Protospatharios

Prōtospatharios (Greek: πρωτοσπαθάριος) was one of the highest of the middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes.

The meaning of the title, "first spatharios", indicates its original role as leader of the order (taxis) of the spatharioi, imperial bodyguards, already attested in the 6th century. Probably under the Heraclians, the rank became an honorary dignity (Greek: δια βραβείου ἀξία, dia brabeiou axia), and was henceforth bestowed to high-ranking theme commanders, senior court officials, and allied rulers. The first concrete reference to a prōtospatharios occurs in the Chronicle of Theophanes the Confessor, who records "Sergios, prōtospatharios and stratēgos of Sicily" in 718. In the late 9th century, the prōtospatharios is recorded as ranking below the patrikios and above the dishypatos. The award of the dignity also meant the entry of its holder in the Byzantine Senate. Its prestige was consequently very high, as illustrated by a well-known story related by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959) in his De Administrando Imperio: during the reign of his father, Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), an aged cleric of the Nea Ekklesia, Ktenas by name, paid 60 litras of gold (circa 19.4 kg), i.e. sixty times the annual stipend of 72 nomismata to which prōtospatharioi were entitled, to acquire the title. He did not live long to enjoy his new status, however, dying two years later. Like other titles of the middle Byzantine period, its importance declined sharply in the 11th century. The last attested occurrence is in 1115, although the title is still recorded by pseudo-Kodinos in the mid-14th century in the 34th place of the court hierarchy, between the primmikerios of the court and the megas archōn.

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