gray man
he could discover) stationed on the Marck, strenuously doing
watch and ward there: the post of difficulty, of peril, and
naturally of honour too, nothing of a sinecure by any means.
Which post, like every other, always had a tendency to become
hereditary, if the kindred did not fail in fit men. And hence
have come the innumerable Margraves, Marquises, and such like,
of modern times; titles now become chimerical, and more or
less mendacious, as most of our titles are."
_T. Carlyle,
Frederick the Great,
book 2, chapter 1._
"The title derived from the old imperial office of markgrave
[margrave], 'comes marchensis,' or count of the marches, had
belonged to several foreigners who were brought into relation
with England in the twelfth century; the duke of Brabant was
marquess of Antwerp, and the count of Maurienne marquess of
Italy; but in France the title was not commonly used until the
seventeenth century, and it is possible that it came to
England direct from Germany. … The fact that, within a
century of its introduction into England, it was used in so
unmeaning a designation as the marquess of Montague, shows
that it had lost all traces of its original application."
_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 20, section 751._
See MARCH; also, GRAF.
MARGUS, Treaty of.
A treaty which Attila the Hun extorted from the Eastern Roman
Emperor, Theodosius, A. D. 434,—called by Sismondi "the most
shameful treaty that ever monarch signed." It gave up to the
savage king every fugitive from his vengeance or his jealousy
whom he demanded, and even the Roman captives who had escaped
from his bonds. It promised, moreover, an annual tribute to
him of 700 pounds of gold.
_J. C. L. de Sismondi,
Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 7 (volume 1)._