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Rh protect the king in all circumstances. They were often sent to defend frontier fortresses, and thus formed a kind of small standing army. They were also charged with important missions.

The kingdom was divided into districts known as pagi. In earlier times the pagi corresponded to the former Gallo-Roman "cities," but in the northern part of the kingdom their number was increased. At the head of the pagus was the count, comes — in Teutonic graf. The king appointed the counts at his own pleasure, and could choose them from any class of society, sometimes naming a mere freedman. Leudastes, the Count of Tours who quarrelled so violently with Bishop Gregory, had been born on an estate belonging to the royal treasury in the island of Rhé, and had been employed as a slave first in the kitchen, and afterwards in the bakery of King Charibert. Having run away several times he had been marked by having his ears clipped. Charibert's wife had only lately freed him when the king appointed him Count of Tours. The counts were chosen not only from all classes of society, but from the various races of the kingdom. Among those who are known to us there are more Gallo-Romans than Franks. Within his district the count exercised almost every kind of authority. He policed it, and arrested criminals; he held a court of justice, he levied taxes and made disbursements for public purposes, paying over the residue each year into the royal treasury; he executed all the king's commands, and took under his protection the widow and the orphan. He was all-powerful alike for good and ill, and unfortunately the Merovingian counts, greedy of gain and ill-supervised, did chiefly evil: Leudastes of Tours was no isolated exception among them. To assist them in their numerous duties the counts appointed "vicars." The vicar represented the count during his frequent absences; in some cases he administered a part of the district, while the count administered the remainder. Before long there were several vicars to each county and it was regularly subdivided into districts called vicariates. The "hundred-man" (centenarius) or thunginus of the Salic law was identified with the vicar and the terms became synonymous.

Often it was necessary to concentrate in the hands of a single administrator authority over several counties. In this case the king placed over the counts a duke. The duke was principally a military leader; he commanded the army, and the counts within his jurisdiction had to march under his orders. The duchy did not form a permanent administrative district like the county; it usually disappeared along with the circumstances that gave rise to the appointment. In certain districts however, in Champagne, in Alsace; and beyond the Jura on the shores of the Lake of Neuchâtel, there were permanent duchies. In the kingdom of Burgundy we find the title patricius as that of an official who governed the part of Provence which was attached to Burgundy, and also appears to have held the chief military command in that kingdom.