Note 245 — Chapter X · THE ERA OF THE LATER CAROLINGIANS

The vicarii and centenarii were local assistants of the count in administrative and judicial affairs. In Merovingian times their precise duties are not clear, but under the Carolingians the two terms tended to become synonyms. The centenarius, or hundredman, was charged mainly with the administration of justice in the smallest local division, i.e., the hundred. In theory he was elected by the people of the hundred, but in practice he was usually appointed by the count.