§ 1. The office of Chancellors is now honorable; formerly it was among the lesser services. Κιγκλίδες among the Greeks are θύραι δικτυωταί, διαφανεῖς, latticed and transparent doors. Thus Polybius calls them in book 15. The Etymologicon calls them τὰ κάγκελα, and the Gloss says, κάσσες οἱ Ῥωμαῖοι τὰ δίκτυα λέγουσι, καὶ ὑποκορ. εἰς κάγκελον. The Romans call nets casses, and by the diminutive, cancellum. And the Scholiast upon Aristophanes’ Wasps says: κιγκλὶς ἡ θύρα ἡ δικαστηρίου, ἣν καὶ καγκελάτην καλοῦσι. “Cinglis is the door of the praetorium, which they also call latticed.” Codinus names it καγκελόθυριον.
Accordingly the tribunal was surrounded by lattices, lest the Judge and Assessors be pressed by the surrounding crowd; and, since some were continually departing and others arriving, the doors were latticed so that they could easily be opened and closed, and so that those who wished to be admitted could be seen and questioned. Those who stood within those doors and had care of them were called Chancellors. Ἔνθεν, says the Gloss, Καγκελλάριοι οἱ ἐν αὐτῷ ἑστηκότες, δύο δὲ οὗτοι μόνοι: “Hence the Chancellors who stood within them; these were only two.”
That it was a base ministry is established from Vopiscus, who says that Numerian made one of the Chancellors Prefect of the City, than which nothing more disgraceful could be imagined or said. Indeed, even under the Christian Emperors it was not yet a great dignity. Thus Honorius and Theodosius decree concerning them: “Let no Judge dare to take with him to the province committed to him anyone upon whom he imposes the name of Domestic or Chancellor, nor receive one departing to him from any place whatsoever, lest he be punished by the mark of infamy together with confiscation of his goods. For at the peril of the chiefs of the office, we command that Chancellors selected under attestation of the records from that same office be attached to the Judges, so that after laying down the administration they do not depart from service and present themselves to the provincials, whereby those who wish may have the faculty of accusing them. For if a suitable cause requires it, they must be subjected to examination under torture in order to uncover the Judge’s crimes. Given on the day before the Kalends of July, Asclepiodorus and Marinianus being Consuls, 423.”
Accordingly Chancellors, as assistants, could be tortured against Judges and were therefore of plebeian condition. Their office and dignity afterwards increased, so that they guarded the acts and secrets themselves. Cassiodorus, book 11: “The Praetorian Prefect attributes to you the domestic service, the honor of the lattices, so that you may guard the secrets of our consistory with faithful integrity.” And the same author in book 11, epistle 6: “Consider by what name you are called. What you have done within the lattices cannot lie hidden. For you hold luminous doors, open enclosures, windowed entrances.”
§ 2. But not only the condition of the times but necessity itself produced esteem for Chancellors, so that now the honor of a Chancellor is either the highest or next to the highest. Thus in Poland the Grand Chancellor is next to the King, and in Germany three Prince Electors are Chancellors, who possess a special dignity for that reason. The first is the Elector of Mainz, who is Archchancellor throughout Germany; the second is the Elector of Cologne, who is Archchancellor throughout Italy; the third is the Elector of Trier, who is Archchancellor throughout Gaul and the Kingdom of Arles. There is nevertheless another Vice-Chancellor in the name of the Elector of Mainz, and another Chancellor of the Imperial court, upon whom, as also among other Kings, the chief affairs rest.
Nor in ancient times was the dignity of the Chancellor great in France; but because the very mass of business required great and faithful men, it came about that it was committed to men capable of bearing it. In the time of Charlemagne that function was in the hands of Bishops. These words are read in a Carolingian edict: “I, Gauzelinus the Notary, in the place of Roger the Archbishop and Supreme Chancellor, have authenticated this, in the eighth indiction, in the twenty-eighth year of the reign of Charles the glorious King.” Afterwards laymen were raised to that dignity. Two or three of the most select men from the Court of Paris were proposed, one of whom was created Chancellor by the Senate’s authority and votes. Then, as the power of Kings grew, the right of appointing the Chancellor remained with the Kings themselves. This was held in less esteem when they used him as their personal amanuensis; for he delivered letters to be signed to the Constable, Master of the Horse, and to the Chamberlain. But afterwards he held the primacy of law: he keeps the royal seal, writes edicts in the royal name, examines the charters themselves, and takes care that nothing contrary to the public good and the Prince’s dignity is published.
Budaeus, upon the title On the Office of the Proconsul: “The Chancellorship is today the highest summit of honors, beyond which it is lawful for a man of the toga to hope for nothing, and as it were a certain solstice of the mind that aspires to all the highest things. By his eloquent mouth our Kings are accustomed to speak; with his eyes all things are surveyed; with his ears they are said to give a full and just hearing to petitioners.”
An office similar to that of the Chancellor was held by the λογοθέτης τῶν σεκρέτων, Logothete of the Secrets; the same man also performed the office of Secretary. Yet he was different from the man called the First of the Secrets, whom Procopius in book 2 of the Persian Wars calls τῶν ἀπορρήτων γραμματέα, Secretary of Secret Matters.
There are Vice-Chancellors in all the Parlements of France, who execute all things pertaining to law.
Those called Mystici were secret Counsellors and other men privy to secrets.
The Master of Petitions received supplicatory petitions.
Referendaries presented the petitions of suppliants to the Emperor. Justinian decreed that, whereas they were ten, they should be reduced to the number eight.
Outside the court, the office of Scribes possessed various degrees of dignity. Among the Hebrews it was held in the greatest veneration. A Scribe is named among the first Princes of David, 2 Kings 8:16: “But Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army.”
And in 4 Kings 12:10 he has care of the sacred treasury with the High Priest: “And when they saw that there was very much money in the treasury, the King’s Scribe and the High Priest went up, and they poured it out and counted it,” and so forth. A Scribe is also sent to Rabshakeh with Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, 4 Kings 18: “And they called the King; but Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the house, and Shebna the Scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the Recorder, went out to them.”
And chapter 19:2: “And he sent Eliakim, who was over the house, and Shebna the Scribe, and the elders of the Priests, covered with sackcloth, to Isaiah the Prophet, son of Amos.” Indeed, Ezra, a chief man, is called both Priest and Scribe. 2 Esdras 8:4: “But Ezra the Scribe stood upon the wooden step which he had made for speaking”; and verse 2: “Therefore Ezra the Priest brought the law before the multitude of men and women, and before all who were able to understand, on the first day of the seventh month.”
Nevertheless, the power of Scribes always grew, for they were also adorned with military dignity. Jeremiah 52:25: “And seven men of those who saw the King’s face, who were found in the city; and the Scribe who was chief of the soldiers, who tested recruits; and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the midst of the city.” And these men are the assistants and ministers of Chancellors.