|
''Prōtostratōr'' ((ギリシア語:πρωτοστράτωρ)) was a Byzantine court office, originating as the imperial stable master, which in the last centuries of the Empire evolved into one of the senior military offices. The female form of the title, given to the wives of the ''prōtostratores'', was ''prōtostratorissa'' (πρωτοστρατόρισσα). ==History and evolution== The title means "first ''stratōr''", reflecting the office's initial nature as chief of the imperial order (''taxis'') of the ''stratores'' (στράτορες, "grooms"), who formed a ''schola stratorum'', as attested for staff of the praetorian prefect of Africa in the 6th century. A ''domestikos tōn stratorōn'' appears under Justinian II (reigned 685–695, 705–711) and a ''prōtostratōr'' of the Opsikion named Rouphos in 712. The first holder of the post to be mentioned as a relatively important personage, however, is the ''spatharios'' Constantine, son of the ''patrikios'' Bardanes, mentioned near the bottom of a list of victims of iconoclast persecution under Constantine V (r. 741–775) in 765. The ''spatharios'' Constantine is also the first known holder of the post of "imperial ''prōtostratōr''" (βασιλικός πρωτοστράτωρ, ''basilikos prōtostratōr''). During the middle Byzantine period (up to the late 11th century), its official place in the hierarchy was not high, but its proximity to the emperor did facilitate a rapid rise of its holders, as exemplified by the career of Manuel the Armenian or the future emperors Michael II and Basil I the Macedonian. In the ''Klētorologion'' of 899 he is recorded as one of the "special dignities" (''axiai eidikai'') and ranked 48th among the sixty most senior palace officials. Holders of the post could aspire to some of the highest court ranks, such as ''anthypatos patrikios'' or ''prōtospatharios''. The imperial ''prōtostratōr'' had a prominent place in imperial ceremonies, riding beside the Byzantine emperor on processions (along with his superior, the Count of the Stable) or during the hunt. During campaigns, he and the Count of the Stable stood by near the imperial tent, along with three ''stratores'' with harnessed horses. In triumphal processions from the Great Palace to the Forum of Constantine he carried the emperor's banner (''flammoulon''), preceding the emperor from the hall of the ''consistorium'' until the forum, and placed the imperial spear on the neck of the captive Arab leaders. On certain occasions, he even had the task of introducing foreign envoys at imperial audiences. In the 9th-11th centuries, his subordinates included the ''() stratores'' ("imperial grooms"), the ''armophylakes'' (ὰρμοφύλακες, "keepers of the armaments" or possibly "of the chariots", from ''armatophylakes'', according to Nikolaos Oikonomides), and three ''stablokomētes'' (σταβλοκόμητες, "stable counts"), one "of the City" (σταβλοκόμης τῆς πόλεως, ''stablokomēs tēs poleōs'', i.e. of Constantinople) and two others, probably of the great imperial stables at Malagina. By the mid-11th century, however, the post seems to have risen in importance, and was now awarded as a honorific court dignity to distinguished members of the court. Thus in ca. 1042 Romanos Skleros, the brother of Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos' (r. 1042–54) favourite mistress, was raised to the rank of ''magistros'' as well as the posts of ''prōtostratōr'' and ''doux'' of Antioch. During the Komnenian period (1081–1185), the post rose further in the court hierarchy, so that the historian Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger was able to remark that "this office has always been important to the emperors and was conferred on the highest personages", while the 12th-century historian Zonaras, influenced by current usage, writes that "this dignity was that of distinguished persons and relatives of the emperors" about the conferment of the post to Basil the Macedonian. Holders during the Komnenian period included the distinguished military commanders Michael Doukas, brother-in-law of Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118), and Alexios Axouch, who had married the niece of Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1043–80). Writing around 1200, Niketas Choniates equated the office with the Western marshal, and it appears to have been used interchangeably with it in the Latin Empire and the other Latin states formed after the Fourth Crusade. The office continued to exist during the Palaiologan period until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. It remained one of the highest dignities of state, ranking 8th overall in the hierarchy, although from the late 13th century on, multiple persons could hold it. The title is also attested in the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, where it was held by the duke (''eristavi'') of Svaneti, Iovane Vardanisdze, under King David IV (r. 1189–1125).〔: "In the formation of his ruling apparatus, David employed the great ''eristavni'', thus making them dependent on him. The ''eristavi'' of Svaneti, Iovane Vardanisdze, became the ''protostratori'' (later called ''amirakhori''), the second-in-command of the army, and later was given the post of ''mechurchletukhutsesi'', the director of finances."〕 A variant of the title, ''stratoros'', was also used in the Kingdom of Cyprus in the 15th century. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Protostrator」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|