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An advocatus, sometimes simply advocate, Vogt (German), or avoué (French), was a type of medieval office holder, particularly important in the Holy Roman Empire, who was delegated some of the powers and functions of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as an abbey. They typically had responsibility for the "comital" functions which defined the office of early medieval "counts", such as taxation, recruitment of militias, and maintaining law and order. This type of office could apply to specific agricultural lands, villages, castles, and even cities. In some regions, advocates came to be governors of large provinces, sometimes distinguished by terms such as Landvogt.
In different parts of medieval Europe, the term advocate developed different meanings, and other terms were also sometimes used to represent similar offices. For example, Anglo-Norman comital functions for larger districts were executed by vicomtes in Normandy, and sheriffs in England. In contrast, the advocatus or advocate as an officer of a court of law, which is still current in modern English, first appeared in the 12th and 13th centuries, concomitant with the rediscovery of Roman law.[1] The common thread which connects the different meanings of advocate is that someone is called upon to perform a function for others.
While the term was eventually used to refer to many types of governorship and advocacy, one of the earliest and most important types of advocatus was the church advocate (advocatus ecclesiae). These were originally lay lords, who not only helped defend religious institutions from violence, but were also responsible for exercising the comital or lordly responsibilities within the church's lands, such as the management of courts which could inflict a death penalty. In return they received an income from the lands, and the positions of these office-holders often came to be seen as inheritable titles themselves, with their own feudal privileges connected to them.
- ^ Jean-Louis Gazzaniga, "Advocate", in André Vauchez (ed.), Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages (Oxford University Press, 2002).