Serjeant-at-arms
A serjeant-at-arms or sergeant-at-arms is an officer appointed by a deliberative body, usually a legislature, to keep order during its meetings. The word "serjeant" is derived from the Latin serviens, which means "servant".
In the Middle Ages, the serjeants-at-arms were bodies of armed men retained by the French and English monarchs: the ceremonial maces with which they are associated were originally a type of weapon. Serjeants-at-arms continue to serve a ceremonial role in the Royal Household of the United Kingdom; as such they represent the oldest royal bodyguard in England.
Origins
The most familiar use of the term "sergeant" today is as a military rank. In the medieval period, the soldier sergeant was a man of what would now be thought of as the 'middle class', fulfilling a junior role to the knight in the medieval hierarchy. Sergeants could fight either as heavy to light cavalry, or as well-trained professional infantry, either spearmen or crossbowmen. Most notable medieval mercenaries fell into the 'sergeant' class, such as Flemish crossbowmen and spearmen, who were seen as reliable quality troops. The sergeant class were deemed to be 'worth half of a knight' in military value.As 'knight' came to signify social rank, so 'serjeant' began to be used for a particular social class. This usage survived in the Royal Household, where serjeants had charge of several departments below-stairs. As late as the 17th century, there were a Serjeant of the Bakehouse, Serjeant of the Cellar, Serjeant of the Pastry, Serjeant of the Scullery and Serjeant of the Woodyard, each overseeing a staff of Yeomen, Grooms and Pages with a Gentleman serving as their deputy..
The particular office of serjeant-at-arms originated in twelfth-century France, when King Philip II formed for himself a bodyguard of nobles and armed them with maces. The Sergens d'Armes had a courtly as well as a military character, and their maces served both as an insignia of office and as a practical weapon: at court they wore robes, in the field they wore armour; either way they carried their maces. They were powerful figures, answerable to no judicial authority but the King and the Constable of France. A hundred serjeants were retained by Philip of Valois, but after his death they were reduced to just six in number, before disappearing entirely in the second half of the 14th century.
The existence of an English corps of serjeants-at-arms is first recorded in the reign of Edward I, towards the end of the 13th century. It is from this body of men that the present-day serjeants-at-arms evolved.
History of the office in England
The earliest record of the Sergeants-at-Arms in England is found in 1278, when King Edward I formed them into a twenty-strong Corps to serve as a close escort. The size of the corps grew over subsequent reigns: "by the statutes of noble Edward were thirty serjeants of arms sufficiently armed and horsed, riding before his highness when he journeyed by the country for a gard de Corps du Roy ". Like their French counterparts they wore either robes or armour, as appropriate; they were required at times to be mounted, and at other times to attend on foot. The role of the serjeants was two-fold: as well directly defending the person of the king, they also had wide-ranging powers of arrest and sometimes served the sovereign in a police role.Duties
In 1417 the King's brother, Thomas of Lancaster, published a set of instructions for the kings of arms, heralds and serjeants-at arms. He reiterated the purpose of the serjeants-at-arms, "which were principally founded and ordained for the conservation of the person of the King and his Lords", and also described their appearance: "the Serjeants at Arms in Service Royal ought to stand before the King in such fashion attired: that is to say his head bare and all his body armed to the feet with arms of a Knight riding, wearing a gold chain with a medal bearing all the King's Coats" and with a "Mace of silver in his right hand, and in his left hand a truncheon".He declared that "as often as the King shall ride or go to the church on foot or on horseback, or in any army in field, town or other place or places where the King's honour ought to be maintained" the chief king of arms should go directly before the king and the serjeants on either side so as to defend the king and his lords from the "press of people" on either side. Also, on 'solemn feasts', the serjeants-at-arms were directed to walk "on the left and on the right hand of the Master of the Household going before the meats and services of the King, to keep and defend the press of people".
The document also sets out the serjeants' not inconsiderable powers of arrest: "a Serjeant at Arms may apprehend or attach any subject of the King, or other whatsoever he be, remaining in the four seas of England or any part thereof, be it in any house, castle, or fort"; the only persons exempt from this power were the eldest son of the King and "the ladies his daughters". They received payment per arrest, depending on the rank of the person apprehended: ranging from 100 shillings of silver for an archbishop or duke, to one silver mark for a common person. A serjeant's arrest was 'of more high nature than any other can be'; they represented 'the valorous force of a King's errand in the execution of justice', and no-one arrested by a serjeant could then be bailed or released into another's custody. The serjeants-at-arms on occasion apprehended people under the authority of an officer of state. At tournaments and jousts they stood ready, under the authority of the Constable and Marshal, to arrest anyone transgressing the laws of Chivalry.
Later developments
As the fifteenth century progressed the serjeants-at-arms were greatly reduced in number. The Black Book of the Household of King Edward IV stated that there were just four serjeants, "whereof two alway to be attending upon the King's person and chamber, and to avoid the press of people before where the King shall come". Under the Tudors the size of the corps was again increased; in 1492 they were summoned by King Henry VII to accompany him on a military venture in France. Elizabeth I maintained a body of twenty-five serjeants-at-arms; under her successor James I their number was reduced to sixteen.King Charles II likewise maintained a cohort of sixteen sergeants-at-arms: they waited on the monarch quarterly, four being on duty at any one time. They were required to "give their attendance every Sunday and Holy day and whensoever We shall go to Church", and it was declared that "two sergeants at arms shall attend Us in all progresses and attend whensoever the Sword of State is carried". When a new serjeant-at-arms was created a ceremony was held in the Presence Chamber: the new officer knelt before the king, who invested him first with a collar of esses and then with the mace, before declaring "Rise up, Serjeant at Arms, and Esquire for ever".
In 1685, following the coronation of James II, the number of serjeants was reduced to eight; this number was maintained in subsequent reigns up to and including that of Queen Victoria. They continued to wait quarterly, in pairs, attending in the Presence Chamber on Sundays and festival days. On rare occasions all eight would be on duty: they would customarily go ahead of the King in pairs, escorting those carrying the items of regalia. At the coronation banquet they escorted the Lord High Steward and other Lords who walked ahead of the dishes of hot meat as they were brought to the newly-crowned King; and a pair of serjeants escorted the King's Champion at his entry into the hall.
In subsequent reigns their number was gradually reduced: to six under Edward VII, to four under George V, and three under Elizabeth II. At the coronation of Charles III two serjeants-at-arms walked in the procession ahead of the regalia: Paul Whybrew and Richard Thompson.
The original responsibilities of the sergeant-at-arms included "collecting loans and, impressing men and ships, serving on local administration and in all sorts of ways interfering with local administration and justice."
Parliamentary role
From an early time, individual serjeants-at-arms of the Royal Household were attached to certain Great Officers of State. The Lord High Steward had a serjeant-at-arms, as did the Lord High Chancellor and the Lord High Treasurer. The Lord Chancellor is still attended by a serjeant-at-arms on ceremonial occasions.The Lord Chancellor was ex officio speaker of the House of Lords. His designated serjeant-at-arms had an authorized deputy who was "in constant attendance upon the Great Seal". The duty of the serjeant, "besides that of bearing the gilt mace before the Lord Chancellor, Lord Keeper or Lords Commissioners in going or returning from Court or Parliament", was "to execute all warrants against persons who have stood out commissions of rebellion" and to take them into custody.
In 1415, the King appointed one of his serjeants-at-arms to the House of Commons; the appointment was at the Commons' request, as recorded in the Letters Patent. Since 1471, his successors as Serjeant at Arms have, more specifically, been instructed to attend upon the Speaker. The practice of the Commons themselves petitioning the king, for a particular individual to serve as their Serjeant, lapsed under Henry VIII; subsequently, individuals were appointed by the monarch: "to the place or office of one of our Serjeants at Arms in ordinary, to attend upon Our Royal person when there is no Parliament and at the time of every Parliament to attend upon the Speaker of the House of Commons". Up until 1962 it remained in all respects a royal appointment; since then, it has been the custom of the Crown "to undertake formal consultation with the House ".
Disciplinary responsibilities
Like the other serjeants-at-arms, the Serjeant at Arms of the House of Commons had a role that was practical as well as ceremonial: within the precincts of the House of Commons he kept order, and introduced messengers and others at the bar of the House. Further afield, he was empowered to summon individuals to the bar of the House, to place them in custody and commit them to a place of detention. As demonstrated in the Ferrers Case of 1543, the Serjeant had wide-ranging powers of arrest, requiring no writ but only the "show of his Mace which was his warrant". In later centuries, the mechanism of a Speaker's Warrant was established, as an alternative to the mace, to provide the Serjeant with the authority required to take people into custody.In the eighteenth century it was not unusual for the Serjeant at Arms to take absentee Members of Parliament into custody so as to enforce their attendance in the House of Commons, as duly elected representatives; this last took place in 1859. MPs could also be committed into the custody of the Serjeant at Arms for unruly behaviour; the last MP to have been imprisoned for unruly behaviour was Charles Bradlaugh in 1880.. Admonishment was another possible sanction: the last non-politician to be summoned to the bar by the Serjeant at Arms in order for them to be admonished was John Junor in 1957; he apologised to the House and no further action was taken. The last MP to be so summoned was Tam Dalyell in 1968. More recently, the Serjeant has been employed to serve papers on individuals who have failed to respond to a summons to
appear before a Select Committee of the House.