ve
functions. The duty of dispensing justice was specially assigned to the
counts, who had to ascertain the cause of quarrels between parties and to
inflict penalties. There was a count in each district and in each
important town; there were, besides, several counts attached to the
sovereign, under the title of counts of the palace (_comites palatii_), an
honourable position, which was much sought after and much coveted on
account of its pecuniary and other contingent advantages. The counts of
the palace deliberated with the sovereign on all matters and all questions
of State, and at the same time they were his companions in hunting,
feasting, and religious exercises; they acted as arbitrators in questions
of inheritance of the crown; during the minority of princes they exercised
the same authority as that which the constitution gave to sovereigns who
were of full age; they confirmed the nominations of the principal
functionaries and even those of the bishops; they gave their advice on the
occasion of a proposed alliance between one nation and another, on matters
connected with treaties of peace or of commerce, on military expeditions,
or on exchanges of territory, as well as in reference to the marriage of a
prince, and they incurred no responsibility beyond that naturally attached
to persons in so distinguished a position among a semi-barbarous
community. At first the legates (_legati_), and afterwards the King's
ambassadors (_missi dominici_), the bishops and the dukes or commanders of
the army were usually selected from the higher court officials, such as
the counts of the palace, whereas the _ministeriales_, forming the second
class of the royal officials, filled inferior though very honourable and
lucrative posts of an administrative and magisterial character.

[Illustration: Fig. 296.--The Familles and the Barbarians.--Fac-simile of
a Woodcut in the "Cosmographie Universelle" of Munster: in folio, Basle,
1552.]

Under the Merovingians the legal principle of power was closely bound up
with the possession of landed property. The subdivision of that power,
however, closely followed this union, and the constant ruin of some of the
nobles rapidly increased the power of others, who absorbed to themselves
the lost authority of their more unfortunate brethren, so much so that the
Frank kings perceived that society would soon escape their rule unless
they speedily found a remedy for this state of things. It was then that