The ''tzaousios'' ( gr, τζαούσιος) was a late
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 ...
military office, whose exact functions and role are somewhat unclear.
[.]
The term is derived from the
Turkish ''
çavuş'', meaning "courier" or "messenger",
and was in use by the Byzantines perhaps as early as the late 11th century.
[.] In the 13th–15th centuries, it became applied to officers serving in provincial posts. A ''tzaousios'' could serve as commander of the garrison of a ''kastron'' (a fortified administrative center run by a ''
kephale''), possibly combining the military and administrative roles, or as an officer to the ''
megala allagia'' of the imperial field army.
Most of the ''tzaousioi'' mentioned in the sources came from the
Byzantine Morea,
where they played an important role in provincial administration. In
Macedonia and
Thrace
Thrace (; el, Θράκη, Thráki; bg, Тракия, Trakiya; tr, Trakya) or Thrake is a geographical and historical region in Southeast Europe, now split among Bulgaria, Greece, and Turkey, which is bounded by the Balkan Mountains to t ...
by contrast, they seem to have been limited to a purely military role within the ''megala allagia''.
The variant ''megas tzaousios'' (μέγας τζαούσιος, "grand ''tzaousios''") is a court title first attested under
John III Vatatzes
John III Doukas Vatatzes, Latinized as Ducas Vatatzes ( el, Ιωάννης Δούκας Βατάτζης, ''Iōannēs Doukas Vatatzēs'', c. 1192 – 3 November 1254), was Emperor of Nicaea from 1221 to 1254. He was succeeded by his son, known ...
(r. 1221–1254). His functions are unclear. The French
Byzantinist
Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music, science, economy, coinage and politics of the Eastern Roman Empire. T ...
Rodolphe Guilland Rodolphe Joseph Guilland (Lons-le-Saunier, 1888 – Saint-Marcellin, Isère, 5 October 1981) was a French Byzantinist.
Life
Born in 1888, he completed his thesis on Nikephoros Gregoras (a biography in 1926, and his edited correspondence in 1927), a ...
suggested that he was in command of subordinated ''tzaousioi'', who acted as the successors of the earlier imperial courier corps, the ''
mandatores''. In
pseudo-Kodinos
George Kodinos or Codinus ( el, Γεώργιος Κωδινός), also Pseudo-Kodinos, ''kouropalates'' in the Byzantine court, is the reputed 14th-century author of three extant works in late Byzantine literature.
Their attribution to him is mere ...
's mid-14th century ''Book of Offices'', he is described as being responsible for maintaining the order of the imperial retinue.
[.] Certainly, the first ''megas tzaousios'',
Constantine Margarites, was the commander of Vatazes's personal retinue, but in later times, the title does not appear to have corresponded to a specific function.
[.]
See also
*
Chiaus
References
Sources
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{{Byzantine offices after pseudo-Kodinos
Byzantine military offices