found even in Roman times; a Synod of Carthage decreed, in 401, that the emperor should be requested to provide, in conjunction with the bishops, for the churches. There is evidence, moreover, for such in Italy, at the close of the fifth century, but Pope Gregory I confined the office to members of the clergy. It was the duty of these to protect the poor, and to defend the rights and possessions of the church. In the Frankish Kingdom, under the Merovingians, these lay representatives of the churches appear as and . The concept of the was related to the Old German idea of the , or guardian, but also included some ideas of physical defence and legal representation (whence the connection with or "advocate"). Under the Carolingians, the duties of the church advocate were enlarged and defined according to the principles of government which prevailed in the reign of Charlemagne; henceforward we meet with the in the medieval sense. A Capitulary of about 790 ordained that the higher clergy, "for the sake of the church's honour, and the respect due to the priesthood" () should have advocates. Charlemagne, who obliged bishops, abbots and abbesses to maintain , commanded to exercise great care in the choice of persons to fill the office; they must be judicious men, familiar with the law, and owning property in the—then still administrative—countship (). The churches, monasteries and canonries, as such, alike received advocates, who by degrees assumed the position above defined. Under the Carolingians it was made obligatory for bishops, abbots and abbesses to appoint such officials in every county where they held property. The office was not at first hereditary nor even for life, the being chosen, either by the abbot alone, or by the abbot and bishop concurrently with the count. In the post-Carolingian period it developed into a hereditary office, and was held by powerful nobles, who constantly endeavoured to enlarge their rights in connection with the church or the monastery. Conciliar decrees were passed as early as the ninth century to protect ecclesiastical institutions against the excessive claims of their advocates, who indeed became in many ways a heavy burden to their ecclesiastical clients. They dealt with the possessions entrusted to them as with their own property, plundered the church estate, appropriated the tithes and other revenues, and oppressed in every possible way those whom they were appointed to protect.