Seal of John Vatatzes the Protokynegos (Schlumberger, 1889)

The ''prōtokynēgos'' ( el, πρωτοκυνηγός, "first huntsman") was 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 ...

court office and honorific title in the 13th–15th centuries, who was the chief huntsman of the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman Empire, to Fall of Constantinople, its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. On ...

History and functions

The office first appears in the 13th-century Empire of Nicaea, although it clearly had earlier antecedents; possibly the ''komēs tou kynēgiou'' (κόμης τοῡ κυνηγίου. "Count of the Hunt") attested in an undated seal. In the ''Book of Offices'' written by

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 ...

in the middle of the 14th century, the post occupies the 41st place in the imperial hierarchy, between the '' megas logariastēs'' and the '' skouterios''.

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), ...

suggested that it was closely associated with the '' prōtoierakarios'' ("first falconer"), who was in the 48th place, and that holders of the latter office were promoted to the former. Hunting was a particular passion of Byzantine emperors; in the 14th century, Andronikos III Palaiologos () is said to have maintained over a thousand hunting dogs and over a thousand falcons. According to pseudo-Kodinos, his functions were to hold the stirrups for the emperor when he mounted his horse, and to lead the hunters (σκυλλόμαγγοι, ''skyllomangoi''). He enjoyed a peculiar privilege: if during the hunt, one of the emperor's garments became smeared with blood, the ''prōtokynēgos'' received it as a gift. His court uniform consisted of a gold-brocaded hat (''skiadion''), a plain silk ''

kabbadion The ''kabbadion'' ( el, καββάδιον) was a caftan-like garment of oriental origin which became a standard part of court costume in the last centuries of the Byzantine Empire. The first known reference to the ''kabbadion'' occurs in the ''K ...

'', and a ''skaranikon'' (domed hat) covered in golden and lemon-yellow silk and decorated with gold wire and images of the emperor in front and rear, respectively depicted enthroned and on horseback. The lowly rank and obscure charge of the position means that its holders are not often attested. However, the title was also given by the emperors as a mark of distinction to officials or military commanders. This gave the holders of the title a place in the court hierarchy, but was not an active charge.

List of known ''prōtokynegoi''

References

Sources

* * * * * {{Byzantine offices after pseudo-Kodinos Byzantine court titles Greek words and phrases History of hunting Lists of office-holders in the Byzantine Empire

History and functions

List of known ''prōtokynegoi''

See also

References

Sources