Master of the Horse
position of varying importance in several European nations
Master of the Horse is an official position in several European nations. It was more common when most countries in Europe were monarchies, and is of varying prominence today.
Magister Equitum (ancient Rome)
The original Master of the Horse (Latin: Magister Equitum) in the Roman Republic was an office appointed and dismissed by the Roman Dictator, and expired with the Dictator's own office, typically a term of six months in the early and mid-republic. The Magister Equitum served as the Dictator's main lieutenant. The Dictator nominated the Magister Equitum, unless a senatus consultum specified, as was sometimes the case, the appointee. The Dictator could not rule without a Magister Equitum to assist him, and, consequently, if the first Magister Equitum either died or was dismissed during the Dictator's term, another had to be nominated in his stead.
The Magister Equitum was granted a form of imperium, but at the same level as a praetor, and thus was subject to the imperium of the Dictator and his powers were not superior to those of a Consul. In the Dictator's absence, the Magister Equitum became his representative, and exercised the same powers as the Dictator. It was usually, but not always, necessary for the Magister Equitum to have already held the office of Praetor. Accordingly, the Magister Equitum had the insignia of a praetor: the toga praetexta and an escort of six lictors.
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This entry incorporates text from “Master of the Horse” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.