Palatinus in the Catholic Church

Medieval Palatine judges

In the Middle Ages, the judices palatini (papal palace judges) were the highest administrative officers of the pope's household; with the growth of the temporal power of the popes they acquired great importance. These judices palatini were

• chief were the primicerius notariorum and secundarius notariorum, the two superintendents of the papal notarii (notaries), who superintended the preparation of official documents, conducted judicial investigations and exercised jurisdiction in legal matters voluntarily submitted by the interested parties to the papal court; they were the highest officers of the papal Chancery and of the archives of the Lateran Palace.
• the nomenculator or adminiculator (originally perhaps two distinct officials), who took charge of, and decided upon, petitions to the pope. (The nomenculator was superseded in the course of the ninth century by the protoscriniarius, or superintendent of the Roman public schools for scribes.)
• The arcarius and sacellarius were the highest financial officers, custodians of the treasures of the pope's Lateran Palace, who had charge of the receipt and payment of moneys. The vestararius was the third financial office.
• The primicerius defensorum and secundicerius defensorum, being superintendents of the defensores, who aided and protected widows, orphans, captives and other needy persons, had the supervision of charitable institutions.

These various offices developed from the end of the fourth century, with the formation of the papal household. Their functions covered the whole central administration of the papacy, both at Rome and in the outlying possessions (patrimonia) of the Roman Church. The judices palatini were also employed as papal envoys; they also had definite duties in the solemn processions and other great church ceremonies at which the pope was present in person. Their authority continued down until the middle of the eleventh century, when the reforms of the papal administration, inaugurated after the troubles of the tenth century, placed the Cardinals in that position at the Roman curia, which the judices palatini had previously occupied, and the latter gradually disappeared.