MAYOR

mayor, john eyton bickersteth (1825- ), english classical scholar, was born at baddegama, ceylon, on the 28th of january 1825, and educated in england at shrewsbury school and st john's college, cambridge. from 1863 to 1867 he was librarian of the university, and in 1872 succeeded h. a. j. munro in the professorship of latin. his best-known work, an edition of thirteen satires of juvenal, is marked by an extraordinary wealth of illustrative quotations. his _bibliographical clue to latin literature_ (1873), based on e. hubner's _grundriss zu vorlesungen uber die romische litteraturgeschichte_ is a valuable aid to the student, and his edition of cicero's _second philippic_ is widely used. he also edited the english works of j. fisher, bishop of rochester, i. (1876); thomas baker's _history of st john's college, cambridge_ (1869); richard of cirencester's _speculum historiale de gestis regum angliae 447-1066_ (1863-1869); roger ascham's _schoolmaster_ (new ed., 1883); the _latin heptateuch_ (1889); and the _journal of philology_. his brother, joseph bickersteth mayor (1828- ), classical scholar and theologian, was educated at rugby and st john's college, cambridge, and from 1870 to 1879 was professor of classics at king's college, london. his most important classical works are an edition of cicero's _de natura deorum_ (3 vols., 1880-1885) and _guide to the choice of classical books_ (3rd ed., 1885, with supplement, 1896). he also devoted attention to theological literature and edited the epistles of st james (2nd ed., 1892), st jude and st peter (1907), and the _miscellanies_ of clement of alexandria (with f. j. a. hort, 1902). from 1887 to 1893 he was editor of the _classical review_. his _chapters on english metre_ (1886) reached a second edition in 1901. mayor (lat. _major_, greater), in modern times the title of a municipal officer who discharges judicial and administrative functions. the french form of the word is _maire_. in germany the corresponding title is _burgermeister_, in italy _sindico_, and in spain _alcalde_. "mayor" had originally a much wider significance. among the nations which arose on the ruins of the roman empire of the west, and which made use of the latin spoken by their "roman" subjects as their official and legal language, _major_ and the low latin feminine _majorissa_ were found to be very convenient terms to describe important officials of both sexes who had the superintendence of others. any female servant or slave in the household of a barbarian, whose business it was to overlook other female servants or slaves, would be quite naturally called a _majorissa_. so the male officer who governed the king's household would be the _major domus_. in the households of the frankish kings of the merovingian line, the _major domus_, who was also variously known as the _gubernator_, _rector_, _moderator_ or _praefectus palatii_, was so great an officer that he ended by evicting his master. he was the "mayor of the palace" (q.v.). the fact that his office became hereditary in the family of pippin of heristal made the fortune of the carolingian line. but besides the _major domus_ (the major-domo), there were other officers who were _majores_, the _major cubiculi_, mayor of the bedchamber, and _major equorum_, mayor of the horse. in fact a word which could be applied so easily and with accuracy in so many circumstances was certain to be widely used by itself, or in its derivatives. the post-augustine _majorinus_, "one of the larger kind," was the origin of the medieval spanish _merinus_, who in castillian is the _merino_, and sometimes the _merino mayor_, or chief merino. he was a judicial and administrative officer of the king's. the _gregum merinus_ was the superintendent of the flocks of the corporation of sheep-owners called the _mesta_. from him the sheep, and then the wool, have come to be known as _merinos_--a word identical in origin with the municipal title of mayor. the latter came directly from the heads of gilds, and other associations of freemen, who had their banner and formed a group on the populations of the towns, the _majores baneriae_ or _vexilli_. in england the major is the modern representative of the lord's bailiff or reeve (see borough). we find the chief magistrate of london bearing the title of portreeve for considerably more than a century after the conquest. this official was elected by popular choice, a privilege secured from king john. by the beginning of the 11th century the title of portreeve[1] gave way to that of mayor as the designation of the chief officer of london,[2] and the adoption of the title by other boroughs followed at various intervals. a mayor is now in england and america the official head of a municipal government. in the united kingdom the municipal corporations act, 1882, s. 15, regulates the election of mayors. he is to be a fit person elected annually on the 9th of november by the council of the borough from among the aldermen or councillors or persons qualified to be such. his term of office is one year, but he is eligible for re-election. he may appoint a deputy to act during illness or absence, and such deputy must be either an alderman or councillor. a mayor who is absent from the borough for more than two months becomes disqualified and vacates his office. a mayor is _ex officio_ during his year of office and the next year a justice of the peace for the borough. he receives such remuneration as the council thinks reasonable. the office of mayor in an english borough does not entail any important administrative duties. it is generally regarded as an honour conferred for past services. the mayor is expected to devote much of his time to ornamental functions and to preside over meetings which have for their object the advancement of the public welfare. his administrative duties are merely to act as returning officer at municipal elections, and as chairman of the meetings of the council. the position and power of an english mayor contrast very strongly with those of the similar official in the united states. the latter is elected directly by the voters within the city, usually for several years; and he has extensive administrative powers. the english method of selecting a mayor by the council is followed for the corresponding functionaries in france (except paris), the more important cities of italy, and in germany, where, however, the central government must confirm the choice of the council. direct appointment by the central government exists in belgium, holland, denmark, norway, sweden and the smaller towns of italy and spain. as a rule, too, the term of office is longer in other countries than in the united kingdom. in france election is for four years, in holland for six, in belgium for an indefinite period, and in germany usually for twelve years, but in some cases for life. in germany the post may be said to be a professional one, the burgomaster being the head of the city magistracy, and requiring, in order to be eligible, a training in administration. german burgomasters are most frequently elected by promotion from another city. in france the _maire_, and a number of experienced members termed "adjuncts," who assist him as an executive committee, are elected directly by the municipal council from among their own number. most of the administrative work is left in the hands of the _maire_ and his adjuncts, the full council meeting comparatively seldom. the _maire_ and the adjuncts receive no salary. further information will be found in the sections on local government in the articles on the various countries; see also a. shaw, _municipal government in continental europe_; j. a. fairlie, _municipal administration_; s. and b. webb, _english local government_; redlich and hirst, _local government in england_; a. l. lowell, _the government of england_. footnotes: [1] if a place was of mercantile importance it was called a port (from _porta_, the city gate), and the reeve or bailiff, a "portreeve." [2] the mayors of certain cities in the united kingdom (london, york, dublin) have acquired by prescription the prefix of "lord." in the case of london it seems to date from 1540. it has also been conferred during the closing years of the 19th century by letters patent on other cities--birmingham, liverpool, manchester, bristol, sheffield, leeds, cardiff, bradford, newcastle-on-tyne, belfast, cork. in 1910 it was granted to norwich. lord mayors are entitled to be addressed as "right honourable." mayor of the palace.--the office of mayor of the palace was an institution peculiar to the franks of the merovingian period. a landowner who did not manage his own estate placed it in the hands of a steward (_major_), who superintended the working of the estate and collected its revenues. if he had several estates, he appointed a chief steward, who managed the whole of the estates and was called the _major domus_. each great personage had a _major domus_--the queen had hers, the king his; and since the royal house was called the palace, this officer took the name of "mayor of the palace." the mayor of the palace, however, did not remain restricted to domestic functions; he had the discipline of the palace and tried persons who resided there. soon his functions expanded. if the king were a minor, the mayor of the palace supervised his education in the capacity of guardian (_nutricius_), and often also occupied himself with affairs of state. when the king came of age, the mayor exerted himself to keep this power, and succeeded. in the 7th century he became the head of the administration and a veritable prime minister. he took part in the nomination of the counts and dukes; in the king's absence he presided over the royal tribunal; and he often commanded the armies. when the custom of commendation developed, the king charged the mayor of the palace to protect those who had commended themselves to him and to intervene at law on their behalf. the mayor of the palace thus found himself at the head of the _commendati_, just as he was at the head of the functionaries. it is difficult to trace the names of some of the mayors of the palace, the post being of almost no significance in the time of gregory of tours. when the office increased in importance the mayors of the palace did not, as has been thought, pursue an identical policy. some--for instance, otto, the mayor of the palace of austrasia towards 640--were devoted to the crown. on the other hand, mayors like flaochat (in burgundy) and erkinoald (in neustria) stirred up the great nobles, who claimed the right to take part in their nomination, against the king. others again, sought to exercise the power in their own name both against the king and against the great nobles--such as ebroin (in neustria), and, later, the carolingians pippin ii., charles martel, and pippin iii., who, after making use of the great nobles, kept the authority for themselves. in 751 pippin iii., fortified by his consultation with pope zacharias, could quite naturally exchange the title of mayor for that of king; and when he became king, he suppressed the title of mayor of the palace. it must be observed that from 639 there were generally separate mayors of neustria, austrasia and burgundy, even when austrasia and burgundy formed a single kingdom; the mayor was a sign of the independence of the region. each mayor, however, sought to supplant the others; the pippins and charles martel succeeded, and their victory was at the same time the victory of austrasia over neustria and burgundy. see g. h. pertz, _geschichte der merowingischen hausmeier_ (hanover, 1819); h. bonnell, _de dignitate majoris domus_ (berlin, 1858); e. hermann, _das hausmeieramt, ein echt germanisches amt_, vol. ix. of _untersuchungen zur deutschen staats- und rechtsgeschichte_, ed. by o. gierke (breslau, 1878, seq.); g. waitz, _deutsche verfassungsgeschichte_, 3rd ed., revised by k. zeumer; and fustel de coulanges, _histoire des institutions politiques de l'ancienne france: la monarchie franque_ (paris, 1888). (c. pf.)