Myoza or Myosa ( my, မြို့စား}) is a high-ranking royal title and position for Burmese royalty and nobility.

History

The monarch had all the power to control everything in the kingdom. Below the monarch rank, minor queens, princes, princess, relatives of the royal family, nobles, ministers, and court officials had to own the major towns that represented a certain region. Since the

Pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

era of the 11th century, each and every single member of the royal family received the title of ''Myosa'' (also ''Myoza''), literally means "chief of town or territory", which is nearly equivalent to the title of

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

. All royals were given the honor of possessing at least one territory by the King. They were all mostly known by their possessions. For instance, Burma's last king,

King Thibaw Thibaw Min, also Thebaw or Theebaw ( my, သီပေါ‌မင်း, ; 1 January 1859 – 19 December 1916) was the last king of the Konbaung dynasty of Burma (Myanmar) and also the last Burmese monarch in the country's history. His re ...

was called by his possession, when he was a prince, of a town called Thibaw (Hsipaw in

Shan State Shan State ( my, ရှမ်းပြည်နယ်, ; shn, မိူင်းတႆး, italics=no) also known by the Endonym and exonym, endonyms Shanland, Muang Tai, and Tailong, is a administrative divisions of Myanmar, state of Myanmar. ...

). Depending on their rank, royals and nobles were required to own towns. The younger children of a monarch, as well as junior officials and obscure nobles, owned land at the village level.

Administration of kingdom

The kingdom was divided into provinces called ''myo'' (town, ). These provinces were administered by ''Myoza'' ('governor of town', ), who were members of the royal family or the highest-ranking officials of the Hluttaw. They collected revenue for the royal government, payable to the Shwedaik (Royal Treasury) in fixed instalments, and retained whatever was left over. Each ''myo'' was subdivided into districts called ''taik'' (), administered by ''Taikza'' ('governor of district', ), which contained collections of villages called ''ywa'' (), administered by ''Ywaza'' ('governor of village', ). The kingdom's peripheral coastal provinces (

Pegu Bago (formerly spelt Pegu; , ), formerly known as Hanthawaddy, is a city and the capital of the Bago Region in Myanmar. It is located north-east of Yangon. Etymology The Burmese name Bago (ပဲခူး) is likely derived from the Mon lang ...

, Tenasserim,

Martaban Mottama ( my, မုတ္တမမြို့, ; Muttama mnw, မုဟ်တၟံ, ; formerly Martaban) is a town in the Thaton District of Mon State, Myanmar. Located on the west bank of the Thanlwin river (Salween), on the opposite side ...

and

Arakan Arakan ( or ) is a historic coastal region in Southeast Asia. Its borders faced the Bay of Bengal to its west, the Indian subcontinent to its north and Burma proper to its east. The Arakan Mountains isolated the region and made it accessi ...

) were administered by a Viceroy called a ''Myowun'', who was appointed by the king and possessed civil, judicial, fiscal, and military powers. Provincial councils (''myoyon'') consisted of ''myo saye'' (town scribes), ''nakhandaw'' (receivers of royal orders), ''sitke'' (chiefs of war), ''htaunghmu'' (jailer), ''ayatgaung'' (head of the quarter), and ''dagahmu'' (warden of the gates). Each province was divided into districts called ''myo'', each led by a ''myo ok'' (if appointed), or by a ''myo thugyi'' (if the office was hereditary). The Viceroy of Pegu was assisted by several additional officials, including an ''akhunwun'' (revenue officer), ''akaukwun'' (customs collector), and a ''yewun'' (conservator of port).

References

Sources

* * * {{cite book , last= Seekins , first= Donald M. , title= Historical Dictionary of Burma (Myanmar) , year=2006 , publisher= Scarecrow Press , isbn=9780810864863 Noble titles Peerage