The magistrature of the supreme courts had been less favoured during the preceding reign.  Louis XI., that cautious and crafty reformer, after having forbidden ecclesiastical judges to examine cases referring to the revenues of vacant benefices, remodelled the secular courts, but he ruthlessly destroyed anything which offended him personally.  For this reason, as he himself said, he limited the power of the Parliaments of Paris and Toulouse, by establishing, to their prejudice, several other courts of justice, and by favouring the Chatelet, where he was sure always to find those who would act with him against the aristocracy.  The Parliament would not give way willingly, nor without the most determined opposition.  It was obliged, however, at last to succumb, and to pass certain edicts which were most repugnant to it.  On the death of Louis XI., however, it took its revenge, and called those who had been his favourites and principal agents to answer a criminal charge, for no other reason than that they had exposed themselves to the resentment of the supreme court.

The Chatelet, in its judicial functions, was inferior to the Parliament, nevertheless it acquired, through its provost, who represented the bourgeois of Paris, considerable importance in the eyes of the supreme court.  In fact, for two centuries the provost held the privilege of ruling the capital, both politically and financially, of commanding the citizen militia, and of being chief magistrate of the city.  In the court of audiences, a canopy was erected, under which he sat, a distinction which no other magistrate enjoyed, and which appears to have been exclusively granted to him because he sat in the place of Monsieur Saint Loys (Saint Louis), dispensing justice to the good people of the City of Paris.  When the provost was installed, he was solemnly escorted, wearing his cap, to the great chamber of Parliament, accompanied by four councillors.

[Illustration:  Fig. 309.—­The Court of a Baron.—­Fac-simile of a Woodcut in the “Cosmographie Universelle” of Munster:  in folio, Basle, 1552.]

After the ceremony of installation he gave his horse to the president, who had come to receive him.  His dress consisted of a short robe, with mantle, collar turned down, sword, and hat with feathers; he also carried a staff of office, profusely ornamented with silver.  Thus attired he attended Parliament, and assisted at the levees of the sovereign, where he took up his position on the lowest step of the throne, below the great Chamberlain.  Every day, excepting at the vintage time, he was required to be present at the Chatelet, either personally or by deputy, punctually at nine in the morning.  There he received the list of the prisoners who had been arrested the day before; after that he visited the prisons, settled business of various kinds, and then inspected the town.  His jurisdiction extended to several courts, which were presided over by eight deputies or judges appointed by him, and who were created officers of the Chatelet by Louis XII. in 1498.  Subsequently, these received their appointments direct from the King.  Two auditing judges, one king’s attorney, one registrar, and some bailiffs, completed the provost’s staff.