Constable

chief. A person employed under the militia establishment to collect fines. They may likewise apprehend persons suspected of being deserted serjeants, corporals or drummers. High Constable and Marshal were officers of considerable weight and dignity, not only in France, but throughout all the feudal governments of Europe. The title of constable or comes stabuli , according to the ingenious author of an e ay on military law, explains the original nature of this office, which was that of commander of the cavalry, and as these once constituted the principal strength of the imperial or royal armies, this officer became naturally the commander in chief of those armies. The office of marshal appears originally to have been of a much inferior nature, the person who exercised it being the actual super intendant of the stables, or chief of the equerries, whose duty was to furnish the provender for the horses, and to oversee their proper management. But in proce of time this office grew into high consideration, and the marshal subordinate only to the constable, became the second in command of the armies, and in the absence of the latter supplied his place. See Marshal . The powers of the constable as a field officer, were extremely ample and dignified. The constable was subordinate only to the king in the command of the army; and even when the king was actually in the field, the efficient command of the troops seems to have been in this officer, and all the general orders were i ued jointly in the sovereign’s name and in the constable’s.