The tenth cranial nerve (known as the vagus nerve) provides motor, sensory and parasympathetic function.  The motor function supplies the pharynx, soft palate and larynx, and originates in a nucleus in the brainstem known as the nucleus ambiguus.  The parasympathetic function supplies the thoracic and abdominal viscera.  Sensory fibers arise in the pharynx, larynx and external auditory meatus. 

The vagus nerve leaves the brainstem as a number of converging rootlets, and leaves the skull through the jugular foramen.