370 HORSE-SHOES AND HORSE-SHOEING. 



it is formed from the Breton word signifying ' horse ; ' 

 but as the Britons, expelled from this country in the 5th 

 century, took refuge there, giving it their name, and as 

 the Bas-Bretons yet speak a dialect of the Celtic, this only 

 lends additional proof as to the origin of the term. Pau- 

 sanias, in his ' Phocians,' intimates that the term march is 

 ancient Gaulish. 



The first part of the word ^ mareschal ' is evidently 

 Celtic, and the second, schal, Teutonic ; the designation 

 being therefore composed of a Celtic and Teutonic root, 

 it does not appear to date earlier than the fixation of the 

 Francs on the soil of Gaul, and their renunciation of 

 vagabond habits, and in this way characterizes the amal- 

 gamation of the two people. The history of the first 

 mareschal mentioned in the early chronicles, supports 

 this opinion. This individual, whose name was Leudaste, 

 was a Gaulish slave belonging to the island of Re, who 

 at a later period of his life became a great dignitary. 

 Markowefe, the wife of Haribert (a.d. $$6), confided the 

 charge of her best horses to him ; and among the domes- 

 tics of the royal household he was enrolled by the title of 

 ' Mariskalk.' ' Encouraged by his success, he did not 

 remain satisfied with this title, which gave him the highest 

 rank among the Jiscalin serfs, but aspired to have the entire 

 control of the royal stud, and to gain the position of comes 

 stahuli, or constable, a dignity the barbarous kings, with 

 many other things, had introduced at the imperial court. 

 At the death of the queen, he so cultivated the growing 

 esteem of King Haribert, as to distance all competitors 

 and gain his object. After enjoying for a year or two 



3 Greg. Turon. Hist. France, vol. ii. p. 261. 



