Kuropalates
The Kuropalat or Kuropalates ( Greek κουροπαλάτης from Latin curopalatus , "head of the palace"; this from Latin cura palatii , "care for the palace") was a high Byzantine title . In the period from Emperor Justin II to the Comnenes it was even one of the highest titles at court.
The office of curopalatus arose in late Roman antiquity . The owner of the cura palatii initially had simple and everyday organizational tasks at the imperial courts in East and West and can thus be compared with the early house fights in Western Europe. At first he was still subordinate to the magister officiorum . From the 5th century onwards there were increasing signs of a gradual increase in the importance of the office; the rank of curopalatus was now awarded as an additional title to important men who were already patricius (Whitby 1987). Since Emperor Justinian had appointed his nephew Justin (II.) In 552 curopalatus , Greek "Kuropalates", the office became even more important after Justin II himself ascended the throne in 565 under questionable circumstances: Justin now put it that way as if his uncle had appointed him heir to the throne through the office. The position gained enormously in prestige and came last just after the rank of Caesar and Nobilissimus . Like them, the title curopalatus or Kuropalates was usually reserved for members of the imperial family, but was also given to other important rulers abroad, especially the kings in the Caucasus . From 580 to 1060 there were sixteen Iberian and from 635 some Armenian kings and princes with the title of Kuropalates.
According to the work Kletorologion of Philotheos from the year 899 the insignia of kouropalates were a red tunic, jacket and belt. The emperor personally presented the insignia and showed the importance of the rank. In the 11th and 12th centuries the rank lost its earlier meaning and was given to important generals as an honorary title. The functions of the Kuropalate were gradually taken over by the Protovestiarioi . These were actually responsible for the emperor's personal wardrobe. The title Kuropalates survived into the time of the palaeologists , but was only rarely given.
literature
- Catherine Holmes: Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976-1025) . Oxford 2005.
- Mary Whitby: On the omission of a ceremony in mid-sixth century Constantinople: candidati, curopalatus, silentiarii, excubitores and others . In: Historia 36, 1987, pp. 462-488.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Vol. 2, Oxford University Press, Oxford-New York 1991, p. 1157, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
- ^ A b Cyril Toumanoff : Studies in Christian Caucasian History , p. 269, Georgetown University Press, 1963
- ↑ James Allan Evans: Justin II (565-578 AD) . An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
- ↑ Stephen H. Rapp: Studies In Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts , p. 374, Peeters Publishers 2003, ISBN 90-429-1318-5
- ^ John Bagnell Bury : The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century . London 1911, p. 22
- ↑ Catherine Holmes: Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976-1025) . Oxford 2005, p. 87, ISBN 0-19-927968-3
- ^ Edward Gibbon : The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire , p. 242, London 1868