the head of the state in matters concerning the
affairs of the order. The title of _chancelier_ continues also to be
used in France for the large class of officials who discharge notarial
duties in some public offices, in embassies and consulates. They draw up
diplomas and prepare all formal documents, and have charge of the
registration and preservation of the archives.

_Spain._--In Spain the office of chancellor, _canciller_, was introduced
by Alphonso VII. (1126-1157), who adopted it from the court of his
cousins of the Capetian dynasty of France. The _canciller_ did not in
Spain go beyond being the king's notary. The chancellor of the privy
seal, _canciller del sello de la puridad_ (literally the secret seal),
was the king's secretary, and sealed all papers other than diplomas and
charters. The office was abolished in 1496, and its functions were
transferred to the royal secretaries. The _cancelario_ was the
chancellor of a university. The _canciller_ succeeded the _maesescuela_
or _scholasticus_ of a church or monastery. _Canciller mayor de
Castilla_ is an honorary title of the archbishops of Toledo. The _gran
canciller de las Indias_, high chancellor of the Indies, held the seal
used for the American dominions of Spain, and presided at the council in
the absence of the president. The office disappeared with the loss of
Spain's empire in America.

_Italy, Germany, &c._--In central and northern Europe, and in Italy, the
office had different fortunes. In southern Italy, where Naples and
Sicily were feudally organized, the chancellors of the Norman kings, who
followed Anglo-Norman precedents very closely, and, at least in Sicily,
employed Englishmen, were such officers as were known in the West. The
similarity is somewhat concealed by the fact that these sovereigns also
adopted names and offices from the imperial court at Constantinople.
Their chancellor was officially known as Protonotary and Logothete, and
their example was followed by the German princes of the Hohenstaufen
family, who acquired the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. The papal or
apostolic chancery is dealt with in the article on the Curia Romana
(q.v.). It may be pointed out here, however, that the close connexion of
the papacy with the Holy Roman Empire is illustrated by the fact that
the archbishop of Cologne, who by right of his see was the emperor's
arch-chancellor (_Erz-Kanzler_) for Italy, was confirmed as papal
arch-chancellor by a bull of Leo