CONTE ROYAL - IDENTITY
Comes
(pl. Comites) initially indicated only those who accompany another (from
"cum-eo", that is: "I go with"). From this Latin root derives
not only the Italian word "conte", but also others, including
"rally". According to the Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis
del Du Cange (cf. II, pp. 422-430), which in turn quotes the Tillemont, in the
last days of the empire of Augustus the emperor called some senators to the
palace with the role of advisers, officials or ministers. Since the institution
of the empire had not yet been consolidated and the senate's supreme dignity
had to be respected, he simply called them Caesaris comites, that is,
"companions of the emperor".
This
terminology also remained in the following centuries for imperial officials:
the finance minister, for example, was called comes sacrarum et privatarum
elargitionum. Even the consuls were sometimes called comites, not so much
because they were two, but because in imperial age they were also an authority
subordinated to the emperor.
When
imperial officials were sent to hold a province, they were called comites of
that province to indicate that they governed it with the authority implicit in
the function of "companions of the emperor". The feudal title
"count" originates precisely from this transformation, which, by
binding the title of comes to the territory, made it forget its original
meaning.
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