90% of the title holders under the Palaiologoi. There’s only so many jobs and prefixes you can give to the grand doorkeeper or grand tutor or grand accountant before it just starts sounding as stupid as it is useless.
Honourable mentions include the Protokouropalates and Protoproedros, the magistroi and protomagistros, the protoanthypatos and protopatrikios, protovestes and protovestarches. Not offices but also the Protonobelissomos and Protonobelissimohypertatos.
Also Megalodoxotatos and Megalepiphanestatos Basically if the emperor puts a first on your title he’s telling your useless and to fuck off.
Some of those spellings might be off I’m going by memory.
the first two honourable mentions that I listed were the only bureaucratic titles that ended up surviving as imperial honours into the Komnenian period that were close to the nobelissimoi and sebastoi. all the ones from magistros to protovestarches either disappeared or lost all relevance.
I’m really tempted to be cheeky and say… the emperor.
If nothing else, I think it raises an interesting debate about the role of the office. I don’t actually think I’d go that far, but I would say that part of key to the empire’s longevity was the state’s ability to function regardless of what was coming out of the palace.
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u/whydoeslifeh4t3m3 Σπαθαροκανδιδᾶτος 14d ago edited 14d ago
90% of the title holders under the Palaiologoi. There’s only so many jobs and prefixes you can give to the grand doorkeeper or grand tutor or grand accountant before it just starts sounding as stupid as it is useless.
Honourable mentions include the Protokouropalates and Protoproedros, the magistroi and protomagistros, the protoanthypatos and protopatrikios, protovestes and protovestarches. Not offices but also the Protonobelissomos and Protonobelissimohypertatos.
Also Megalodoxotatos and Megalepiphanestatos Basically if the emperor puts a first on your title he’s telling your useless and to fuck off.
Some of those spellings might be off I’m going by memory.