Knight-MARSHAL, or MARSHAL of the King's House, an English officer, whose business, according to Fleta, is to execute the commands and decrees of the lord steward, and to have the custody of prisoners committed by the court of verge. Under him are six marshals men, who are properly the king's bailiffs, and arrest in the verge of the court, when a warrant is backed by the board of green-cloth. The court where causes of this kind, between man and man, are tried, is called the Marshalsea, and is under the knight-marshall. See MARSHALSEA.
This is also the name of the prison in Southwark; the reason of which may probably be, that the marshal of the king's house was wont to sit there in judgment, or keep his prison.
MARSHAL of the King's Bench, an officer who has custody of the prison called the King's Bench in Southwark. He gives attendance upon the court, and takes into his custody all prisoners committed by the court; he is finable for his absence, and non-attendance incurs a forfeiture of his office. The power of appointing the marshal of the king's bench is in the crown.
In Fleta, mention is also made of a marshal of the exchequer, to whom the court commits the custody of the king's debtors, &c.
MARSHALLING a COAT, in Heraldry, is the disposal of several coats of arms belonging to distinct families in one and the same escutcheon or shield, together with their ornaments, parts, and appurtenances. See HERALDRY, chap. vi. p. 466.