Noble titles

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 12:03:26 -0500

> ... The Merovingian and Carolingian monarchs appointed their
"companions"
> (comites in Latin, which evolved into "counts") as royal
> administrators of regions under their control. =

Comes (plural comites) was already a formal rank in Imperial Rome (a high=

official in Britain was the 'Count of the Saxon Shore'), but it's quite possible that the Merovingians weren't using the term that way.

In Lois McMaster Bujold's excellent SF books, the principal nobles of her=

planet of Barrayar have the title Count, but we learn that this is in fac= t
short for 'accountant' and not derived from the title we know.

Andrew

--__--__--