gastald

Updated: June 4, 2025

At the time when the count assumes the place of his predecessor the duke, the scabinus displaces the gastald, although he cannot be said to have assumed exactly the same position as the latter, nor to have filled it in precisely the same way.

William Klapp Williams - The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century: An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development: Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes.

For we have already seen the dux holding the same relation, only in a less direct manner, owing to the intrusion of other interests belonging to his position; and we shall shortly have to consider the scabinus, another local officer, who, under Carlovingian rule, accomplished even more in this direction than the gastald.

William Klapp Williams - The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century: An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development: Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes.

The gastald, on the other hand, was eminently a servant of the central power; and whether or not he was engaged exclusively in looking after the fiscal interests of the masters who employed him, he had no power and no influence except such as he derived from the source of his authority.

William Klapp Williams - The Communes of Lombardy from the VI. to the X. Century: An Investigation of the Causes Which Led to the Development: Of Municipal Unity Among the Lombard Communes.