[243] The office of _missus_ had by this time fallen pretty much into decay. Many of the _missi_ were at the same time counts--a combination of authority directly opposed to the earlier theory of the administrative system. The _missus_ had been supposed to supervise the counts and restrain them from disloyalty to the king and from indulgence in arbitrary or oppressive measures of local government. [244] The viscount (_vicecomes_) was the count's deputy. By Carloman's time there were sometimes several of these in a county. They were at first appointed by the count, but toward the end of the ninth century they became hereditary. [245] The _vicarii_ and _centenarii_ were local assistants of the count in administrative and judicial affairs. In Merovingian times their precise duties are not clear, but under the Carolingians the two terms tended to become synonyms. The _centenarius_, or hundredman, was charged mainly with the administration of justice in the smallest local division, i.e., the hundred. In theory he was elected by the people of the hundred, but in practice he was usually appointed by the count. [246] Hugh Capet, whose title prior to 987 was "Duke of the Franks." [247] Adalbero, archbishop of Rheims. [248] We are not to suppose that Richer here gives a literal reproduction of Adalbero's speech, but so far as we can tell the main points are carefully stated. [249] At the funeral of Louis. [250] Charles of Lower Lorraine, uncle of Louis V. [251] The elective principle here asserted had prevailed in the choice of French and German kings for nearly a century. The kings chosen, however, usually came from one family, as the Carolingians in France. [252] Almost exactly a century earlier there had been such a case among the Franks, when Charles the Fat was deposed and Odo, the defender of Paris, elevated to the throne (888). [253] Charles had been made duke of Lower Lorraine by the German emperor. This passage in Adalbero's speech looks like something of an appeal to Frankish pride, or as we would say in these days, to national sentiment. Still it must be remembered that while a sense of common interest was undoubtedly beginning to develop among the peoples represented in the assembly at Senlis, these peoples were still far too diverse to be spoken of accurately as making up a unified nationality. Adalbero was indulging in a political harangue and piling up arguments for effect, without much regard for their real weight. [254] Noyon was a church center about fifty miles north of Paris. That the coronation really occurred at this place has been questioned by some, but there seems to be small reason for doubting Richer's statement in the matter. [255] M. Pfister in Lavisse, _Histoire de France_, Vol. II., p. 412, asserts that the coronation occurred July 3, 987.