_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_,
Praefect 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