domestikos ton scholon
Commander of the regiment of scholae. The first officer with this title appears in 767/8. In the 10th C the domesticos became very powerful among the army of the themata; in mid-10th C the office was divided in two, domestikoi ton scholon of the East and those of the West, commanders in chief of the eastern and the western provinces´ army respectively.
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dynatoi
The terms « dynatoi» (the potents) and «epiphaneis» (the prominents) emerge in Byzantine narrative and juridic texts during the Middle Byzantine period. They designate dignitaries of the administration and the Church, great landowners and generally members of the ruling class, who oftenly abused their power or their influence on the expence of their neighboring and other landowners. From the 10th C. onwards, and from the reign of Romanos I until that of Basil II, the imperial administration is trying to put a limit to their power, my means of fiscal measures and reforms, such as the tax «allelegyon». We don't find any references to the dynatoi after 1037.
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episkepsis, couratoria
(byz) The large imperial estates, namely "episkepseis" (under the episkeptites) or "curatoria" (under the curator), included settlements, arable lands, forests, aquafer, domestic animals and cattle. The episkepseis could be either autonomous or form parts of the curatoriae, which were rather larger estates. Any autonomous episkepsis could become a private estate after an imperial donation.
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novel (novella)
Τerm meaning ad verbum "new decree" and used since around the 4th century in order to denote the provisions of the emperors as separate from the organized codes. They were written mainly in Greek and used extensively in the Middle Byzantine Era. Since the days of Komnenoi and after, they were replaced by other more specialized terms and they are very rare in the Late Byzantine era
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patrikios
(from lat. patricius) Higher title of honour, placed, according to the "Tactika" of the 9th and the 10th centuries, between anthypatos and protospatharios. It was given to the most important governors and generals. Gradually, however, it fell into disuse and from the 12th century did not exist any more.
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pronoia
("care", "forethought") An institution that goes back to the 11th century. It refers to estates granted to a prominent military official or to the Church; it also designates in general the right of an individual of areligious foundation to receive directly from citizens of farmers whatever dues they would normally be obliged to pay to the state. The holder of a pronoia was called pronoiarios. The pronoiai could not be inherited by the family of military officials after their death, while when a donation was made to the Church, the pronoia was considered full and permanent.
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strategos ("general")
During the Roman period his duties were mainly political. Οffice of the Byzantine state´s provincial administration. At first the title was given to the military and political administrator of the themes, namely of the big geographic and administrative unities of the Byzantine empire. Gradually the title lost its power and, already in the 11th century, strategoi were turned to simple commanders of military units, responsible for the defence of a region.
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