Byzantine Rank Hierarchy in the 9th–11th Centuries

Nikolay Kanev

doi:10.18778/2084-140X.08.09

Authors

Nikolay Kanev Chair of Ancient and Medieval History, Faculty of History “St. Cyril and St. Methodius” University of Veliko Tarnovo, 2 Teodosiy Tarnovski Str., 5000 Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2084-140X.08.09

Keywords:

Byzantine rank hierarchy, Middle-Byzantine administration, Byzantine aristocracy, Byzantine court, Middle-Byzantine state organization

Abstract

The aim of the article is to present the Byzantine secular rank hierarchy of the 9th–11th centuries. During the above-mentioned period of time Byzantium knew not one but several distinct, relatively independent official hierarchical systems. All of them, however, were mutually interconnected to varying degrees and thus formed a single, pan-imperial hierarchical construct, expressed through the so-called system of palace precedence of ranks in the empire. It is this global and more general paradigm that reflects the Byzantine hierarchical model of the 9th–11th centuries; consequently, it seems fitting to refer to it as the rank hierarchy of the classical Middle Byzantine period, in the era preceding the reforms of Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118).

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