necessary to all acts of the king.

The most important of the functions of the _dux_ as _judex_ was
holding the _Curtis Regia_ or _Curtis Ducalis_, in the largest city or
"urbs" of every _civitas_. Here, in conjunction with his subordinates,
he heard all cases which did not go up to the king for judgment, and
here was centered the fiscal administration of the _civitas_. To
describe in detail the composition of these _curtes_, their
jurisdiction and methods of procedure, would require a whole chapter
of no mean proportions, and however interesting in itself, would be
out of place in the present investigation. All that it is needful for
us to consider is the relation of these _curtes_ to the municipalities
in which they were located. Of their location within the city walls
the proofs to be found in numbers of the old documents are to me
conclusive. I will give a few examples, however, commencing with two
from the documents which have already been quoted from Brunetti,
relating to the dispute between the bishops of Siena and Arezzo. In
the first of these[25] we see that in the year 715, the king's
_majordomus_ Ambrosius interferes "in Curte a Domini Regis" at Siena,
in opposition to the local bishop and gastald; and in the second[26]
we find the royal notary Gunthram forbidding a fresh examination of
witnesses "in Curte Regia Senensis." In a document of the next
year[27]--716--we find "Ebugansus, Notarius regiae Curtis," taking
part in the procedure in a case between the bishops of Pistoia and
Lucca; and a little later, in the year 756, is mention of an exchange
of property between "civitis regia lucencis" and the church situated
in that city.[28] In the "Opusculum de Fundat. Monast. Nonantulae,"
published by Muratori,[29] we find a donation by King Aistulf to that
monastery: "prope castellum Aginulfi, quod pertinet de curte nostra
lucense, et duas casas masaritias de ipsa curte"; and "granum ilium,