The ''Book of the Prefect'' or ''Eparch'' ( gr, Τὸ ἐπαρχικὸν βιβλίον, To eparchikon biblion) is a
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
commercial manual or guide addressed to the
eparch
Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on t ...
of
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...
(the governor of the city with supreme judicial jurisdiction and the highest economic official, who had charge of, for example, tariffs and import/export regulation). Based on established customs and laws and now littered with later interpolations, the Book is an essential document in the
economic history
Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and ins ...
of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. The book was lost until 1891, when it was discovered in Geneva by the Swiss Jules Nicole, who referred to it as the ''Livre de l'Éparque''. It is a prominent example of
Byzantine encyclopaedism
Macedonian Renaissance ( el, Μακεδονική Αναγέννηση) is a historiographical term used for the blossoming of Byzantine culture in the 9th–11th centuries, under the eponymous Macedonian dynasty (867–1056), following the uphea ...
.
Dating
The book is traditionally dated to the reign of
Leo VI the Wise (886–912). However, whilst the first chapter concerning the entrance requirements to the college of notaries does probably date from Leo's reign (Leo was renowned for recodifying and tidying up
Roman law
Roman law is the law, legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the ''Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
), it seems that the work itself (like so many texts from this period) was the product of gradual accumulation. References in four places to ''
tetartera'' coins show the work in its final form to be no earlier than the reign of
Nikephoros II Phokas (963–69), who instigated this particular form of lightweight gold coinage. The absence of any mention of
Rus’ merchants from the document, whilst other nationalities such as Bulgars and Syrians are mentioned, also indicates a late date—presumably after the breakdown of Byzantine–Rus' relations in 968.
Contents
The Book of the Prefect is essentially a list of regulations concerning the collegia or private guilds that had existed in the Greek world since Roman times. As all trades were theoretically under governmental control, the Book of the Prefect is not exhaustive of all crafts. Instead, the book appears to highlight a cross-section of the areas where public interest and private went together, showing how a good city should be run to keep its black market under wraps.
The text is divided into twenty-two chapters, the first nineteen of which refer to specific guilds:
*Chapter 1 – the college of notaries (contract lawyers). This is the longest chapter in the work and, as it can probably be associated with the reign of Leo VI, predates the other chapters. The chapter sets strict regulations for entry into the college of notaries (for example stipulating that a candidate must have perfect knowledge of the law and know, amongst other things, the 40 titles of Manuel by heart.
The remaining chapters are much smaller than the first chapter and discuss eighteen other guilds, often with similar clauses indicating imposition of the regulations from above:
*Chapter 2 – dealers in bullion
*Chapter 3 – bankers
*Chapter 4 –
silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the coc ...
stuff merchants
*Chapter 5 – merchants who import silk from Syria and Baghdad
*Chapter 6 – raw silk merchants
*Chapter 7 – raw silk dressers
*Chapter 8 – silk dyers
*Chapter 9 – linen merchants
*Chapter 10 – perfume merchants
*Chapter 11 – wax and taper merchants
*Chapter 12 – soap merchants
*Chapter 13 – grocers
*Chapter 14 – saddlers
*Chapter 15 – butchers
*Chapter 16 – pork merchants
*Chapter 17 – fishmongers
*Chapter 18 – bakers
*Chapter 19 – inn-holders
Some similar points from these clauses include regulations controlling the elections to guilds and their entrance fees, clauses advocating working together including rhetoric on not cheating others and having good quality produce, the setting of prices and profit margins, and the setting of the spheres of work and areas of the city in which they can operate to avoid competition between guilds.
The last three chapters concern the regulation of agents and contractors, as well as the administration of the Eparch's office and his use of deputies in customs inspections.
Aims and effects
It is not known exactly why the Book of the Prefect was compiled, however use of the guilds may have been a way for the Eparch to police the market, seeking order, a decrease in crime, and the guarantee of cheap supplies. The demarcation of guilds and control they got over their members shows there was a marrying of interests between the guilds and the state. However, it is important to stress that not all members of each profession were a member of their guild. Instead evidence from the text suggests that guilds were exclusive and privileged, and intended for the rich to get richer and the poor to get poorer. At one point the text mentions raw silk dressers who were not a member of their guild and had to buy silk at a higher price.
Another important reason for such imperial concern over commerce was for the efficient raising of a maximum of revenue through taxation.
Enforcement
Many of the Book of the Prefect’s regulations must have been very hard to police (e.g. regulations stipulating that the merchants produce items of good quality), and it is likely that the laws were probably rarely enforced, and where they were it would depend more on co-operation from the guilds rather than on any action by the Eparch.
Historiographic utility
The Book of the Prefect has an important place in medieval economic historiography, and is a unique source for the Byzantine economy in the age of
Constantine Porphyrogenitus. Some of its many uses include its ability to help us recreate a commercial map of Constantinople, the light it throws on the Constantinopolitan economy and governmental controls over it, and questions concerning the regulation of trade between the Byzantine capital and its provinces.
Translations and editions
The Book has been translated into English twice. Earlier, in 1893, a trilingual edition—in the original Greek, Latin, and French—was made by Jules Nicole, who discovered the only surviving manuscript in a
Geneva
Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...
n library. New English translations of sections vi.31–33 and xx.56–57 have since been made by Lopez and Raymond (1951) using Nicole's Greek, but the translators call for completely updated English editions using the most recent Byzantine scholarship. In 1970 Variorum Reprints gathered Nicole's editions and Freshfield's English translation along with a photographic reproduction of the manuscript (Genevensis 23) appended to a new introduction by I. Dujčev. This collection was typically used by scholars until a translation was made into German with a new critical edition of the Greek.
[Johannes Koder, ''Das Eparchenbuch Leons des Weisen'' (Vienna, 1991)]
Notes
References
*Lopez, Robert S. (1945). "Silk Industry in the Byzantine Empire." ''
Speculum'', 20:1 (Jan.), pp. 1–42.
*Lopez, Robert S. and Raymond, Irving W. (1951). ''Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World''. New York: Columbia University Press. .
*Mango, Marlia Mundell (2000). "The Commercial Map of Constantinople." ''
Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', 54, pp. 189–207.
*Maniatis, G. C. (2001). "The Domain of the Private Guilds in the Byzantine Economy, Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries," ''
Dumbarton Oaks Papers'', 55, pp. 339–69
*Ilieva, A. and T. Thomov (1998). "The Shape of the Market: Mapping the Book of the Eparch," ''
Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies'', 22, pp. 105–16
*Hendy, M. F. (1972). "Light Weight Solidi, Tetartera and the Book of the Prefect," ''
Byzantinische Zeitschrift
Byzantinische Zeitschrift (abbr. BZ and ByzZ) is a Byzantine studies journal established in 1892 by Karl Krumbacher.
After Krumbacher's death it was edited by Paul Marc (1909–1927) and August Heisenberg (1910–1930), followed by Franz Dölger ...
'', 65, pp. 57–80
*''The Book of the Eparch'', trans. E. H. Freshfield in ''Roman Law in the Later Roman Empire'' (1938).
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Byzantine law
Economy of the Byzantine Empire
10th-century books
10th century in the Byzantine Empire
Administration of Constantinople
Byzantine manuscripts