or Mareschal, (maresculus), pri- Marshallarily denotes an officer who has the care or the command of horses. Nicod derives the word from *polemarchus*, "master of the camp;" Matthew Paris from *Martis senescallus*. In the old Gaulish language, *march* signified "horse;" whence *mareschal* might signify "him who commanded the cavalry." Other derivations have been given by different authors; and the name itself has been applied to officers of very different employments.

**Marshal of France**, the highest dignity of preferment in the French armies under the old government. The dignity of marshal came to be for life, though at its first institution it was otherwise. They were then only the king's first ecuyers under the constable; but in time they became the constable's lieutenants in the command of the army, the constable himself being then become captain general. At first they were but two in number; and their allowance was but 500 livres per annum in time of war, and nothing in time of peace; but in the reign of Francis I, a third was added; Henry II. created a fourth. Since it has been various; Louis XIV. increased it to 20. Their office at first was, to marshal the army under the constable, and to command in his absence. They did then what the *marshals de camp* do now; to which last they have given their title, and the least considerable part of their authority.

**Earl Marshal of Scotland.** His office was to command the cavalry, whereas the Constable commanded the whole army. They seem, however, to have had a sort of joint command, as of old all orders were addressed "to our constable and marischal." The office of earl marischal has never been out of the noble family of Keith. It was reserved at the Union; and when the heritable jurisdictions were bought, it was in the crown, being forfeited by the rebellion of Geo. Keith, earl marischal, in 1715.

**Earl Marshal of England,** is the eighth great officer of state. This office, until it was made hereditary, always passed by grant from the king, and never was held by tenure or sergeantry (by any subject), as the offices of lord high steward and lord high constable were sometimes held. The title is personal, the office honorary and officiary. They were formerly styled *lord marshal* only, until King Richard II. June 20. 1397, granted letters patent to Thomas Mowbray, earl of Nottingham, and to the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, by the name and style of *earl marshal*; and further, gave them power to bear in their hand a gold truncheon, enamelled with black at each end; having at the upper end of it the king's arms engraven theron, and at the lower end his own arms.

King James I. was pleased, by letters patent, dated August 29th 1622, to constitute Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel and Surrey, earl marshal for life; and the next year, the same king granted (with the advice of the privy-council) letters patent, wherein it was declared, that during the vacancy of the office of lord high constable of England, the earl marshal had the like jurisdiction in the court of chivalry, as both constable and marshal jointly ever exercised. See *Chivalry, Court of*.

On the 19th of October 1672, King Charles II. was pleased to grant to Henry Lord Howard, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten, the office Marshall and dignity of earl marshal of England, with power to execute the same by deputy or deputies, in as full and ample a manner as the same was heretofore executed by Henry Howard, Lord Maltravers, late earl of Arundel, Surrey, and Norfolk, grandfather to the said Henry Lord Howard; or by Thomas Howard late duke of Norfolk, grandfather to the said Thomas Howard, late earl of Arundel, Surrey, and Norfolk; or by Thomas Howard duke of Norfolk, grandfather of the said Thomas Howard duke of Norfolk; or by John Mowbray duke of Norfolk, or any other earl marshal of England; with a pension of 20l. each year, payable out of the hanaper office in chancery; and on default of the issue-male of the said Henry Lord Howard, with limitation to the heirs male lawfully begotten of the body of the said Thomas Howard earl of Arundel, &c.; and, on the default of such issue male, to descend in like manner to the heirs male of Thomas late earl of Suffolk; and, on default of his issue male, to the heirs male of Lord William Howard, late of Naworth in the county of Cumberland, youngest son to Henry Howard late duke of Norfolk; and, on default of his issue-male, to Charles Howard earl of Nottingham, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten.

**Field-Marshal,** an officer of high rank in the European armies. It is now, however, disused in the British army; Lord Tyrawley was the last, appointed in 1763.

**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-marshal. 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.

**MARSHALSEA,** the *Court of*, and the *Palace Court* at Westminster, though two distinct courts, are frequently confounded together. The former was originally holden before the steward and marshal of the king's Marshalsea king's house, and was instituted to administer justice between the king's domestic servants, that they might not be drawn into other courts, and thereby the king lose their service. It was formerly held in, though not a part of, the curia regis; and, when that was subdivided, remained a distinct jurisdiction: holding plea of all trespasses committed within the verge of the court, where only one of the parties is in the king's domestic service (in which case the inquest shall be taken by a jury of the country); and of all debts, contracts, and covenants, where both of the contracting parties belong to the royal household; and then the inquest shall be composed of men of the household only. By the statute of 13 Rich. II. stat. 1. c. 3. (in affirmance of the common law), the verge of the court in this respect extends for 12 miles round the king's place of residence. And, as this tribunal was never subject to the jurisdiction of the chief justiciary, no writ of error lay from it (though a court of record) to the king's bench, but only to parliament, till the statutes of 5 Edw. III. c. 2. and 10 Edw. III. stat. 2. c. 3. which allowed such writ of error before the king in his place. But this court being ambulatory, and obliged to follow the king in all his progresses, so that by the removal of the household actions were frequently discontinued, and doubts having arisen as to the extent of its jurisdiction, King Charles I. in the sixth year of his reign, by his letters patent, erected a new court of record, called the curia palatii, or palace court, to be held before the steward of the household and knight-marshal, and the steward of the court, or his deputy; with jurisdiction to hold plea of all manner of personal actions whatsoever, which shall arise between any parties within 12 miles of his majesty's palace at Whitehall. The court is now held once a week, together with the ancient court of marshalsea, in the borough of Southwark: and a writ of error lies from thence to the court of king's bench. But if the cause is of any considerable consequence, it is usually removed on its first commencement, together with the custody of the defendant, either into the king's bench or common pleas, by a writ of habeas corpus cum causa: and the inferior business of the court hath of late years been much reduced, by the new courts of conscience erected in the environs of London; in consideration of which the four counsel belonging to these courts had salaries granted them for their lives by the stat. 23 Geo. II. c. 27.