blessed _Bertranda_ the King's Wife, cloathed with her Royal Mantle, and the Grace of the Sevenfold Holy Spirit: And the Nobles of the _Franks_ being sanctified by the Apostolical Benediction, and the Authority delivered by _Christ_ to St. _Peter_, obliged themselves solemnly, and protested, That neither they, nor any of their Posterity, wou'd at any Time hereafter, presume to constitute any Person, as King over them, but only such as were of the Race of King _Pipin_." * * * * * CHAP. XIV. _Of the_ Constable, _and_ Peers _of_ France. Besides the great Office of _Mayor_ of the _Palace_ before spoken of, there was another which we must take Notice of; because it seems, in the Memory of our Forefathers, to have succeeded in Place of the former: And that was the Office of _Count_ of the _King's Stable_; called at first, _Comes stabuli_; and by Corruption at last, _Connestabuli_. Now all those who enjoy'd any extraordinary Honours or Employments in the King's Court, and assisted in the Administration of the Commonwealth, were commonly called _Comites, Counts_; which was likewise the Custom of the Ancients, as I have in some other of my Works demonstrated. So _Cicero_, in many Places, calls _Callisthenes, Comitem Alexandri magni_. This _Comes stabuli_ was in a Manner the same with the _Magister Equitum_ among the _Romans_, that is, _General_ of the _Horse_; to whom were subject those Keepers of the Horses commonly called _Querries_. _Greg. Turen_ lib. 5. cap. 39. says,--"The Treasurer of _Clodoveus_ being taken out of the City of _Bourges_, by _Cuppan_, _Count_ of the _Stable_, was sent in Bonds to the Queen, &c." And again, _cap._ 48. where he speaks of _Leudastes_,--"She took him (says he) into Favour, rais'd him, and made him Keeper of the best Horses; which so filled him with Pride and Vanity, that he put in for the _Constableship_; [_Comitatum Stabuloram_] and having got it, began to despise and undervalue every Body." From these Quotations it appears, that tho' the Custody of the Horses was a very honourable Employment, yet 'twas much inferior to that of _Constable_. _Aimoinus_, lib. 3. cap. 43. gives the same Account of this _Leudastes_.--"Being grown very intimate with the Queen, he was first made Keeper of the Horse; and afterwards obtaining the Constableship above the rest of the Keepers, he was (after the Queen's Death) made by King _Charibert_, _Count_ of _Tours_." And _cap._ 70. "_Leudegesilus_, Praefect of the King's Horses, whom they commonly call _Constable_, being made General of that Expedition by the King, order'd the Engines to be drawn down &c." Also _lib._ 4. _cap_, 95. where he speaks of _Charles_ the Great,--"The same Year (says he) he sent _Burchard, Comitem Stabuli sui_, which we corruptly call _Constabulum_, with a Fleet against _Corsica_"--. The Appendix to _Gregory_ calls him, _Comestabulum, lib._ II. _Brunechildis_ (says he) was brought out of the