Proedros

''Proedros'' (, "president") was a senior Byzantine court and ecclesiastic title in the 10th to mid-12th centuries. The female form of the title is ''proedrissa'' (προέδρισσα).

Court dignity

The title was created in the 960s by Nikephoros II Phokas and was first awarded to Basil Lekapenos, the eunuch '' parakoimōmenos''. It was placed very high in the court hierarchy, coming immediately below the position of the '' zostē patrikia'' and before the '' magistros'', meaning that it was the most senior non-imperial title open to males. The title apparently continued to be restricted to eunuchs until the mid-11th century, when it was opened up to the wider aristocracy and extensively awarded. The holder of this dignity was also the president of the Senate (), and the term ''proedros'' was often used to denote precedence in other offices, e.g. ''proedros'' of the ''notarioi'' for the '' prōtonotarios''. The title was widely awarded in the 11th century, after it was opened up to non-eunuchs, prompting the creation of the ''prōtoproedros'' (πρωτοπρόεδρος, "first ''proedros''") to distinguish the most senior amongst its holders. The title, along with most of the middle Byzantine court nomenclature, fell into gradual disuse in the Komnenian period, and disappeared in the latter 12th century. According to the '' De Ceremoniis'' (I.97) of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959), the clothing and insignia of the ''proedros'' in the 960s were: "a rose-colored and gold-embroidered tunic, a gem-encrusted belt, and a white '' chlamys'' loaktrimmed with golden bands and with two gold ''tablia'' quare patchesand decoration of ivy leaves."

Ecclesiastic office

The term ''proedros'' was often used for a bishop, who was naturally the president of the local clergy, and in some rare cases for metropolitan bishops. In the 13th century, however, it acquired a more specific meaning: it was given to bishops who at the same time held jurisdiction over a vacant episcopal see. As the ''proedros'' of the vacant episcopal see, that bishop ran its administration, but was differentiated from the regular bishop, since he was never officially installed into that episcopal see. As in the court, the term ''proedros'' was also used to denote precedence among a group of officials.

See also

* Prokathemenos
* Praeses
* Primicerius

References

Sources

*
*{{cite book, last=Spatharakis, first=Ioannis, title=The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts, location=Leiden, publisher=E. J. Brill, year=1976, isbn=978-90-04-04783-9, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ4VAAAAIAAJ

Byzantine court titles
Eastern Christian ecclesiastical offices