inate character. An accurate determination of the relative
positions of these various minor officials, of the extent of their
jurisdiction and of its limitations, presents one of the most
difficult problems which the student of these dark ages of history is
called upon to solve. The peculiar character of the sources from which
we have to derive all our information makes it quite possible for all
writers on the subject to disagree with regard to details, and leaves
a wide margin for discussion even on the important characteristics of
the various offices. Avoiding as much as possible the points of
controversy, I will endeavor to give the general features of the more
important of these offices, the conclusions given in each case
resulting from an examination of the different theories held and of
the sources on which these are based.

The officer who seems to have ranked next in importance to the _dux_
within the limits of the _civitas_ is the gastald, who goes
indifferently by the name of _gastaldus, castaldius_, or _gastaldio_.
His powers were of a judicial character, and he shared with the _dux_
the title of _judex_; but whether he enjoyed the full prerogative of a
_judex civitatis_, or whether his judicial functions were of a more
limited character and referred exclusively to matters of a fiscal
nature belonging to the _curtis regia_ or the _camera_ of the king, is
a question to which the evidence to be gathered from the law codes
gives no decided answer.[42] It seems probable, however, from the
importance seemingly attached to the holders of this title in the many
cases in which they are mentioned in the old laws and documents, that
their jurisdiction was of a broader character than would be implied by
a restriction to purely fiscal functions; in fact, that it approached
more nearly to the power of the _dux_ and _judex civitatis_, though
being in some way of less extent or possibly supplementary to it.
Perhaps the distinction would come out more clearly if we said that
the office was characterized by its relations to the fiscal functions
of the state, but that its duties and privileges appear not to have
been restricted to affairs of that nature. It is certainly true that
very many instances occur in which the duke and the gastald are
alluded to, whether in laws or in contracts, in precisely the same
terms and in positions which would seem to indicate an almost perfect
equality of dignity. As, for example, in a meeting