International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Tatiana Kushch 
Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation; 
[e-mail]
Political Elite under Manuel II Palaiologos
Following the restoration of Byzantium in 1261, the former court hierarchy and the system of 
titles and offices were revived. Pseudo-Kodinos’ ceremonial book which lists more than 80 titles and 
offices shows multiple levels of hierarchy of dignitaries in the Early Palaiologian Period. From the 
late thirteenth century to the 1380s, most positions in the list of offices were occupied. Generally, 
one can say that the organizational system of commanding elite relatively stable functioned 
throughout the period in question. However, political, socio-economic, and demographic processes 

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in the fourteenth century influenced the structure of power, the functioning of the administrative 
machinery, and the shaping of the ruling elite. This paper will focus on the political elite of Byzantium 
in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries and the changes in its structure. 
According to the analysis of prosopographic data, the number of the ruling elite considerably 
decreased under Manuel II Palaiologos. The hierarchy of titles and offices declined so that many of 
them, even of supreme level (sebastokrator, caesar, megas domestikos, protovestiarios), were not 
granted anymore, and later disappeared from political life. The central administrative machinery 
reduced to the size of the imperial court. The ruling elite incorporated the descendants of famous 
Byzantine families, thus confirming the hypothesis about the aristocratization of the late Byzantine 
society. The emperor’s close court included, apart from his relatives, persons who established friendly 
relations with Manuel II. The emperor considerably raised the role of his intellectual retinue. Often 
without official titles and positions, the intellectuals, nevertheless, became key figures in the empire’s 
political affairs as οἰκείοι, councillors, diplomats, and basileus’ plenipotentiaries.
However, in parallel to the ruling class that concentrated in the capital, Morea and Thessalonike 
developed their own local political elites. The hierarchy of officeholders doubled at the level of 
despotates, where positions from the former all-empire administration still existed. Although 
Manuel II retained the supreme power over the empire, the despotai actually governed their lands 
independently, surrounding themselves with their own courts.
The changes mentioned resulted foremost from objective factors. The system of administration 
of separate parts of the empire that developed, the reduction of territories, limited financial 
resources, economic stagnation, and the decline of taxable population caused the degradation of 
the hierarchy of dignitaries, the simplification of the administrative system, and the change of the 
nature of mutual relations of the emperor and his courtiers.
This research has been financially supported by the Russian Foundation for Humanities, 
project no. 14-01-00025.