Comes (pluralcomites), translated ascount, was a Roman title, generally linked to acomitatus or comital office.

The wordcomes originally meant "companion" or "follower", deriving from "com-" ("with") and "ire" ("go"). The special lasting meaning derives from the position of a follower within acomitatus, which was a retinue, or group of followers, such as those ofmagnates. In some instances these were sufficiently large and/or formal to justify specific denomination, such as a "cohors amicorum".

The wordcomes is the origin of the much later terms forcounts within the medieval nobility, andcounties as their territorial jurisdictions.

Comes was a commonepithet ortitle that was added to the name of ahero or god in order to denote relation with another god.

The coinage ofRoman Emperor Constantine I declared him "comes" toSol Invictus ("Unconquered Sun")qua god.

Historically more significant, "comes" became a secular title granted to trusted officials of the ImperialCuria ("Court"), present or former, and others as sign of Imperial confidence. It developed into a formal, dignitary title, derived from the "Companions" ofAlexander the Great and rather equivalent to theHellenistic title of "philos basilikos" or thepaladin title of aknight of theHoly Roman Empire and aPapal Palatinus. Thus the title was retained when the titulary was appointed, often promoted, to an office away from court, frequently in the field or a provincial administration. Subsequently, it was thought logical to connect the title to specific offices that demanded an incumbent official of high dignity, and even to include it as part of the official title.

As the Imperial RomanCuria increased in number and assimilated all political power, theRoman Emperors instituted a casual practice of appointing faithful servants to offices. This had been done elsewhere, e. g. regarding thePrefect of the Praetorian Guard and theamici principis. As Imperial administration expanded, however, new offices became necessary and decentralization demanded modifications. The result was the institution of the rank of "comes".

The "comites", often translated as "counts", though they were neither feudal nor hereditary, became principal officials of the laterRoman Empire. They held offices of all kinds from the army to the civil service, while retaining their direct access to the Emperor.Emperor Constantine I finalized them as the governmental echelon of "comites provinciarum" ("counts of the provinces"); thecomites of the new echelon were assigned alongside thevicarii in thecivil dioceses of the latter so that thecomites became permanent fixtures of Imperial government. Thecomites were fully enumerated as early as the beginning of the AD 5th century in theNotitia Dignitatum, but as offices were later added, it is not historically exhaustive.

The following sections describe examples of the kinds ofcomites.

Several of the major departments of the ImperialCuria ("Court") and household had a principal official who wasstyled "comes" and assisted by an "officium" ("staff") very similar to that of aRoman governor. They included:

• Comes dispositonum: a deputy to the very powerfulmagister officiorum (Master of Offices) responsible for organizing the Imperial calendar and preparing the correspondence for distribution to the proper offices for transcription.
• Comes domesticorum: avir illustris who was principal of thedomestici, a corps of bodyguards of the Emperor who were stationed in the Imperial Palace. There were two of these comital commanders, thecomes domesticorum equitum for the equestrian knights and thecomes domesticorum peditum for the foot soldiers.
• Comes privatae largitionis: the custodian of the privy purse, who answered and was subordinate to thecomes rerum privatarum (see next title).
• Comes rerum privatarum: a powerful Imperial official responsible for the private estates and holdings of theEmperor and his family ("res privata"). He maintained the properties and collected the rents, of which most were deposited in theAerarium, i. e., the treasury of the public funds of the State, and some in theFiscus, i. e., the treasury of privy funds of the Emperor that thecomes privatae largitionis administered.
• Comes sacrarum largitionum: avir illustris who was custodian of thesacrae largitiones ("Sacred Largesses") of theEmperor and manager of the Imperial finances. He controlled all of the mints, each managed by aprocurator; was the principal of numerous officials, including moreprocuratores,rationales, andpraepositi, who collected senatorial taxes, custom duties, and some land taxes; was responsible for the yields of the mines; provided budgets for the civil service and armies; supplied all uniforms; and was competent for the minor offices of:
  • Comes auri: the official responsible for gold.
  • Comes sacrae vestis: the master of the wardrobe of the Emperor.
  • The 3comites largitionum: the regional financial administrators ofItaly,Africa, andIllyricum.
  • Comes commerciorum forIllyricum.
  • Comes metallorum per Illyricum: the official responsible for that region's gold mines.

Exceptionally, a gubernatorial position was styled "comes". For example, thecomes Orientis, actually one of thevicarii, was an official who controlled the large and strategically important ImperialDiocese of the East by supervising the governors of this collection of provinces, but he was in turn supervised by thepraefectus praetorio Orientis.

Further, the principal officials of some less important governmental departments who were under the authority of otherwise styled, high ranking, territorial officials could be titled "comes", e. g. under thepraefectus urbi ofRome, himself avir illustris, was acomes formarum,comes riparum et alvei Tiberis et Cloacarum ("Count of the Coast of the Tiber and the Canalisation"), andcomes Portus ("Count of the Port").

The title "comes consistorianus" or "comes consistorialis" indicated specially appointed members to theconsistorium, the council of the Roman emperor's closest advisors.

Thecomes rei militaris held martial appointments, and commandedcomitatenses.^[1] He ranked superior to adux but inferior to themagister peditum ormagister equitum; he functioned as the superior of a series of military stations, each commanded by apraepositus limitis ("border commander") and/or as a unit commander, e. g., of tribunes of cohorts, ofalae (auxiliary equivalents), ofnumeri, and in the Eastern Empire even oflegions.

TheNotitia Dignitatum of the early-5th century AD enumerates six such offices, being of the dignity ofvir spectabilis, in the Western Empire:comes Italiae,comes Africae,comes Tingitaniae,comes Tractus Argentoratensis,comes Britanniarum andcomes Litoris Saxonici; as well as two in the Eastern Empire:comes (limitis) Aegypti andcomesIsauriae.^[2]

• Comes Africae: official responsible for the defense ofRoman Africa.
• Comes tractus Argentoratensis: official responsible for the defense of part ofGallia.
• Comes Avernorum: official responsible for the defense of the other part ofGallia.
• Comes Britanniarum: official responsible for the defense ofBritannia. This office presumably expiredc. 410 AD, when the last Roman troops left that province.
• Comes Litoris Saxonici per Britanniam: official responsible for the defense of the Saxon shore ofBritannia.
• Comes Hispaniarum: official responsible for the defense ofHispania.

As the number ofcomites increased, that dignity became devalued. This resulted in the introduction of classes ofcomites, denominated and ranked the first, second, and third "ordines".

Thecomites dominorum nostrorum (plural ofcomes dominorum nostrorum;lit. 'Companions of Our Lords [Emperors]') were a mounted Imperial bodyguard during thetetrarchy ofEmperor Diocletian in circa 300 AD.

TheGoths that ruledSpain andItaly followed the Roman tradition of granting the title of "comes" to the various principals of the departments of their royal households, including but not limited to the:

• Comes Cubiculariorum: Count in charge of the chamberlains (L. cubicularii).
• Comes Scanciorum: the Count who commanded the cup bearers.
• Comes Stabulorum: the Count who commanded the equerries and stables.
• Comes Notariorum: the Count who commanded thechancery, i. e., the writing office.
• Comes Thesaurorum: the Count who commanded the officials of the treasury.

The Frankish kings of theMerovingian dynasty retained much of Roman administration, including the office and title of "comes", the original meaning of which they preserved, i. e., a companion of the king and a royal servant of high dignity. Under the early Frankish kings somecomites did not have definite functions: they were merely attached to the person of the King and executed his orders. Others filled the highest offices, e. g. theComes Palatii andComes Stabuli^[3] (from which the contemporary title of "constable" derives).

Yet othercomites served as regional officials. For administrative purposes, the Merovingian kingdoms were still divided into small Roman districts denominated "pagi" (hence the French "pays"), or similarly sized new creations "Gaue". These were smaller than the old Romancivitates ("cities", or polities) which became the basis of the new medieval bishoprics. In Carolingian times, the governor of apagus was aComes, corresponding to the GermanGraf. The King appointed thecomites to serve at his pleasure. The modern German-derived term sometimes for a count who governed a whole gau is "Gaugraf", and a gau containing several counties is sometimes called a "Grossgau".

The essential competences of thecomes were comprehensive in hispagus: martial, judicial, and executive; and in documents he is often described as the "agens publicus" ("public agent") of the King or "judex publicus/fiscalis"^[3] ("royal judge"). He was at once public prosecutor and judge, and was responsible for the execution of the sentences as well. As the delegate of the executive power, he had the right to exercise the "bannis regis" ("royalban"), which gave him the right to command his military in the name of the King and to act as necessary to preserve the peace. As the King's representative, he exercised the royal right of protection ("mundium regis") of churches, widows, orphans, and the like. He enjoyed a triple "wergeld", but had no definite salary, being remunerated by receipt of specific revenues, which system contained the germs of discord, on account of the confusion of his public and private obligations.^[3]

According to philologists, theAnglo-Saxon word "gerefa", denoting "illustrious chief", however, is not connected to the German "Graf", which originally meant "servant"; compare the etymologies of the words "knight" and "valet". It is the more curious that the "gerefa" should end as a subservientreeve while the "graf" became a noble count.^[4]

In the feudal tradition,Latin was, especially in law, the official language, and therefore the rendering in Latin was equal in importance to the vernacular title. Thus, "comes" has been used as the Latin equivalent, or part of it, of all titles of comital office, whether containing "count" or some other word etymologically derived from "comes" or "graf". Similarly, it is part of the rendering, not always exclusive, of derived inferior titles containing such words, notably "vicecomes" for "viscount" and "burgicomes" and "burgravio" for "burgrave".

• Aerarium
• Agentes in rebus
• Comitatenses
• Comitatus (Kingdom of Hungary)
• Congiarium
• Donativum
• Fiscus
• Mund (law)
• Rationalis
• A rationibus
• Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft
• Roman finance

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Count".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 312–314.