PROVOST, a title attached to various ecclesiastical and secu lar offices. In ecclesiastical usage the word praepositus was at first applied by the Church fathers to any ecclesiastical ruler or dig nitary. It early, however, gained a more specific sense as applied to the official next in dignity to the abbot of a monastery, or to the superior of a single cell. In England the title "provost" has thus everywhere given way to that of "dean"; in Germany, on the other hand, "Probst" is still the style of the heads of certain chapters. The name praepositus was also sometimes used for the secular advocatus of a monastery. With the ecclesiastical use of the title is connected its English application to the heads of certain colleges; "provost" is still the style of the principals of Queen's, Oriel and Worcester colleges at Oxford, of King's college at Cambridge, of Trinity college at Dublin and of Eton college, where, however, the head-master, though technically sub ordinate to the provost, is the effective head of the school.
As a secular title praepositus is also very old ; we need only instance the praepositus sacri cubiculi of the late Roman empire, and the praepositus palatii of the Carolingian court. The impor tant developments of the title in France are dealt with below. From France the title found its way into Scotland, where it survives in the style (provost) of the principal magistrates of the royal boroughs ("lord provost" in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth and Dundee), and into England, where it is applied to certain officers charged with the maintenance of military discipline. A provost-marshal is an officer of the army appointed when troops are on service abroad for the prompt repression of all offences. He may at any time arrest and detain for trial per sons subject to military law committing offences, and may also carry into execution any punishments to be inflicted in pursuance of a court-martial (Army Act, 1881, s. 74). A provost-sergeant is an officer responsible for the maintenance of order when soldiers are in Great Britain. A provost-sergeant may be either garrison or regimental, and he has under his superintendence the garrison or regimental police.
It must be borne in mind, however, that the magistrates belonging to the inferior category of royal judges (juges subalternes) had different designations in many parts of France. In and Burgundy they were called chatelains, and elsewhere—espe cially in the south—viguiers.
Some time in the nth century the provosts replaced the vis counts wherever the viscounty had not become a fief, and it is possible that in creating them the Crown was imitating the ecclesiastical organization in which the provost figured, notably in the chapters. The royal provosts had at first a double character. In the first place they fulfilled all the functions which answered locally to the royal power. They collected all the revenues of the domain and all the taxes and dues payable to the king within the limits of their jurisdiction. Doubtless, too, they had certain mili tary functions, being charged with the duty of calling out certain contingents for the royal service ; there survived until the end of the ancien regime certain military provosts prevots d'epee (prov osts of the sword) who were replaced in the administration of jus tice by a lieutenant. Finally, the provosts administered justice, though certainly their competence in this matter was restricted. Their second characteristic was that their office was farmed for a time to the highest bidder. It was simply an application of the system of farming the taxes. The provost thus received the specu lative right to collect the revenues of the royal domain in the dis trict under his jurisdiction; this was his principal concern, and his judicial functions were merely accessory. By these short appoint ments the Crown guaranteed itself against another danger : the possible conversion by the functionary of the function into a property. Very early, however, certain provostships were be stowed en garde; i.e., the provost had to account to the king for all he collected. The prevotes en ferme were naturally a source of abuses and oppression, the former seeking to make the most of the concession he had bought. They disappeared in the 16th century, by which time the provosts became regular officials, their office being purchasable.
Other transformations had previously taken place. The creation of the royal baillis reduced the provosts to a subaltern rank. Each bailli had in his district a certain number of provosts, who became his inferiors in the official hierarchy. When appeals were instituted (and this was one of the earliest instances of their introduction) the provost, the sphere of whose competency was limited, was subject to an appeal to the bailli, though his judg ment had hitherto been without appeal. Moreover, in the 14th cen tury they had ceased to collect the revenues of the royal domain, except where the prevote was en ferme, and royal collectors (receveurs royaux) had been appointed for this purpose. The summoning of the feudal contingents, the ban and had passed into the hands of the baillis. Thus the provosts were left for their sole function as inferior judges for non-nobles. (See