Such an official was naturally located at the place where the district courts held their sessions, and where the fiscal duties which he especially had in charge were most easily executed.  As we have seen in the case of the dux, convenience points to the urbs of each civitas as a natural centre, and consequently here again we find the office of gastald as another agent in bringing the municipal division into prominence; but doing this, we must always remember, simply from the fact of convenience or fitness, and not in any sense as a matter of constitutional necessity.  Like that of the dux, the jurisdiction of the gastald was exercised over the remotest farm of the civitas as much as over the palace in the city:  de jure, the city gained nothing by the circumstance of its being the centre of the administration of any office; but, de facto, the holding of such a position can easily be seen to have been an important element in its growth and development.

This fact is even of greater importance in the case of the gastald than in that of the dux, because, on account of the elimination of the character of local ruler, which was indissolubly attached to the office of the latter, the gastald brought local affairs into direct relation with other parts of the social system of the kingdom, especially connecting them with the king or centre of the whole.  Such a connection, as may be inferred from what has just been said, while legally true, of course, of the whole civitas, had practically the effect of bringing the cities chiefly into relation with the rest of the Lombard constitution; and, consequently, some writers point to the office of gastald as the connecting link between municipal life and the new state life of the Teutonic system.  This statement seems to me to be true except in so far as it makes the gastald the only connecting link.  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.  I do not wish to fail in appreciation of the important influence of this office in the development of the slowly growing idea of individuality in the cities of Lombardy, only to point out that it was not the only “connecting link” between the municipal units and the state as a whole.

In passing to a brief characterization of a few of the subordinate officers, I must not omit to mention the fact that the gastald had also certain military functions attached to his office.  When called upon by the king he took command in the army, together with the minor officers who were under him in his jurisdiction, such as the sculdahis, saltarius,[44] etc.  We have confirmation of this in the constitution “promotionis exercitus” of