In the regulation of the common life of the clergy in collegiate and cathedral churches, according to the Rule of Chrodegang and the statutes of Amalarius of Metz, the primicerius appears as the first capitular after the archdeacon and archpresbyter, controlling the lower clerics and directing the liturgical functions and chant.
His predecessor was Gomelo II and he first appears in a document of the latter's episcopate, on 20 January 905, signing as both a presbyter and a primicerius ("Flacinus presbyter, Primicerius testis").
The constitution of the Chancery, which in the case of the Holy See seems to date back to a schola notariorum, with a primicerius at its head, of which we hear under Pope Julius I (337–352), varied from period to period, and the part played by the different officials composing it necessarily varied also.