The
Master of the Horse was (and in some cases,
is) a historical position of varying importance in several European
nations.
The Roman Master of the Horse (Magister Equitum)
The original Master of the Horse (
Magister
Equitum) in the
Roman
Republic was an office appointed and dismissed by the
Roman Dictator, which ceased to exist once
the Dictator left office. The Magister Equitum served as the
Dictator's main
lieutenant. The
nomination of the Magister Equitum was left to the choice of the
Dictator, unless a senatus consultum specified, as was sometimes
the case, the name of the person who was to be appointed. The
Dictator could not be without a Magister Equitum to assist him,
and, consequently, if the first Magister Equitum either died or was
dismissed during the six months of the dictatorship, another had to
be nominated in his stead. The Magister Equitum was granted
Praetorian imperium, thus was subject to the imperium of the
Dictator, but in the Dictator’s absence, he became his
representative, and exercised the same powers as the Dictator. The
imperium of the Magister Equitum was not regarded as superior to
that of a
Consul, but rather a par with
a
Praetor. It was usually considered
necessary that the person who was to be nominated Magister Equitum
should previously have been Praetor, but this was not regularly
followed. Accordingly, the Magister Equitum had the insignia of a
praetor: the
toga praetexta and an escort of
six
lictors. The most famous Master of the
Horse was probably
Mark Antony, who
served during
Julius Caesar's first
dictatorship.
The title
Constable, from the Latin
comes stabularis or count of the stables, has a similar
history.
The office of dictator, and with it
magister equitum,
lapsed after the constitutional reforms of Augustus. However, the
title of
magister equitum was revived in the late Empire,
where emperor
Constantine I
established it as one of the supreme military ranks, alongside the
magister peditum ("Master
of the Foot"). Eventually, the two offices would be amalgamated
into that of the
magister
militum ("Master of the Soldiers").
The United Kingdom Master of the Horse
The Master
of the Horse in the United Kingdom
was once an important official of the sovereign's household, though the role is
largely ceremonial today. The master of the horse is the
third
dignitary of the court, and
was always a member of the
ministry (before 1782 the
office was of
cabinet rank), a
peer and a
privy
councillor. All matters connected with the
horses and formerly also the
hounds of the sovereign, as well as the
stables and
coachhouses,
the
stud,
mews and
previously the
kennels, are within his
jurisdiction.
The practical management of the Royal Stables
and stud devolves on the chief or Crown Equerry, formerly called the Gentleman of the Horse, whose
appointment was always permanent. The
Clerk Marshal had the supervision of the
accounts of the department before they are submitted to the
Board of Green Cloth, and was
in waiting on the
Sovereign on state
occasions only. Exclusive of the
Crown
Equerry there were seven regular
equerries, besides extra and honorary equerries, one
of whom was always in attendance on the Sovereign and rode at the
side of the royal carriage. They were always officers of the
army, and each of them was on duty for about
the same time as the lords and
grooms
in waiting. There are still several
pages of honour who are nominally in the
master of the horse's department, who must not be confounded with
the
page of various kinds who are in
the department of the
Lord
Chamberlain. They are youths aged from twelve to sixteen,
selected by the sovereign in person, to attend on him at state
ceremonies. At the Coronation they assisted the groom of the stole
in carrying the royal train.
The current Master of the Horse is
Samuel Vestey, 3rd Baron
Vestey.
Today the Master of the Horse has a primarily ceremonial office,
and rarely appears except on state occasions, and especially when
the Sovereign is mounted.
The Crown
Equerry has daily oversight of the Royal Mews, which provides vehicular transport for the
Sovereign, both cars and horse-drawn carriages. Train travel
is arranged by the Royal Travel Office, which also co-ordinates air
transport.
The Pages of Honour, who appear only on ceremonial occasions, and
the
Equerries, were nominally under the
authority of the Master of the Horse. The former are now controlled
by the
Keeper of the Privy
Purse. The latter are effectively independent, and are
functionally closer to the Private Secretary's Office. There are
now three equerries to the Sovereign, and a larger number of extra
equerries - usually retired officers with some connection to the
Royal Household. The extra equerries
are rarely if ever required for duty, but the Equerries are in
attendance on the Sovereign on a daily basis. For some years the
senior
Equerry has also held the position of
Deputy Master of the
Household. The permanent equerry is an officer of
major rank or equivalent, recruited from the three
armed services in turn. Many previous equerries have gone on to
reach high rank. The temporary equerry is a
Captain of the
Coldstream Guards, who provides
part-time attendance. When not required for duty he has additional
regimental or staff duties. Senior members of the
Royal Family also have one or two
equerries.
The French Master of the Horse
In
France
the master of the horse, known as the
Grand Squire of
France (Grand Écuyer, or more usually
Monsieur le grand) was one of the seven Great Officers of the
Crown of France from 1595. As well as the
superintendence of the royal stables, he had that of the retinue of
the
sovereign, also the charge of the
funds set aside for the religious functions of the court,
coronations, etc. On the death of a sovereign he
had the right to all the horses and their equipment in the royal
stables. He oversaw personally the "Great Stable" ("grande
écurie"). Distinct from this officer and independent of him, was
the first equerry (
Premier Ecuyer), who had charge of the
horses which the sovereign used personally (
La petite
curie), and who attended on him when he rode out. The office
of master of the horse existed down to the reign of
Louis XVI. Under
Louis XVIII and
Charles X the duties were discharged by
the first equerry, but under
Napoleon I and
Napoleon III the office was revived
with much of its old importance.
The German Master of the Horse
In
Germany
the master of the horse
(Oberststallmeister) was a high court dignitary;
but his office was merely titular, the superintendence of the
Emperor's stables having been carried out by the
Oberstallmeister, an official corresponding to the crown
equerry in England.
Papal Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse, Cavallerizzo Maggiore, or Hereditary
Superintendent of the Stables of the Palaces, was a hereditary
position held by the
Marquess
Serlupi Crescenzi. The office was a Participating Privy
Chamberlain of the
Sword and Cape, in the
Pontifical Household.
It was abolished in the reforms of the
Papal
Curia of 1968.
Sweden
The holder of the title
Riksstallmästare (
English:
Master of the Horse of the Realm) in Sweden was not one of the
Great Officers of The
Realm, but rather one of the
Lesser Officers of The Realm.
He was the superintendent of the Kings Stables and of the realm's
stud farms. As such he was important in
military matters, and often he had a tight connection with the
army, and then especially with the army's
cavalry units.
Russian Equerry
Konyushy (
Russian:
Конюший) is literally translated as Master of the Horse or
Equerry.
Konyushy
was a boyar in charge of the stables of Russian
rulers. It was a high title at the
court of Russian rulers until the 17th century. By the
end of the 15th century a special Equerry Office (конюшенный
приказ, "konyushenny
prikaz") was introduced,
headed by the Konyushy. It was in charge of the
Tsar's stables, parade equipage, ceremonies of court
ride-offs, and military horse breeding. At one point
Boris Godunov was konyushy.
The Equerry Office
handled a significant amount of Tsar's treasures, related to
harness and horse/horseman armor, which were transferred to the Kremlin Armoury
in 1736.
Equerry in the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania
"
Koniuszy" (corresponding to the
English-language "Equerry" or "Master of
the Horse") was a position of
nobility
known in the
Kingdom of Poland from
the 11th century, and in the
Grand Duchy of Lithuania from
the15th. A
koniuszy had charge of the stables and herds of
a
Grand Duke or
King; in reality, it was a
podkoniuszy
(sub-equerry), subordinate to the
koniuszy, who had the
more direct responsibility.
From the 14th-16th centuries, a "koniuszy" was a dignitary
(
dygnitarz) in the
Polish
Kingdom and in the
Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth.
Georgia
In the
Kingdom of Georgia, the
similar post was known under the name of
amilakhvari
(
amir-akhori), derived from
Arabic. It was a deputy to the
commander-in-chief (
amir-spasalari) and a member of the
royal council. From the 1460s to the Russian annexation of Georgia
(1801), the office was hereditary in the
Zevdginidze-Amilakhvari family.
Asia
Similar posts were common in the imperial courts of China (See
Sima as a Chinese surname) and Japan,
the royal courts of Korea, and elsewhere in East Asia. The Siamese
kingdom of Ayutthaya had a Master
of the Royal Elephants.
See also
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