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ANTRUSTION

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Originally appearing in Volume V02, Page 154 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ANTRUSTION , the name of the members of the bodyguard or military See also:

household of the Merovingian See also:kings. The word, of which the formation has been variously explained, is derived from the O.H.Germ. trost, comfort, aid, fidelity, See also:trust, through the latinized See also:form trustis. Our See also:information about the antrustions is derived from one of the formulae of Marculfus (i. 18, ed. Zeumer, p. 55) and from various provisions of the Salic See also:law (see du Cange, Glossarium, s. "trustis"). Any one desiring to enter the See also:body of Antrustions had to See also:present himself armed at the royal See also:palace, and there, with his hands in those of the See also:king, take a See also:special See also:oath or trustis and fidelitas, in addition to the oath of fidelity sworn by every subject at the king's See also:accession. This done, he was considered to be in truste See also:dominica and See also:bound to the See also:discharge of all the services this involved. In return for these, the antrustion enjoyed certain valuable advantages, as being specially entitled to the royal assistance and See also:protection; his wergeld is three times that of an See also:ordinary See also:Frank; the slayer of a Frank paid See also:compensation of 200 solidi, that of an antrustion had to find 600. The antrustion was always of Frankish descent, and only in certain exceptional cases were Gallo-See also:Romans admitted into the king's bodyguard. These Gallo-Romans then took the name of convivae regis, and the wer geld of 300 solidi was three times that of a See also:home See also:romanus.

The antrustions, belonging as they did to one body, had strictly defined duties towards one another; thus one antrustion was forbidden to See also:

bear See also:witness against another under See also:penalty of 15 solidi compensation. The antrustions seem to have played an important See also:part at the See also:time of See also:Clovis. It was they, apparently, who formed the See also:army which conquered the See also:land, an army composed chiefly of See also:Franks, and of a few Gallo-Romans who had taken the See also:side of Clovis. After the See also:conquest, the role of the antrustions became less important. For each of their expeditions, the kings raised an army of citizens in which the Gallo-Romans mingled more and more with the Franks; they only kept one small permanent body which acted as their bodyguard (trustis dominica), some members of which were from time to time told off for other tasks, such as that of forming garrisons in the frontier towns. The institution seems to have disappeared during the anarchy with which the 8th See also:century opened. It has wrongly been held to be the origin of vassalage. Only the king had antrustions; every See also:lord could have vassals. The antrustions were a military institution; vassalage was a social institution, the origins of which are very complex. All historians of Merovingian institutions and law have treated of the antrustions, and each one has his different See also:system. The See also:principal authorities are:—Waitz, Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, 3rd ed. vol. ii. pp. 335 et seq.

; See also:

Brunner, Deutsche Rechtsgeschichte, vol. ii. p. 97 et seq. ; Fustel de Coulanges, La Monarchie franque, p. 8o et seq. ; Maxime Deloche, La Trustis et l'antrustion royal sous See also:les deux premieres races (See also:Paris, 1873), See also:collecting and discussing the principal texts; Guilhermoz, Les Origines de la noblesse (Paris, 1902), suggesting a system which is new in part. (C.

End of Article: ANTRUSTION

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