''Vicarius'' is a Latin word, meaning ''substitute'' or ''deputy''. It is the root of the English word "

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

History

Originally, in

ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom ...

, this office was equivalent to the later English " vice-" (as in "

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain, ...

"), used as part of the title of various officials. Each ''vicarius'' was assigned to a specific superior official, after whom his full title was generally completed by a

genitive In grammar, the genitive case ( abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can a ...

(e.g. ''vicarius praetoris''). At a low level of society, the slave of a slave, possibly hired out to raise money to buy

manumission Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...

, was a ''servus vicarius''. Later, in the 290s, Emperor

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 ...

carried out a series of administrative reforms, ushering in the period of the

Dominate The Dominate, also known as the late Roman Empire, is the name sometimes given to the " despotic" later phase of imperial government in the ancient Roman Empire. It followed the earlier period known as the "Principate". Until the empire was reuni ...

. These reforms also saw the number of

Roman provinces The Roman provinces (Latin: ''provincia'', pl. ''provinciae'') were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled ...

increased, and the creation of a new administrative level, the

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

. The dioceses, initially twelve, grouped several provinces, each with its own

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

. The dioceses were headed by a ''vicarius'', or, more properly, by a ''vices agens praefecti praetorio'' ("deputy of the

praetorian prefect The praetorian prefect ( la, praefectus praetorio, el, ) was a high office in the Roman Empire. Originating as the commander of the Praetorian Guard, the office gradually acquired extensive legal and administrative functions, with its holders be ...

"). An exception was the

Diocese of the East The Diocese of the East ( la, Dioecesis Orientis; el, ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of the western Middle East, between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. During late Antiquity, it was one of the majo ...

, which was headed by a ''

comes ''Comes'' ( ), plural ''comites'' ( ), was a Roman title or office, and the origin Latin form of the medieval and modern title "count". Before becoming a word for various types of title or office, the word originally meant "companion", either i ...

'' ("count"). In 370 or 381, Egypt and Cyrenaica were detached from the Diocese of the East and made a diocese under an official called the Augustal Prefect. In the eastern parts of the Empire, dominated by the Greek language and common use of Greek terminology, a ''vicarius'' was called an

exarch An exarch (; from Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος ''exarchos'', meaning “leader”) was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical. In the late Roman Empire and ea ...

. According to the ''

Notitia dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents o ...

'' (an early 5th century imperial chancery document), the ''vicarius'' had the rank of '' vir spectabilis''; the staff of a ''vicarius'', his '' officium'', was rather similar to a gubernatorial ''officium''. For example, in the diocese of

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...

, the staff of the ''vicarius'' included: * The ''

princeps ''Princeps'' (plural: ''principes'') is a Latin word meaning "first in time or order; the first, foremost, chief, the most eminent, distinguished, or noble; the first man, first person". As a title, ''princeps'' originated in the Roman Republic w ...

'' (i.e. chief of staff) was chosen from among the senior ''

agentes in rebus The ''agentes in rebus'' ( grc, ἀγγελιαφόροι, angeliaphóroi, messengers, or , ''magistrianoí'', ' magister's men'.) were the late Roman imperial courier service and general agents of the central government from the 4th to the 7th c ...

'' (couriers or special investigators, 'men of affairs,' from the ministry of the interior headed by the master of the offices), from the salaried class of the ''ducenarii'' (those earning 200,000

sesterces The ''sestertius'' (plural ''sestertii''), or sesterce (plural sesterces), was an Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Roman currency, coin. During the Roman Republic it was a small, silver coin issued only on rare occasions. During the Roman Empire it w ...

a year - the highest regular pay grade in the Roman civil service; the highest officials, governors and above, were not civil service). * A '' cornicularius'' ("chief of staff"). * Two '' numerarii'' (chief accountants). * A '' commentariensis'' ("keeper of the commentary", the official diary). * An '' adiutor'' (adjutant; literally "helper", an assistant). * An '' ab actis'' ("acts-keeper",

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can consi ...

). * A '' cura epistolarum'' ("curator of correspondence"). * An unnamed number of '' subadiuvae'' ("deputy assistants"). * Various '' exceptores'' (lower clerks). * '' Singulares et reliquum officium'' (various menial staff).

References

Sources

* * *''

Notitia Dignitatum The ''Notitia Dignitatum'' (Latin for "The List of Offices") is a document of the late Roman Empire that details the administrative organization of the Western and the Eastern Roman Empire. It is unique as one of very few surviving documents o ...

'' * Pauly-Wissowa (in German) {{Ancient Rome topics Ancient Roman titles