NUNCIUS REGIS

King's messenger. The king had a body of messengers whose task was to carry writs, letters and any kind of document throughout the kingdom. (On one occasion a messenger was sent to deliver part of the quartered body of a man executed for treason.) They always travelled on horse. Messengers functioned in the same way in Europe, and were also employed by bishops, sheriffs, abbots and knights. There were places across the nation where horses could be changed, though a system of staging posts throughout England did not emerge until Tudor times. An attack on a messenger was deemed an attack on the king, which may have kept them safe to some extent. [<Lat.nuntius= messenger] -

Cf.Carectarius; Cokini