. By the end of the Middle Ages, the marshal had become one of the highest-ranking military officers in France. Before the Crusades, the mariscalus had been a monastic officer responsible for provisions. The office became secular by the 11th century, when records from the reign of Henry I tell of a royal marshal whose responsibilities included the provisioning of the military. At this early date, the duties of the office do not appear to be standardized, since during the reigns of Philip II Augustus and Louis VIII the marshal was only an inspector of the royal stables, without responsibilities. It was not until the 14th century that he gained his military command duties, when Philip VI appointed two marshals as second in command of the French army below the constable. Throughout the Hundred Years’ War, the marshals held command in the French military organization. Helped by a provost and some lieutenants, they were responsible for recruiting captains, inspecting the troops, and organizing the pay for the army. Perhaps their most important responsibility was keeping order among the soldiers and sitting in judgment over them. Marshals were also responsible for deciding ransoms and carrying out executions.
They could also sit in parlement or in council and could be used as diplomatic envoys.
The marshals of the late Middle Ages were an inept group. Leadership quality was often poor and several of-ficeholders failed in their responsibilities. Marshal Arnoul d’Audrehem fell into the hands of Edward, the Black Prince, at the Battle of Nájera in 1367; marshals Jean le Meingre II dit Boucicaut and Pierre de Rochefort were captured by the English in 1415 and 1419, respectively. In 1453, Marshal Philippe de Culant was forced to resign the office in disgrace. At other times, political rivalries and jurisdictional overlaps of military officers prohibited unified military command.
Boutaric, Edgard. Institutions militaires de la France avant les armées permanentes. Geneva: Megariotis, 1978.
Contamine, Philippe. Guerre, état et société a la fin du moyen âge: études sur les armées des rois de France, 1337–1494. Paris: Mouton, 1972.
Lot, Ferdinand, and Robert Fawtier. Histoire des institutions françaises au moyen âge. 3 vols. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1957–62, Vol. 2: Institutions royales (1958).
Luchaire, Achille. Manuel des institutions françaises. Paris: Hachette, 1892.
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