TITLES. 173 



plicable to him. Similarly with the names of secondary 

 potentates. In the earlier stages of the feudal period, the 

 titles baron, marquis,, duke, and count, were often con 

 founded: the reason being that their attributes as feudal 

 nobles, as guards of the marches, as military leaders, and 

 as friends of the king, were so far common to them as to 

 yield no clear grounds for distinction. But along with 

 differentiation of functions went differentiation of these 

 titles. 



&quot;The name baron, &quot; says Cheruel, appears to have been the 

 generic term for every kind of great lord, that of duke for every kind 

 of military chief, that of count and marquis for every ruler of a ter 

 ritory. These titles are used almost indiscriminately in the romances 

 of chivalry. When the feudal hierarchy was constituted, the name 

 baron denoted a lord inferior in rank to a count and superior to a 

 simple knight.&quot; 



That is to say, with the progress of political organization 

 and the establishment of rulers over rulers, certain titles 

 became specialized for the dignifying of the superiors, in 

 addition to those which they had in common with the in 

 feriors. 



As is shown by the above cases, special titles, like gen 

 eral titles, are not made but grow are at first descriptive. 

 Further to exemplify their descriptive origin, and also to 

 exemplify the undifferentiated use of them in early days, 

 let me enumerate the several styles by which, in the Mero 

 vingian period, the mayors of the palace were known; viz. 

 major domus regice, senior domus, princeps domus, and in 

 other instances prceposilus, prcefectus, rector, guliernator, 

 moderator, dux, custos, subregulus. In which list (noting 

 as we pass how our own title &quot; mayor,&quot; said to be derived 

 from the French maire, is originally derived from the Latin 

 major, meaning either greater or elder) we get proof that 

 other names of honour carry us back to w r ords implying 

 age as their originals ; and that in place of such descriptive 

 words, the alternative words used describe functions. 



