_Of the_ Constable, _and_ Peers _of_ France.
Besides the great Office of _Mayor_ of the _Palace_ before spoken of,
there was another which we must take Notice of; because it seems, in the
Memory of our Forefathers, to have succeeded in Place of the former: And
that was the Office of _Count_ of the _King's Stable_; called at first,
_Comes stabuli_; and by Corruption at last, _Connestabuli_. Now all
those who enjoy'd any extraordinary Honours or Employments in the King's
Court, and assisted in the Administration of the Commonwealth, were
commonly called _Comites, Counts_; which was likewise the Custom of the
Ancients, as I have in some other of my Works demonstrated. So _Cicero_,
in many Places, calls _Callisthenes, Comitem Alexandri magni_. This
_Comes stabuli_ was in a Manner the same with the _Magister Equitum_
among the _Romans_, that is, _General_ of the _Horse_; to whom were
subject those Keepers of the Horses commonly called _Querries_. _Greg.
Turen_ lib. 5. cap. 39. says,--"The Treasurer of _Clodoveus_ being taken
out of the City of _Bourges_, by _Cuppan_, _Count_ of the _Stable_, was
sent in Bonds to the Queen, &c." And again, _cap._ 48. where he speaks
of _Leudastes_,--"She took him (says he) into Favour, rais'd him, and
made him Keeper of the best Horses; which so filled him with Pride and
Vanity, that he put in for the _Constableship_; [_Comitatum Stabuloram_]
and having got it, began to despise and undervalue every Body." From
these Quotations it appears, that tho' the Custody of the Horses was a
very honourable Employment, yet 'twas much inferior to that of
_Constable_. _Aimoinus_, lib. 3. cap. 43. gives the same Account of this
_Leudastes_.--"Being grown very intimate with the Queen, he was first
made Keeper of the Horse; and afterwards obtaining the Constableship
above the rest of the Keepers, he was (after the Queen's Death) made by
King _Charibert_, _Count_ of _Tours_." And _cap._ 70. "_Leudegesilus_,
Præfect of the King's Horses, whom they commonly call _Constable_,
being made General of that Expedition by the King, order'd the Engines
to be drawn down &c." Also _lib._ 4. _cap_, 95. where he speaks of
_Charles_ the Great,--"The same Year (says he) he sent _Burchard,
Comitem Stabuli sui_, which we corruptly call _Constabulum_, with a
Fleet against _Corsica_"--. The Appendix to _Gregory_ calls him,
_Comestabulum, lib._ II. _Brunechildis_ (says he) was brought out of the
Village, _ab exporre Comestabulo_.
This being so, _Albertus Krantzius_, lib. Suet. 5. cap. 41. ventures to
affirm, that this _Constable_ was the same with what the _Germans_ call
_Mareschal_. "They named (says he) a _Governor_, one of the best
Soldiers, who might have the Power of Convocating the _Assembly_ of the
Kingdom, and of acting in all Matters like the _Prince_. Our
_Countrymen_ call him a _Mareschal_, the French call him _Constable_,
&c." This seems the more probable, because I do not remember any Mention
to have been made in ancient Times, of a _Mareschal_ in our
_Francogallia_; so that 'tis very likely to have been an Institution of
our latter Kings, accommodated to the Custom of the _Germans_.
That this _Comitatus Stabulorum_, a _Constableship_, had its Rise from
the Institution of the _Roman Emperors_, I do not at all question;
altho' it grew by Degrees among us from slender Beginnings, to the
Heighth of chief _Governor_ of the _Palace_. In former Times that
Dignity was a Sort of _Tribunatus Militaris. Ammianus_, lib. 26. has
this Expression where he speaks of _Valentinian_ the Emperor,--"Having
fixed his Stages, or Days Journeys, he at last entred into _Nicomedia_;
and about the Kalends of _March_, appointed his Brother _Valens_ to be
Governor of his Stables, _cum tribunatus dignitate_, with _tribunitial
Dignity_." What Kind of Dignity that was, we may find in the Code of
_Justinian_, lib. 1. Cod. _de comitibus & tribunis Schol._ Where 'tis
reckoned as a great Honour for them to preside over the Emperor's
Banquets, when they might adore his Purple. Also in _lib. 3. Cod.
Theodos. de annon. & tribut, perpensa, 29. Cod. Theod. de equorum
Collatione & lib. 1. Cod. Theod._ wherein we may find a Power allowed
them, of exacting Contribution to a certain Value from the Provincials
who were to furnish War-Horses for the Emperor's Service.
It now remains that we discourse a little of those Magistrates, which
were commonly called _Peers_ of _France_; whereof we can find no Records
or Monuments, tho' our Endeavours have not been wanting. For among so
great a Number of Books, as are called Chronicles and Annals of
_Francogallia_, not one affords us any probable Account of this
Institution. For what _Gaguinus_, and _Paulus Æmilius_ (who was not so
much an Historian of _French_ Affairs, as of the _Pope's_) and other
common Writers do affirm, to wit, That those Magistrates were instituted
by _Pipin_ or _Charlemagn_, appears plainly to be absurd; because not
one of all the _German_ Historians, who wrote during the Reigns of those
Kings, or for some Time after, makes the least Mention of those
Magistrates. _Aimoinus_ himself who wrote a History of the Military
Atchievements and Institutions of the _Franks_, down to the Reign of
_Lewis the Pious_, and the _Appendix_, which reaches as far as the Time
of _Lewis the Younger_, being the 37th King, speak not one Word of these
_Peers_ in any Place of their Histories; so that till I am better
inform'd, I must concur in Opinion with _Gervase_ of _Tilbury_, who (as
_Gaguinus_ says in the Book which he wrote to the Emperor _Otho_ the
IVth, _de otiis imperialibus_) affirms. That this Institution is first
owing to King _Arthur_ of _Britain_, who ruled some time in Part of
_France_.
For I suppose the Original of that Institution to be this; that as in
the _Feudal_ Law such are called, _Pares curie beneficiari_, i. e. _equal
Tenants by Homage of the Court_, or _Clientes [Greek: omotimoi],
Clients of like holding_, or _Convassilli, Fellow Vassals_, who
hold their _Fiefs_ and _Benefices_ from one and the same _Lord_ and
_Patron_; and upon that Account are bound to him in _Fealty_ and
Obedience: just so King _Arthur_ having acquired a new Principality,
selected _twelve great Men_, to whom he distributed the several Parts
and _Satrapies_ of his Kingdom, whole Assistance and Advice he made use
of in the Administration of the Government. For I cannot approve of
their Judgment, who write, that they were called _Peers_, because they
were _Pares Regi_, the _King's Equals_; since their Parity his no
Relation to the _Regal Dignity_, but only to that Authority and Dignity
they had agreed should be common among them. Their Names were these, the
_Dukes of Burgundy, Normandy_, and _Aquitain_; the _Counts_ of
_Flanders, Tholouse_, and _Champagne_; the _Archbishops_ of _Rheims,
Laon_, and _Langres_; the _Bishops_ of _Beauvais, Noyon_, and _Chalons_.
And as the _Pares Curtis_, or _Curie_, in the _Feudal_ Law, can neither
be created, but by the Consent of the Fraternity; nor _abdicated_, but
by Tryal before their Colleagues; nor _impeach'd_ before any other Court
of Judicature; so these _Peers_ were not bound by any judgment or
Sentence, but that of the _Parliament_, that is, of this imaginary
Council; nor could be _elected_ into the _Society_, or _ejected_ out of
it, but by their _Fellows in Collegio_.
Now altho' this Magistracy might owe its Original to a foreign Prince;
yet when he was driven out, the succeeding Kings finding it accommodated
to their own Ends and Conveniences, ('tis most probable) continued and
made use of it. The first mention I find made of these _Peers_, was at
the Inauguration of _Philip the Fair_, by whom also (as many affirm) the
Six _Ecclestastical Peers_ were first created.
But _Budæus_, an extraordinary Learned Man, calls these _Peers_ by the
Name of _Patritians_; and is of Opinion that they were instituted by one
of our Kings, who was at the same Time _Emperor_ of _Germany_; because,
_Justinian_ says, those _Patres_ were chosen by the _Emperor_, _quasi
Reipub. patronos tutoresque_, as it were _Patrons_ and _Tutors_ of the
Commonwealth. I do not reject this Opinion of that Learned Person; such
a Thing being very agreeable to the Dignity of these _Peers_. For in the
Times of the later _Roman Emperors_, we find the _Patritian_ Dignity not
to have been very unlike that of the _Peers_; because (as _Suidas_
assures us,) they were (partly) the _Fathers of the_ Republick, and were
of _Council_ with the Emperor in all weighty Concerns, and made use of
the same Ensigns of Authority with the _Consuls_; and had greater Honour
and Power than the _Præfectus Prætorio_, tho' less than the _Consul_;
as we may learn _ex Justiniani Novellis_; from _Sidon. Apollin.
Claudian_; and _Cassiadorus_ especially.
But when the _Empire_ was transferr'd to the _Germans_, we do not
believe this Honour was in use among them. Neither is it likely, that
none of the _German_ Historians should have made the least Mention
of it, if any _Patritians_ of that Kind had been instituted by a
_German_ Emperor, who at the same Time was King of _Francogallia_.
Lastly, The same _Budæus_ tells us in that Place, tho' a little
doubtingly, that the like Dignity of _Peers_ had been made use of in
other neighbouring Nations; and that in the _Royal Commentaries, Anno_
1224, 'tis found written, that a certain Gentleman of _Flanders_, called
_Joannes Nigellanus_, having, a Controversy there, appeal'd from the
_Countess_ of _Flanders_ to the _Peers_ of _France_; having first taken
his Oath that he could not expect a fair and equal Tryal before the
_Peers_ of _Flanders_. And when afterwards the Cause was by the
_Countess_ revok'd to the judgment of the _Peers_ of _Flanders_, it was
at Length for certain Reasons decreed, that the _Peers_ of _France_
should take Cognisance of it. What the Reasons were of transferring,
that Tryal, _Budæus_ does not tell us; which one versed in the _Feudal_
Laws should never have omitted. But 'tis Time to return to our principal
Business.
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