Note 243 — Chapter X · THE ERA OF THE LATER CAROLINGIANS
Reading edition
The office of missus had by this time fallen pretty much into decay. Many of the missi were at the same time counts—a combination of authority directly opposed to the earlier theory of the administrative system. The missus had been supposed to supervise the counts and restrain them from disloyalty to the king and from indulgence in arbitrary or oppressive measures of local government.