422 
MARSHAL. 
prifoners committed by the court; he is finable for his 
abfence, and non-attendance incurs a forfeiture of his 
office. The power of appointing the marfhal of the king’s 
bench is in the crown. 
In Fleta, mention is alfo made of a Marjhal of the Ex¬ 
chequer, to whom the court commits the cuftody of the 
king’s debtors, See. 
Marshal of the King’s House, or Knight-Marshal, 
an Englifh officep, whole bufinefs,according to Fleta, is to 
execute the commands and decrees of the lord fteward, 
and to have the cuitody of prifoners committed by the 
court of verge. Under him, are fix marfhal’s men, who 
are properly the kingVbailiffs, and arreft in the verge of 
the court, when a warrant is backed by the board of 
green-cloth. The court where caufes of this kind, be¬ 
tween man and man, are tried, is called the Marfhalfea, 
and is under the knight-marfhal. This is alfo the name 
of the prifon in Southwark ; the reaf'on of which may 
probably be, that the marfhal of the king’s houfe was 
wont to fit there in judgment, or keep his prifon. 
Earl Marshal of Scotland. His office was to com¬ 
mand the cavalry, whereas the conftable commanded the 
whole army. They feem, however, to have had a fort of 
joint command, as of old all orders were addrefl'ed “ to 
our conftable and marifchal.” The office of earl marifchal 
has never been out of the noble family of Keith. It was 
referved at the Union ; and, when the heritable jurifdic- 
tions were bought, it was in the crow n, being forfeited by 
tiie rebellion of George Keith, earl marifchal, in 1715. 
Earl Marshal of England. The chief officerof arms: 
The duke of Suffolk claims 
To be high fteward ; next, the duke of Norfolk 
To be earl marjjial. Shahefpcare. 
The earl marfhal, in order of precedence, is the eighth 
great officer of itate. See Heraldry, vol. ix. p.455. It 
is his charge to take cognizance of all matters relating to 
honour and arms, to determine contracts that refpe<fl 
deeds of arms out of the realm upon land, and matters 
concerning war within the realm, which cannot be deter¬ 
mined by common law, in which he ufually proceeds 
according to the civil law. He had, anciently, feveral 
courts under his jurifdiflion, as the court of chivalry, now 
almofl forgotten ; and the court of honour. See Court 
of Chivalry, vol. v. 
He has alfo fome pre-eminence in the court of marfhal- 
fea, where he may fit in judgment againft criminals offend¬ 
ing within the verge of the court; whence the chief offi¬ 
cer under him is called knight marfial. Under him is alfo 
the Herald’s Office, or College of Arms. See the article 
Heraldry, vol. ix. 
Mr. Camden, in his difeourfe concerning the etymo¬ 
logy, antiquity, and office, of earl marfhal, attributes the 
fir it ufe of the word marefcallus in England to Petrus Ble- 
fenfis, fecretary to king Henry II. and that the fecond 
mention of marfhal is in the firft year of king John ; and 
adds, that the marfhal had not any precedency in refpeft 
of his place, until king Henry VIII. in the 31ft year of 
his reign, by afit of parliament, alligned him place next 
to the lord conftable, and before the lord admiral. This 
office, until it was made hereditary, always palled by 
grant from the king, and never was held by tenure or 
ferjeantry (by any fubje< 5 f), as the offices of lord high 
fteward and lord high conllable were fometiines held. 
The king created him by letters patent under his great 
leal, and at the fame time, for his better diftinction and 
great- r ftate, delivered to him a rod, which he was thence¬ 
forth conffantly to bear in his-hand. This rod was ori¬ 
ginally of wood, and like the tiplfaff which is carried by 
the modern marfhalmen : but, when Richard II. in the 
20th year of his reign, re-granted the office to Thomas 
earl of Nottingham, and the heirs of his body, that mo¬ 
narch, in order to enhance the grandeur and honour of 
this new marfhal, by the patent of his creation, directed 
that he and the heirs of his body, “ earl marfhals,” fhould, 
in the royal prefence, and at all other times, bear and 
carry a rod of gold, tipped at each end with black ena¬ 
mel, and having th# royal arms at the upper end, and the 
arms of the faid earl on the lower; ever fince wdiicli time 
the earls marfhal have borne the like official badge. It is 
difficult to afeertain the refpeUive periods in which this 
officer acquired the feveral ftyles of “ marfhal of England” 
and “ earl marfhal of England.” The earlieit patent by 
which the appellation of “earl’’ was added to marfhal of 
England, is that of the 12th of January, in the 9th year 
of king Richard II. granted to Thomas Mowbray, earl pf 
Nottingham, and conffituting him earl marfhal of England, 
to hold to him and his heirs male of his body; and yet 
the ftyle.of comes marefcallus was far more ancient, and 
probably arofe from the perfons on whom the office of 
marfhal was ufually conferred, being earls, or comites, at 
or before the time of their inveltiture : the word comes 
being ufed in thefe early ages as a flyle of office and judi¬ 
cature, and not as a title of dignity. 
This office, though frequently hereditary, hath not been 
always fbj on the contrary, the limitations in the grants 
that have been made of it vary from time to time. How¬ 
ever, the limitations in king Edward I’s re-grant of the 
office to Roger Bigod, earl of Norfolk, were more general, 
viz. “to him and the heirs of his body.” King James I. 
was pleafed, by letters patent, dated Auguft 29, 1622, to 
conffitute Thomas Howard, earl of Arundel and Surry, 
earl marfhal for life; and the next year, the fame 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 conftable of England, the earl 
marfhal had the like jurifdiflion in the court of chivalry 
as both conftable and marfhal jointly ever exercifed. See 
Constable, vol. v. p. no, 
On the 19th of Oftober, 1.672, king Charles II. was 
pleafed to grant to Henry lord Howard of Caltle-Rifing, 
and earl of Norwich, by letters patent, the office of “ here~- 
ditary earl marfhal of England;” with limitation, in de¬ 
fault of iflue male, to the heirs male of his grandfather, 
Thomas earl of Arundel, &c. with remainder to the late 
earl of Suffolk and his heirs male, remainder to Charles 
Howard, earl of Nottingham, and his heirs male. On the 
death of his elder brother,Thomas, duke of Norfolk, earl 
of Arundel, Surry, &c. which happened in 1677, he fuc- 
ceeded to the dukedom, and all other his honours and 
eiiates. Thus, then, the office of earl marfhal is heredi¬ 
tary in the family of Howard, and enjoyed by the duke 
of Norfolk, the principal branch thereof; though, till of 
late, on account of the religion of the duke of Norfolk, 
which rendered him incapable of adminiftering it in per— 
fon, it was difeharged by deputation ; but yet it is to be 
oblerved, that it was not given out of the name and fa¬ 
mily of Howard. It is hardly neceflary to add, that at. 
preterit the earl marfhal is not confidered as a military 
officer. 
Field : Marshal, a denomination of military rank in 
England, fuperior to all others except commander in chief,, 
having the command of a w hole army. There are but 
five field-marfhals in the Englifti army: the duke of York, 
(commander in chief,) the duke of Kent, the duke of 
Wellington, the duke of Cumberland, and the duke of 
Cambridge; and, with refpeit to the dukes of Kent,. 
Cambridge, and Cumberland, it may be confidered as a 
mere honorary, but profitable, title, as thole perfons have 
no immediate command. 
Provost-Marshal, an officer appointed to feize and 
fecure deferters, marauders, foldiers Itraggling beyond 
the limits of the camp, and all other criminals. The 
provolt-marfhal is to go often abroad round the army, to 
hinder the foldiers from pillaging. It is his office to in- 
diU offenders, and to fee the fentence palled upon them 
executed. He likewife regulates the weights and mca- 
fures, and the prices of.provifions, &c. in the army, when 
in the field. For the difeharge of his office, he has a 
lieutenant, a clerk, and a troop of pro volt’s or marfhal’s 
men 
