Logothete ( el, λογοθέτης, ''logothétēs'', pl. λογοθέται, ''logothétai''; Med. la, logotheta, pl. ''logothetae''; bg, логотет; it, logoteta; ro, logofăt; sr, логотет, ''logotet'') was an administrative title originating in the eastern
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediterr ...
. In the middle and late
Byzantine Empire
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 ...
, it rose to become a senior
administrative title, equivalent to a
minister or
secretary of state. The title spread to other states influenced by Byzantine culture, such as
Bulgaria
Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...
,
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
,
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...
, and the
Danubian Principalities
The Danubian Principalities ( ro, Principatele Dunărene, sr, Дунавске кнежевине, translit=Dunavske kneževine) was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th ce ...
.
Byzantine Empire
Origin and development
In
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
, ''logothetēs'' means "one who accounts, calculates or ratiocinates", literally "one who sets the word". The exact origin of the title is unclear; it is found in
papyri
Papyrus ( ) is a material similar to thick paper that was used in ancient times as a writing surface. It was made from the pith of the papyrus plant, ''Cyperus papyrus'', a wetland sedge. ''Papyrus'' (plural: ''papyri'') can also refer to a d ...
and works of the
Church Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...
denoting a variety of junior officials, mostly charged with fiscal duties.
[.] The ancestors of the middle Byzantine logothetes were the fiscal officials known as ''
rationales'' during
Late Antiquity
Late antiquity is the time of transition from classical antiquity to the Middle Ages, generally spanning the 3rd–7th century in Europe and adjacent areas bordering the Mediterranean Basin. The popularization of this periodization in English ha ...
. The office dates back to at least the time of Emperor
Septimius Severus
Lucius Septimius Severus (; 11 April 145 – 4 February 211) was Roman emperor from 193 to 211. He was born in Leptis Magna (present-day Al-Khums, Libya) in the Roman province of Africa (Roman province), Africa. As a young man he advanced thro ...
(), where a ''
procurator
Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to:
* Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency
* ''Procurator'' (Ancient Rome), the title of ...
a rationibus'' is attested. In late Roman times, the ''rationales'' were officials attached to the
praetorian prefectures and charged with supervising the state treasury and the emperor's private domains. The first notable official titled as a logothete was
Marinus, the future praetorian prefect and chief minister of Emperor
Anastasius I (). In the 6th century, under Emperor
Justinian I
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
(), the logothetes gained in prominence and power, as they were placed in charge of the emperor's revenue-gathering measures and dispatched as fiscal agents to the provinces or accompanied military expeditions. They were allowed to keep a twelfth of the sums they would gather for the treasury, and some, such as the notorious
Alexander "Scissors", amassed considerable fortunes in this way.
The major transformation of the office came in the early 7th century: during the
Heraclian dynasty
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the dynasty of Heraclius between 610 and 711. The Heraclians presided over a period of cataclysmic events that were a watershed in the history of the Empire and the world.
Heraclius, the founder of ...
, the administrative machinery of the state, inherited from the time of
Diocletian
Diocletian (; la, Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus, grc, Διοκλητιανός, Diokletianós; c. 242/245 – 311/312), nicknamed ''Iovius'', was Roman emperor from 284 until his abdication in 305. He was born Gaius Valerius Diocles ...
and
Constantine the Great
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...
, was thoroughly reformed. Thus the three chief financial "departments" of the old system, the Praetorian Prefecture, the
Sacred Largesses (''sacrae largitiones'') and the
Private Domains (''res privata'') were replaced by smaller specialized departments titled ''logothesia'' (sing. ''logothesion'') or ''sekreta'' (sing. ''sekreton''). This process was the result of severe territorial loss and the need to rationalize revenue collection during the final
Byzantine–Persian War and the
Muslim conquests
The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests ( ar, الْفُتُوحَاتُ الإسْلَامِيَّة, ), also referred to as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the main Islamic prophet. He estab ...
, but had already been presaged by Emperor Justinian's reforms in the 6th century, when the ''res privata'', responsible for the managing of imperial estates, had been divided by kind into five separate departments. By the mid-7th century, the ''sacrae largitiones'' too disappeared altogether, while its various sections, as those of the praetorian prefecture, were separated and set up as autonomous departments, some of them headed by a logothete. These were under the supervision of the ''
sakellarios
A ''sakellarios'' ( el, σακελλάριος) or ''sacellarius'' is the title of an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties (cf. ''sakellē'' or ''sakellion'', "purse, treasury") in a government or institution. The title was ...
'', who functioned as a "general
comptroller
A comptroller (pronounced either the same as ''controller'' or as ) is a management-level position responsible for supervising the quality of accounting and financial reporting of an organization. A financial comptroller is a senior-level executi ...
of finances", and ultimately of the emperor himself.
The first mention of a logothete in a senior position was the "most glorious logothete and
patrician
Patrician may refer to:
* Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage
* Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...
" Theodosios in 626, possibly either in charge of the ''genikon'' or the ''stratiōtikon''. Although the first concrete evidence for the existence of many of the subsequent offices is often of a much later date, the chief departments, the ''genikon'', the ''(e)idikon'', the ''stratiōtikon'' and the ''dromos'' were in place by the late 7th century. There were also logothetes in the church, assisting the patriarch and the
metropolitan bishop
In Christian churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), pertains to the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a metropolis.
Originally, the term referred to the b ...
s, while a ''logothetēs tou praitoriou'' was a senior official under the
Eparch of Constantinople
The ''praefectus urbanus'', also called ''praefectus urbi'' or urban prefect in English, was prefect of the city of Rome, and later also of Constantinople. The office originated under the Roman kings, continued during the Republic and Empire, and ...
.
Under Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
(), the logothete of the bureaux (''logothetēs tōn sekretōn'') was instituted, who supervised all state departments, evolving eventually into the Grand Logothete (''megas logothetēs'') of the late Byzantine Empire.
By the
Palaiologan period
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by the Palaiologos dynasty in the period between 1261 and 1453, from the restoration of Byzantine rule to Constantinople by the usurper Michael VIII Palaiologos following its recapture from the Latin Empire, founded ...
, the various logothetes had vanished or were converted into purely honorary titles.
Logothetes
*The ''
logothetēs tou dromou'' (), in English usually rendered as Logothete of the Course/Drome/''Dromos'' or Postal Logothete, responsible for the imperial post, diplomacy and intelligence. In the 10th–11th centuries, its holder often functioned as the Byzantine Empire's chief minister.
*The ''
logothetēs tou genikou'' (), often called ''genikos logothetēs'' or simply ''ho genikos'' (), and usually rendered in English as the General Logothete. He was in charge of the "general financial ministry", the ''genikon logothesion'', responsible for general
taxation
A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal person, legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regiona ...
and
revenue
In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business.
Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...
.
*The ''
logothetēs tou stratiōtikou'' (), the Logothete of the Military
isc #REDIRECT ISC
{{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...
was in charge of the pay and provisioning of the
Byzantine army, although his exact duties are somewhat obscure.
*The ''
logothetēs tōn agelōn'' (), in English the Logothete of the Herds, was responsible for the state-run estates (''
mētata'') in western
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
that reared
horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
s and
mule
The mule is a domestic equine hybrid between a donkey and a horse. It is the offspring of a male donkey (a jack) and a female horse (a mare). The horse and the donkey are different species, with different numbers of chromosomes; of the two pos ...
s for the army and the imperial Public Post.
*The ''
epi tou eidikou The ( gr, ἐπὶ τοῦ εἰδικοῦ όγου, in charge of the special epartment}), also known simply as the , meaning 'Special Secretary', or, from the 11th century on, as the , was an official of the Byzantine Empire who controlled the ...
'' or simply the ''eidikos'' ("the one responsible for the Special Affairs Department"): responsible for the ''(e)idikon logothesion'', which supervised the imperial treasury,
factories
A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...
, storehouses, and monopolies. According to some scholars, an evolution of the Roman ''
comes rerum privatarum In the Roman Empire during late antiquity, the ''comes rerum privatarum'' ( gr, κόμης τῆς ἰδικῆς παρουσίας, ''kómēs tēs idikēs parousías''), literally "count of the private fortune", was the official charged with admin ...
''.
*The ''
logothetēs tou praitōriou'' () or Logothete of the Praetorium, one of the two principal aides of the Eparch of Constantinople, probably charged with judicial and policing duties.
*The ''logothetēs tōn hydatōn'' (), the "logothete of the waters", an obscure official who is mentioned only once. Possibly to be identified with the ''komēs hydatōn'' ("Count of the Waters"), an official in charge of the
aqueducts
Aqueduct may refer to:
Structures
*Aqueduct (bridge), a bridge to convey water over an obstacle, such as a ravine or valley
*Navigable aqueduct, or water bridge, a structure to carry navigable waterway canals over other rivers, valleys, railw ...
.
*The ''
logothetēs tōn oikeiakōn'' (), in charge of the ''oikeiakoi'' ("of the household") class of palace officials, and carrying out a variety of fiscal and judicial duties.
*The ''
megas logothetēs'' (μέγας λογοθέτης) or "Grand Logothete", originally established as the ''
logothetēs tōn sekretōn'' (λογοθέτης τῶν σεκρέτων) by Alexios I Komnenos to supervise and coordinate the other government departments (''sekreta'').
Logothetes outside Byzantium
Serbia
The title ''logotet'' ( sr-cyr, логотет) was used in
Serbia in the Middle Ages
Serbia in the Middle Ages refers to the medieval period in the history of Serbia. The period begins in the 6th century with the Slavic migrations to Southeastern Europe, and lasts until the Ottoman conquest of Serbian lands in the second half ...
since the rule of King
Stefan Milutin
Stefan Uroš II Milutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Урош II Милутин, Stefan Uroš II Milutin; 1253 – 29 October 1321), known as Stefan Milutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Милутин, Stefan Milutin), was the King of Serbia between 1282&nd ...
(). Notable title-holders include
Rajko,
Joanikije,
Pribac,
Gojko,
Voihna,
Pahomije and
Stefan Ratković
Stefan Ratković ( sr-cyr, Стефан Ратковић; 1456–59) was a Serbian nobleman and the last ''veliki logotet'' (Serbian Despotate#State administration, Grand Logothete) of the Serbian Despotate. His court was in Draginovci, in the Le ...
.
Sicily
Holy Roman Emperor
Otto III
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto III was crowned as King of ...
(), the son of the Byzantine princess
Theophanu
Theophanu (; also ''Theophania'', ''Theophana'', or ''Theophano''; Medieval Greek ; AD 955 15 June 991) was empress of the Holy Roman Empire by marriage to Emperor Otto II, and regent of the Empire during the minority of their son, Emperor Ott ...
, bestowed it on his chancellor,
Leo of Vercelli Leo (''c''.965–1026) was a German prelate who served as the Bishop of Vercelli from 999. Born in Hildesheim, he was made an archdeacon by 998 and was appointed to the see of Vercelli as the candidate of the Emperor Otto III and Pope Sylvester II f ...
(999–1026). In the end, it only became firmly established in
Sicily
(man) it, Siciliana (woman)
, population_note =
, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Ethnicity
, demographics1_footnotes =
, demographi ...
, where the logothete occupied the position of chancellor elsewhere, his office being equal if not superior to that of the ''Magnus Cancellarius''. Thus, the title was borne for example by
Pietro della Vigna
Pietro della Vigna (also Pier delle Vigne, Petrus de Vineas or de Vineis; Capua, ca. 1190 – Pisa, 1249) was an Italian jurist and diplomat, who acted as chancellor and secretary (logothete) to Emperor Frederick II. Falsely accused of ''lèse-ma ...
, the all-powerful minister of Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II (), king of Sicily.
Romanian principalities
The title was also borrowed in the internal organization of the medieval Romanian countries,
Moldavia
Moldavia ( ro, Moldova, or , literally "The Country of Moldavia"; in Romanian Cyrillic: or ; chu, Землѧ Молдавскаѧ; el, Ἡγεμονία τῆς Μολδαβίας) is a historical region and former principality in Centr ...
and
Wallachia
Wallachia or Walachia (; ro, Țara Românească, lit=The Romanian Land' or 'The Romanian Country, ; archaic: ', Romanian Cyrillic alphabet: ) is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and so ...
. In Moldavia, the Great Logothete (''mare logofăt'') was the chief minister of the prince and head of the chancellery, while in Wallachia, he was the second-most senior member of the prince's council, after the
ban.
Several other officials were also called logothetes:
*Second Logothete (''logofăt al doilea''), deputy of the Great Logothete.
*Third Logothete (''logofăt al treilea''), secretary of the Great Logothete.
*Logothete of the Treasury (''logofăt de vistierie'').
*Logothete of the Chamber (''logofăt de cămară'').
*Logothete of the Ceremonies (''logofăt de obiceiuri'')
*Logothete of the Secrets (''logofăt de taină'') or Royal Logothete (''Logofăt domnesc''), private secretary of the prince.
Modern Era
Former
U.S. President
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...
accused then-President
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
of being a "Byzantine logothete." The epithet insinuated that, like pencil-pushing Byzantine logothetes, or administrators, Wilson was dillydallying by not declaring America's participation in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
See also
*
Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy
Through the 5th century Hellenistic political systems, philosophies and theocratic Christian-Eastern concepts had gained power in the eastern Greek-speaking Mediterranean due to the intervention of Important religious figures there such as ...
*
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
*
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...
*
Vestiarion The ''vestiarion'' ( el, βεστιάριον, from la, vestiarium, "wardrobe"), sometimes with the adjectives ''basilikon'' ("imperial") or ''mega'' ("great"),. was one of the major fiscal departments of the Byzantine bureaucracy. In English, it ...
References
Sources
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{{Byzantine Empire topics, state=collapsed
Byzantine administrative offices
Titles