Byzantine Empire titles and offices

The Byzantine Empire had a highly developed and complex system of bureaucracy and aristocracy. Many of the positions and titles were merely honorary, since theoretically the only ruler was the emperor. During the more than 1,000 years of the Empire's existence, numerous titles were used and fell out of use, as they gained or lost prestige. At first the titles used in the Empire were practically the same as in the Late Roman Empire, as Byzantium maintained Roman continuity. By the time of Heraclius, in the 7th century century, many of the Roman titles were already outdated; In the time of Alexios I Komnenos, many of the offices were new or had radically changed meaning and function, but they remained almost unchanged from the reign of Alexios until the fall of Constantinople in 1453.

Imperial titles

Follis of Leo VI the Sabio (r. 886-912): "Leon In The Rise Basileus Romeon"

• Basileus (βασιλες): "Monarch"; the traditional title of the Greek rulers. In principle he referred to any ruler of the Greek-speaking world, including the sah of Persia, but from the centuryvii became the official name of the emperor. Heraclio adopted this title in replacement of Augustus (Augoustos) in 629, although the term was already popular for several centuries. Since then the Byzantines began to refer to foreign kings as rēgas, helenized form of the Latin word Rex (chuckles) In 812, Byzantines recognized the imperial dignity of Carlomagno, calling him basileusbut not "of the Romans" (romahion), term they would reserve for themselves. Some of the variations in basileus They were:
  • Basilissa (βασλισα): female equivalent, reserved for the emperor's wife.
  • Basileopator (βασιλεοπάτρ): "Father of the monarch". The first to use the title was Zautzes, the son-in-law of Leo VI. Roman I also used this title when it was regent of Constantine VII, even though it was from different families.
  • Basileus kai Autokrator (βασιλες α delτοκράτωρ): "Monarch and autocrat"; the full title of the emperor from the centuryxii. Many emperors crowned their children as coemperators when they were still children; these were simply called basileuswhile the reigning emperor was basileus autocrator. The term also served to elevate the status of the emperor against the rest of European monarchs.
• Porphyrogennets (κορφορογκος): "Born in purple"; used by the emperors who wished to emphasize the legitimacy of their ascendance to the throne. He referred to the emperors born in a specific room of the imperial palace (called "Porphyra" because he was covered with the purple marble slabs); they were the sons of a reigning emperor and therefore legitimate. It should not be forgotten that the birthright, or even the hereditary transmission of the throne, never became firm and legally established in the imperial succession. This fact was firmly established in the Roman "republican" tradition, according to which any form of inheritance of power was rejected and the imperial title consisted theoretically in the coincidence of several positions of the Republic in the same person.

• Autocrator (α"τοκράτωρ): "That governs for itself"; official translation of Imperatorreserved for the emperors.
• Sebates (σεβαστός): "Venerable" or "Majestic", literal translation of Augustusalso reserved for the emperors. In times of Alejo I Comneno became less important after the creation of the title of protosebasto. His female form was bias. Alejo I and the subsequent emperors would create numerous titles by the procedure of adding bread ("all"), hyper ("superior"), proto ("first") and other prefixes to basic titles as Sebates.
• Waste (δεσπότης): The title of "déspota" was created by Manuel I Comneno in the centuryxiias the maximum title after the emperor. A despota could be the holder of a despotat, such as the despotat of Morea, with capital in Mistra. This title would be used by the heir to the Byzantine throne since 1261. His female form was despoina.
• Sebastocrátor (σεβαστοκράτωρ) "Venerable ruler," title created by Alejo I combining the terms of [autokrator] and Sebates. The first sebastokrator He was the brother of Alejo, Isaac; in essence he was a title without content, which merely indicated a very close relationship with the emperor. His female form was sebastokratorissa.
• Kaisar: (κασαρ) "César", in the beginning, as in the Lower Roman Empire, this title was used by a subordinate co-emperator or by the supposed heir. When Alejo I created the title sebastokrator, kaisar became the third in importance, and it would be the fourth after Manuel I created the title despotes. The female form was kaisarissa.

Despotes, sebastokrator, kaisar, panhypersebastos and protosebastos were usually titles Reserved for members of the imperial family and distinguished by the use of specific clothing and different crowns. However, they could also apply to foreigners: in fact, the first despotes was a foreigner, Bela III of Hungary, thus implying that Hungary was a tributary state of Byzantium. The first foreigner to be granted the title of sebastokrator was Stefan Nemanja of Serbia in 1191. Kaloyan of Bulgaria also used this title. Justinian II granted the title of kaisar to Tervel, Khan of the Bulgars*, in 705; the title later became the Slavic term* zar or czar (thus passing from Latin to Russian*). Andrónico II Palaiologos also conferred the title of kaisar on Roger de Flor, head of the Great Catalan Company of the Almogavars, in 1304. Protosebasto was granted to Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, before the involvement of him in the Fourth Crusade.

Court titles

• Pansebastohypertatos, panoikeiotatos and protoproedros are examples of the long titles that could be created by adding prefixes. These were titles reserved to members of the imperial family since the time of Alejo I, who indicated a relationship of proximity to the emperor, but who lacked real power.
• Protovestiarios He was normally a minor relative of the emperor, who took charge of the personal wardrobe of the emperor, especially during the military campaigns. Sometimes he also took care of other members of the imperial house and the personal finances of the emperor. The old term, even before Justinian I, was curopate (o) kouropalates in Greek), which was derived from kourator (curator), a former financial officer. The dresses He was a subordinated official. Them protovestiaria and dress performed the same functions for the empress (the sovereign).

The Byzantines also had aristocratic titles for lower members of the imperial family and lower-ranking nobility. These titles were often adapted from Latin terms and were somewhat equivalent to similar titles present in Western Europe (which themselves were also derived from Latin terms). These included the titles of princeps (prince), dux (duke) and comes (count). They also had titles such as kleisourarka, apokomes and akrita, roughly equivalent to marquis, viscount or baron.

Other nobles held titles associated with the imperial household, such as parakoimomenos (personal guard), pankernes (cupbearer), and megas konostaulos (& #34;grand constable," in charge of the imperial stables).

Military Titles

Army

• Exarca: The exarchs were the governors of the most remote regions of the Empire, such as Italy or Africa, and enjoyed a degree of independence greater than that of other provincial governors.
• Domestic: the domestics were originally imperial guards, and would become general in the themas. Among these were:
  • Great domestic: Commander-in-Chief of the Army.
  • Domestic of the Scoles: the general of the Scholaewhich in origin were a prestigious division of the army and later became the thema which provided troops to that division. It was a title of great prestige, which also had a lot of power, unlike other titles.
  • Domestic of the topics: chief and organizer of the military themas; there was one for the European themas and one for the Asians.
• Catapan: "catapán"; governor of a border thema, like the catapan of Italy, title created in the centuryIX.
• Strategy: Military chief of a themawhich used to hold the title of doux. The term is equivalent to that of "general" or "almirante", and was used both in the army and in the navy.
• Turmarca: commander of a turma, a cavalry squadron.
• Protospataire: Chief of the imperial guard. The spatharios depended on this one.
• Protostrator: Late name for the head of the army.
• Portratepedarca: head of the army on the battlefield, which surely also had legal powers.
• Protocentarco and centarco: heads of smaller sections of an army on the battlefield. The name was derived from the Latin term centurion.
• Merarca: head of a cavalry division in the army.

Navy

• Megaduque: the "megaduque", "archiduque" or "great duke", was essentially the equivalent of the modern admiral in chief of the Navy and was concerned with the organization of the Byzantine naval themas. He was probably one of the few who knew the secret of the composition of the Greek fire. At the end of the Palaeologist dynasty the megaduke had become the head of the government and the administration, and not just the army.
  • Great drungary: subordinated to megas douxHe was in charge of naval officers.
  • Drungary: minor naval officer. The drungarokomes It was kind of a drungary higher rank.

Other military titles

• Konostaulos: Greek form of "counter", the head of the French mercenaries.
• Hetaireiarchēs: the head of the barbarian mercenaries.
• Akolouthos: "Acolyte", the head of the varega guard.
• Spatharokandidates: a kind of palace guard in the fourth to sixth centuries.
• Manglavitai: personal escort of the emperor.
• Topoteretes: "position marker", "intent".

Administration Titles

The vast Byzantine administration had many titles, and more varied than merely aristocratic or military. Constantinople numbered hundreds, if not thousands, of bureaucrats at any given time. Here are the most common, including those who were not noble, but who were in the direct service of the emperor.

• Prefect of the pretoria: the prefect of pretoria was in origin a Roman charge used by the head of the army in the eastern and western half of the Empire. It was abolished in the centuryVII when it ceased to be useful (there is no western half of the Empire). The title would become that of domestikos. After the reforms of Diocletian, the functions of the prefect covered a wide range, from administrative and fiscal to judicial and even legislative aspects. The provincial governors were appointed on the basis of their proposal, and on it also depended their relay, subject to imperial approval. The prefect received regular reports on the administration sent by the provincial governors, had its own treasury, and the payment of the food supplies of the army was made in its charge. He was also a supreme judge of appeal, since in cases he dealt with from lower courts there was no possibility of appeal to the emperor. He could issue, by his own authority, pretorian edicts, but only on certain precise issues.
• Protasekretis: old title of the head of the Foreign Ministry, responsible for the official record. The a Secretaries He was his subordinate. Another lower charge was the charts (by imperial documents), the kastrinsios (chamlan of palace), the mystikos (private secretary) and eidikos (worker of treasure).
• Logoteta (Logothetes): secretary of the extensive bureaucracy, who carried out various works according to the position he occupied. The logotetas were some of the main bureaucrats:
  • Great logoteta (Megas logothetes): head of the logotetas, personal manager of legal system and treasury, in a way equivalent to the "chancellor" in Western Europe.
  • Postal Logo (Logothetes tou dromou): Chief of diplomacy and postal service.
  • Domestic Logoteta (Logothetes ton oikeiakon): head of internal affairs, such as security in Constantinople and the local economy.
  • General logo (Logothetes tou genikou): responsible for taxes.
  • Military Logoteta (Logothetes tou stratiotikou): civilian in charge of the distribution of payments in the army.

The logothetes initially had a certain degree of influence in imperial politics, but over time they became honorary posts. In the final days of the Empire, the Great Logothete became the mesazon ("manager" or, literally, "middle-man"). Other administrative charges were:

• Prefect: Minor ranking official in Constantinople in charge of the local government.
• Quaestor (cuestor): it was originally an official with legal and tax powers, but lost power after the imposition of the logotes.
• Tribounos: equivalent to the Roman tribune; responsible for the maintenance of streets, monuments and buildings of Constantinople.
• Magister (magister officiorum or magister militum, in Greek "maistor"): former Roman term, chief of the crafts or army jede; in Heraclio times they had become honorary charges and would end up disappearing.
• Priest: at the time of Heraclio, honorary supervisor of other officials and palace logos.
• Praetor: "pretor"; in origin, administrator of Constantinople, in charge of taxes; after Alejo I, civil governor of a thema.
• Kephale: "cephalo", civil governor of a Byzantine city.
• Horeiar: officer in charge of the distribution of food from the state barns.

The protoasecretes, logotheta, prefect, praetor, quaestor, magister and sacellarios, among others, were members of the Byzantine Senate, until, after Heraclius, the Senate became an institution less and less present in the Empire.