Too bad this tv show doesnt exist anymore... I still remember the scene when Romanus IV was blinded... It was a very well performed and touching scene...
Handbook of Byzantine Protocole and Ceremonies
- Thread starter Don_Giorgio
- Start date
Too bad this tv show doesnt exist anymore... I still remember the scene when Romanus IV was blinded... It was a very well performed and touching scene...
We have a new entry on "things that should be done if we have money to burn" - remake/rerelease this.
Though, that sounds grim. Better than chopping off his head, I suppose, but dark.
This show certainly needs to be remade... Take a look on the survivng clip i posted before... The actor playing Romanus IV looks like he has escaped from a Byzantine painting...
I'm sure I'm missing something obvious, but which one is Romanus?
They all look very impressive.
The one with the armour on your left behind the desk with the beard is Romanus IV... The other guy on your right with the moustache is Michael Psellos his spymaster...
Unless you mean a different picture than the most recent one, isn't Romanus (if he's behind the desk) on the right?
Oh no i meant the youtube clip i ve posted earlier....
See here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peYuIGzGdc4
Ah, I missed that.
And damn, now I wish I could understand Greek. That looks fantastic/awesome/wonderful.
If you have any questions or need some clarifications feel free to ask me here or pm me...
I ve decided to expand my Handbook by adding a second "volume" in which i will add a more detailed analysis of the Byzantine Life mostly outside the Palace. I ll focus on things like taxation, laws, agriculture, industry etc.
Some of these were covered briefly in the previous "volume" but now ill write a more detailed analysis and i wont be restricted in 7th-10th century only.
Handbook of Byzantine Protocole and Ceremonies
Volume II
Byzantine public and private Life
Chapter I
Finances
1. Adminstrative organisation of Financial Agencies
The structure of the Finacial agencies remained the somehow the same throughout the lifespan of the Empire, despite many agencies being suppresed and new one raising, this was merely a change in names.
From the reign of Constantine I till Heraclius (and after him also) the Central Finance Agency (something like the Ministry of Finance in modern societies) was divided in 3 agencies:
A) Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum
B) Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum
C) Comitiva Sacri Patrimonii
We will examine each agency separately.
A) Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum
The agency was headed by the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum or "Komes ton Theion Thisavron" in Greek (aka Count of the Sacred Treasure) and its main tasks were
1) Gathering money from taxes and fines
2) Overseeing state mines, clothing factories, purple dye factories and the labour unions of miners, cloth workers and dyers which were outside Constantinople (clothing industry and purple dye were Imperial monopoly. Also factories and unions inside the City were overseen by the Praefect of the City)
3) Oversee the Imperial Mints which were managed by the "Procuratores Monetarum"
4) Oversee of the sending of the tax money from provinces to Constantinople through a special body of couriers called "Bastagarii". The money were collected in provincial tax posts by special agents of the agency called "Praepositi Thesaurum" and from there the Bastagarii took them and sent them to Constantinople with armed escort.
5) Paying of the army/navy salaries plus they were responsible to pay any gifts the Emperor gives to someone. Also when the Emperor creates a new official/noble this agency was responsible in providing the robes of office.
B) Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum
This agency was headed by Comes de Rerum Privatarum or "Komes tis Idikis Periousias" in Greek (aka Count of the Emperor's own property) and its main tasks were:
1) Administration of Imperial fiefs plus the Emperor's family estates
2) Leasing the Imperial Lands to farmers
3) Collecting the crops or the money from the crop
4) Paying the share from the crops to the farmer who has leased the land.
5) Overseeing the receipt records of every payment or money collection the agency did for at least 30 years.
6) When the Emperor donated land to someone this agency was responsible to materialise his decision.
7) Overseeing forests and prairies of the Empire through the bodies of "Procuratores Saltuum" (forests) and "Actores rei privatae"
8) This agency was responsible to take over abandoned or confiscated lands, plus the lands of those who died without an heir.
9) Oversee the Royal Flocks (horses, cows, sheeps etc) through special agents called "Praepositi gregum et stabulorum"
10) The agency was empowered to protect the poorest citizens from unjust taxation from local Governors through the body of "Magistri de rei privatae" who act like some sort of financial police.
3) Comitiva de Sacri Patrimonii
Originally this agency was a part of Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum but Emperor Anastasius I grant it independence and raised its head to the rank of Comes with the title of "Comes Sancti Patrimonii" or "Komis tis Idikis Ktiseos" (aka Count of the Emperor's heritage) and they were responsible for the family lands of the Emperor following the same pattern of the Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum and having roughly the same tasks.
Provincial Financial Agencies
They were under the Praefectus Praetorio originally and later fell under the Logothetes.
The Praefecti Praetorio had their own financial agents the "Arca Praefectorial" and the financial duties of the Praefectus Praetorio included
1) Paying the provincial army and the provincial clerks from the "Annona" (stipend gathered from taxes and send from Constantinople for paying/supplying the army etc)
2) Administrating the "Annona" and collecting the "Canon Vestium" tax (we ll see that later)
3) Buying food for horses and flocks of the provincial army.
4) Responcible for the well coordination of all financial agents in a province
Also under Praefectus Praetorio there were the "Tabularii" and the "Numerarii" which were assistants to the Arca Praefectorial and there were several of them in each province
The Praefect of the City of Constantinople had the same staff and the same responsibilities as the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum but only for Constantinople except the labour unions where the "Symponos" was in charge.
After 6th century all financial agencies were virtually united and re-divided into 7 Treasuries under the "Sakellarios" although the titles of Comes remained as assistants to the Sakellarios.
The changes happened after the old provincial division was abolished and the Themata system was instituted.
Tax policy of the Empire was drafted by the above agencies based on the system "iugatio-capitatio" and it was a rough calculation of the land owned plus the work done by people and animals.
The calculation of tax for the land owned was done based on the record books held in each province while "Kefalikos foros" aka "person tax" was calculated for each person based on the suggestion of local tax agents.
When everything was ready the financial agencies presented the outcome to the Emperor and the Emperor issued a "Delegatio Divinum" (sic) aka "Divine Decree" which would regulate the taxes for the whole Empire for the next 15 years.
When the Delegatio Divinum is issued the Tabularii 2 from each province drafted the "Delegationes Particulares" thus dividing the taxes amongst the provinces, one of them should come from the Arca Praefectorial and the other one should be from the Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum.
In order to help the people the tax was divided in 3 equal payments.
After 15 years the same procedure would be repeated and a new Delegatio Divinum would regulate the taxes for 15 years more and so on.
The tax collection was done by a special body of financial agents called called "Apparitores". If no Apparitores were available or if the province was far away or little tax was to be payed then the local community elected tax collectors called "allecti" (aka curators) to collect the money but always with the help of the Tabularii in order to secure that everything will be in order.
When someone appeared to pay the tax he had to pass by "censitores" and the "peraequatores" who verified the identity of the person appeared to them and made any changes to the books if necessary.
After them if the said person would pay the tax in crop he would be sent to "horrea" a special tax post like a granary where he delivered the share of the crop which was weighted and the agent present had to decide if it was enough. If it is enough he will deliver the share of the crop there and he will take a receipt that he paid the tax. If it is not enough he will be held there until he pays in cash or brings enough crop for the tax.
Now if the said person would pay the tax in cash he was lead to the "Sacer Thesaurum" where he payed tha tax to the Tabularii and take a receipt that he had payed the tax.
If there is a disagreement between the tax collector and the people then the "Inspector" is responsible to solve it on the spot. If there is still a disagreement after the Inspector's decision then the offending member can appeal to the "Magistri rei privatae" but only after he pays. if his appeal is successfull only then he will get his money back.
Following the abolition of the old provincial division and the institution of the Themata System the above agencies were virtually united under a "Sakellarios" until 12th century and from 12th century till the end of the Empire under "Megalos Logariastis" (roughly translated as Great Calculator), plus they changed their names to Greek from Latin but still they continued the same functions as before (with different names though see Volume I chapter X if i remember correctly).
The only innovations in Financial structure was after 8th-10th century when Emperors started breaking up various offices and creating new offices like the "Count of Lamia" in charge of the mines, "Epi ton Eidikon" overseeing Imperial factories, "Commerciarii" overseeing trade, "Curators" overseeing charity, "Count of Waters" overseeing aqueducts and wells etc.
This was bad for the Empire since it weakened the tax collection and reduced its efficiency plus now with all these employees the agencies now cost way much more and corruption was rampant.
It was the Comneni dynasty that tried to restore a revised version of the previous financial model by suppressing useless offices and concentrating them to agencies as it was before but IV Crusade and bad financial state before that aborted this try.
It should be noted that the financial model used until the reign of Heraclius ensured that in most cases citizens would pay just taxes according to everyones life's standards. Till Heraclius corruption in this agencies was very little and only in the upper levels of bureaucracy. We have no reference of a major financial scandal implicating lower level employees. Scandals appear later after the "multi-breaking" of the financial system to multiple independent offices and comittees.
Thats it for today... Tomorrow i ll continue with taxation and direct/indirect taxes....
Some of these were covered briefly in the previous "volume" but now ill write a more detailed analysis and i wont be restricted in 7th-10th century only.
Handbook of Byzantine Protocole and Ceremonies
Volume II
Byzantine public and private Life
Chapter I
Finances
1. Adminstrative organisation of Financial Agencies
The structure of the Finacial agencies remained the somehow the same throughout the lifespan of the Empire, despite many agencies being suppresed and new one raising, this was merely a change in names.
From the reign of Constantine I till Heraclius (and after him also) the Central Finance Agency (something like the Ministry of Finance in modern societies) was divided in 3 agencies:
A) Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum
B) Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum
C) Comitiva Sacri Patrimonii
We will examine each agency separately.
A) Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum
The agency was headed by the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum or "Komes ton Theion Thisavron" in Greek (aka Count of the Sacred Treasure) and its main tasks were
1) Gathering money from taxes and fines
2) Overseeing state mines, clothing factories, purple dye factories and the labour unions of miners, cloth workers and dyers which were outside Constantinople (clothing industry and purple dye were Imperial monopoly. Also factories and unions inside the City were overseen by the Praefect of the City)
3) Oversee the Imperial Mints which were managed by the "Procuratores Monetarum"
4) Oversee of the sending of the tax money from provinces to Constantinople through a special body of couriers called "Bastagarii". The money were collected in provincial tax posts by special agents of the agency called "Praepositi Thesaurum" and from there the Bastagarii took them and sent them to Constantinople with armed escort.
5) Paying of the army/navy salaries plus they were responsible to pay any gifts the Emperor gives to someone. Also when the Emperor creates a new official/noble this agency was responsible in providing the robes of office.
B) Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum
This agency was headed by Comes de Rerum Privatarum or "Komes tis Idikis Periousias" in Greek (aka Count of the Emperor's own property) and its main tasks were:
1) Administration of Imperial fiefs plus the Emperor's family estates
2) Leasing the Imperial Lands to farmers
3) Collecting the crops or the money from the crop
4) Paying the share from the crops to the farmer who has leased the land.
5) Overseeing the receipt records of every payment or money collection the agency did for at least 30 years.
6) When the Emperor donated land to someone this agency was responsible to materialise his decision.
7) Overseeing forests and prairies of the Empire through the bodies of "Procuratores Saltuum" (forests) and "Actores rei privatae"
8) This agency was responsible to take over abandoned or confiscated lands, plus the lands of those who died without an heir.
9) Oversee the Royal Flocks (horses, cows, sheeps etc) through special agents called "Praepositi gregum et stabulorum"
10) The agency was empowered to protect the poorest citizens from unjust taxation from local Governors through the body of "Magistri de rei privatae" who act like some sort of financial police.
3) Comitiva de Sacri Patrimonii
Originally this agency was a part of Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum but Emperor Anastasius I grant it independence and raised its head to the rank of Comes with the title of "Comes Sancti Patrimonii" or "Komis tis Idikis Ktiseos" (aka Count of the Emperor's heritage) and they were responsible for the family lands of the Emperor following the same pattern of the Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum and having roughly the same tasks.
Provincial Financial Agencies
They were under the Praefectus Praetorio originally and later fell under the Logothetes.
The Praefecti Praetorio had their own financial agents the "Arca Praefectorial" and the financial duties of the Praefectus Praetorio included
1) Paying the provincial army and the provincial clerks from the "Annona" (stipend gathered from taxes and send from Constantinople for paying/supplying the army etc)
2) Administrating the "Annona" and collecting the "Canon Vestium" tax (we ll see that later)
3) Buying food for horses and flocks of the provincial army.
4) Responcible for the well coordination of all financial agents in a province
Also under Praefectus Praetorio there were the "Tabularii" and the "Numerarii" which were assistants to the Arca Praefectorial and there were several of them in each province
The Praefect of the City of Constantinople had the same staff and the same responsibilities as the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum but only for Constantinople except the labour unions where the "Symponos" was in charge.
After 6th century all financial agencies were virtually united and re-divided into 7 Treasuries under the "Sakellarios" although the titles of Comes remained as assistants to the Sakellarios.
The changes happened after the old provincial division was abolished and the Themata system was instituted.
Tax policy of the Empire was drafted by the above agencies based on the system "iugatio-capitatio" and it was a rough calculation of the land owned plus the work done by people and animals.
The calculation of tax for the land owned was done based on the record books held in each province while "Kefalikos foros" aka "person tax" was calculated for each person based on the suggestion of local tax agents.
When everything was ready the financial agencies presented the outcome to the Emperor and the Emperor issued a "Delegatio Divinum" (sic) aka "Divine Decree" which would regulate the taxes for the whole Empire for the next 15 years.
When the Delegatio Divinum is issued the Tabularii 2 from each province drafted the "Delegationes Particulares" thus dividing the taxes amongst the provinces, one of them should come from the Arca Praefectorial and the other one should be from the Comitiva Sacrarum Largitionum.
In order to help the people the tax was divided in 3 equal payments.
After 15 years the same procedure would be repeated and a new Delegatio Divinum would regulate the taxes for 15 years more and so on.
The tax collection was done by a special body of financial agents called called "Apparitores". If no Apparitores were available or if the province was far away or little tax was to be payed then the local community elected tax collectors called "allecti" (aka curators) to collect the money but always with the help of the Tabularii in order to secure that everything will be in order.
When someone appeared to pay the tax he had to pass by "censitores" and the "peraequatores" who verified the identity of the person appeared to them and made any changes to the books if necessary.
After them if the said person would pay the tax in crop he would be sent to "horrea" a special tax post like a granary where he delivered the share of the crop which was weighted and the agent present had to decide if it was enough. If it is enough he will deliver the share of the crop there and he will take a receipt that he paid the tax. If it is not enough he will be held there until he pays in cash or brings enough crop for the tax.
Now if the said person would pay the tax in cash he was lead to the "Sacer Thesaurum" where he payed tha tax to the Tabularii and take a receipt that he had payed the tax.
If there is a disagreement between the tax collector and the people then the "Inspector" is responsible to solve it on the spot. If there is still a disagreement after the Inspector's decision then the offending member can appeal to the "Magistri rei privatae" but only after he pays. if his appeal is successfull only then he will get his money back.
Following the abolition of the old provincial division and the institution of the Themata System the above agencies were virtually united under a "Sakellarios" until 12th century and from 12th century till the end of the Empire under "Megalos Logariastis" (roughly translated as Great Calculator), plus they changed their names to Greek from Latin but still they continued the same functions as before (with different names though see Volume I chapter X if i remember correctly).
The only innovations in Financial structure was after 8th-10th century when Emperors started breaking up various offices and creating new offices like the "Count of Lamia" in charge of the mines, "Epi ton Eidikon" overseeing Imperial factories, "Commerciarii" overseeing trade, "Curators" overseeing charity, "Count of Waters" overseeing aqueducts and wells etc.
This was bad for the Empire since it weakened the tax collection and reduced its efficiency plus now with all these employees the agencies now cost way much more and corruption was rampant.
It was the Comneni dynasty that tried to restore a revised version of the previous financial model by suppressing useless offices and concentrating them to agencies as it was before but IV Crusade and bad financial state before that aborted this try.
It should be noted that the financial model used until the reign of Heraclius ensured that in most cases citizens would pay just taxes according to everyones life's standards. Till Heraclius corruption in this agencies was very little and only in the upper levels of bureaucracy. We have no reference of a major financial scandal implicating lower level employees. Scandals appear later after the "multi-breaking" of the financial system to multiple independent offices and comittees.
Thats it for today... Tomorrow i ll continue with taxation and direct/indirect taxes....
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I'd love to see the actual Greek names for these agencies. Do Greeks like acronyms as much as Anglophones?
Central Finance Agency: Κεντρική Υπηρεσία Χρηματοοικονομική (KYKh; kee-H)
"Some damn keekhos was down here scrounging for tax money."
Well modern Greeks like acronyms... But back then they didnt use them... At least not in Greek language...
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2. Direct and indirect taxes
The majority of the taxes collected by the imperial agents went to cover the expenses of administration, army, wars and social policy.
However no records survive about the payroll so we can only estimate the salaries, pensions etc.
Constantine I and his successors retained the tax system imposed by Diocletian which was based (as we saw above) in the system "iugatio-capitatio".
As it was mentioned above land taxes were calculated by provincial financial agents based on the lands record books held in the province but also they were consulted by the record books held in Constantinople (when in doubt since the record books held in Constantinople were far more detailed than the provincial ones and were updated more often).
In these record books every family was recorded according to the tax they had to pay, the land they ownm their income etc. all separated in categories.
The iugatio-capitatio system survived till the reign of Nicephorus I with some reforms/adjustment when the Emperor saw that the changes in provincial division along with the severity and corruption of the now multi-fragmented agencies reduced tax efficiency along with tax money collected as poorest citizens were unable to pay tha heavy taxation. So Nicephorus I issued a decree in which the wealthy landowners of the theme were obliged to pay the taxes of their poorer neighbours who couldnt afford to pay the community taxes. However this legislation (called Allilegyon) along with other beneficial measures was abolished by Emperor Michael II after the Church protested about heavy taxation (it should be noted that Church and Imperial estates werent exempt from taxes) as the obligation of richer landowners to pay the poorest citizens taxes added more burden to the Monasteries.
Emperor Basil II reinstated "Allilegyon" in order to help poor citizens plus it would break the power of the nobles and landowners.
But after his death Constantine VIII abolished it for good and "Pronoia" was instituted instead.
Taxes were separated in 2 categories A) Direct taxes and B) Indirect taxes
A) Direct taxes
1) Annona. Annona was a property tax and originally it was payed in crop and from the reign of Heraclius and after it was payed in cash. If someone didnt had farms to pay the annona in crop they would pay in cash according to their profession/income unless they had menial/not stable jobs so they were exempt from tax (or prisoned)
This tax was always connected with the cities and army supply and the money collected from this tax went directly in buying supplies and weapons.
After Heraclius when paying the Annona reverted from crop to cash it was decreed that at least 1/10 of the Annona would be required to be in crop in order to serve the immediate needs of the army (especially when Egypt was lost for good and the army/cities needed the wheat).
As for merchants they had the choice at first to pay by cash or by crops/goods they almost always payed by cash. However after paying by cash became the norm the Empire retained the right to "Buy" some of the merchant's goods in a price that the Empire will fix as a payment for the tax (coemptio)
2) Epimetron. Technically not a tax but it was a small percentage over the citizens tax which was used to pay the tax collector salaries.
3) Chrysargyron. This tax was instituted by Diocletian and was imposed to merchants, bankers and workers.
It was a property/income tax and it was collected every five years.
The tax was abolished by Emperor Anastasius I in 498 as it had become the heaviest tax and almost every citizen in all major cities had filled complaints against it and asked for exemption from paying the tax.
4) Aurum Tironicum or "Chrysos Tironon" in Greek (aka Gold for recruits).
According to record books every family had the obligation to offer one of its members as a recruit to the army (tiro) or buy the services of a mercenary to serve in the family member's place by paying the Aurum Tironicum. However this tax was abolished in 6th century and briefly reinstated around 9th-10th century.
5) Canon Vestium or "Foros Esthitos" (aka Robe tax) this tax gave citizens the choice to pay either in cash or in goods (weapons, armors etc) and these went directly for dressing anequipping the army.
6)Equorum Collatio or "Foros prosforas Ippon" (aka Horse tax) this was a tax imposed to all citizens of the Empire and it went directly in buying horses for the cavalry. Since we know that a horse costed 15-20 numismata the tax would be around this cost.
7) Collatio Glebalis or "Foros Gis" (aka Land tax) this a land property tax was imposed only to Senators and they were obliged to pay it.
If a Senator was unable to pay it or refused to pay it he was deposed from the office of the Senator.
This tax was abolished by Emperor Marcian after he saw the Senatorial rank being reduced dramatically since they couldnt pay as their estates were overran by Huns. Marcian replaced this tax with the obligation of Senators to donate 1 Litre of Gold to the Emperor every New Year's Day.
Besides these taxes which were the tactical taxes that every citizen payed per year or 5 years etc. there were the extraordinary taxes imposed to cover some unexpected expenses like a war, or a natural disaster etc.
The imposition of extraordinary taxes was an Imperial prerogative and only the Emperor could enact these taxes.
Every citizen participated in the extraordianry taxes with no exemptions and their payment happened along with regular taxes.
Some examples of extraordinary taxes are the following
1) Aerikon or Aerarium it was imposed by Emperor Justinian in order to fund his campaign in Italy and it was a special land tax. Although Justinian's treasury was filled, the tax drained the economy of lower classes.
2) Dikeraton (literally two-horns) ot was imposed by Emperor Leo III as an extraordinary tax and it was the 1/12 of the regular tax.
3) Aurum Oblaticium or "Prosfora Chrysou" in Greek (aka Offer of Gold) it was a special extraordianry tax in which the nobles offered 1 (or sometimes more) Litre of gold to the Emperor on occasion of some feast (birthday, victorious war, birth of an heir etc.)
4) Aurum Coronarum or "Stefanikos Chrysos" in Greek (aka Crown Gold) it is the same with the above but it was offered by the communities.
All these special/extraordinary taxes caused heavy reactions so the Emperor should be extra careful when imposing them since thigs could end up badly for him.
Another source of income for the Empire were the tariffs and taxes payed for various formalities.
People promoted to various offices were taxed according to their property with a one-time tax upon promotion, people wanting to draft various documents (birth certificate for instance) payed an one-time tax for the draft etc.
The height of these taxes was regulated by the Emperor and any chances of corruption/fraud was dealt severely, Justinian ordered the confiscation of property and exile as a penalty for corruption while Isaurians instituted the cutting of the right hand for the same crimes.
Also inheritance tax was an important source of income as it was calculated on about the 5% of the property inherited.
Thats for now... I ll continue with the indirect taxes later as gf wants to go with her and buy some presents for tonight...
The majority of the taxes collected by the imperial agents went to cover the expenses of administration, army, wars and social policy.
However no records survive about the payroll so we can only estimate the salaries, pensions etc.
Constantine I and his successors retained the tax system imposed by Diocletian which was based (as we saw above) in the system "iugatio-capitatio".
As it was mentioned above land taxes were calculated by provincial financial agents based on the lands record books held in the province but also they were consulted by the record books held in Constantinople (when in doubt since the record books held in Constantinople were far more detailed than the provincial ones and were updated more often).
In these record books every family was recorded according to the tax they had to pay, the land they ownm their income etc. all separated in categories.
The iugatio-capitatio system survived till the reign of Nicephorus I with some reforms/adjustment when the Emperor saw that the changes in provincial division along with the severity and corruption of the now multi-fragmented agencies reduced tax efficiency along with tax money collected as poorest citizens were unable to pay tha heavy taxation. So Nicephorus I issued a decree in which the wealthy landowners of the theme were obliged to pay the taxes of their poorer neighbours who couldnt afford to pay the community taxes. However this legislation (called Allilegyon) along with other beneficial measures was abolished by Emperor Michael II after the Church protested about heavy taxation (it should be noted that Church and Imperial estates werent exempt from taxes) as the obligation of richer landowners to pay the poorest citizens taxes added more burden to the Monasteries.
Emperor Basil II reinstated "Allilegyon" in order to help poor citizens plus it would break the power of the nobles and landowners.
But after his death Constantine VIII abolished it for good and "Pronoia" was instituted instead.
Taxes were separated in 2 categories A) Direct taxes and B) Indirect taxes
A) Direct taxes
1) Annona. Annona was a property tax and originally it was payed in crop and from the reign of Heraclius and after it was payed in cash. If someone didnt had farms to pay the annona in crop they would pay in cash according to their profession/income unless they had menial/not stable jobs so they were exempt from tax (or prisoned)
This tax was always connected with the cities and army supply and the money collected from this tax went directly in buying supplies and weapons.
After Heraclius when paying the Annona reverted from crop to cash it was decreed that at least 1/10 of the Annona would be required to be in crop in order to serve the immediate needs of the army (especially when Egypt was lost for good and the army/cities needed the wheat).
As for merchants they had the choice at first to pay by cash or by crops/goods they almost always payed by cash. However after paying by cash became the norm the Empire retained the right to "Buy" some of the merchant's goods in a price that the Empire will fix as a payment for the tax (coemptio)
2) Epimetron. Technically not a tax but it was a small percentage over the citizens tax which was used to pay the tax collector salaries.
3) Chrysargyron. This tax was instituted by Diocletian and was imposed to merchants, bankers and workers.
It was a property/income tax and it was collected every five years.
The tax was abolished by Emperor Anastasius I in 498 as it had become the heaviest tax and almost every citizen in all major cities had filled complaints against it and asked for exemption from paying the tax.
4) Aurum Tironicum or "Chrysos Tironon" in Greek (aka Gold for recruits).
According to record books every family had the obligation to offer one of its members as a recruit to the army (tiro) or buy the services of a mercenary to serve in the family member's place by paying the Aurum Tironicum. However this tax was abolished in 6th century and briefly reinstated around 9th-10th century.
5) Canon Vestium or "Foros Esthitos" (aka Robe tax) this tax gave citizens the choice to pay either in cash or in goods (weapons, armors etc) and these went directly for dressing anequipping the army.
6)Equorum Collatio or "Foros prosforas Ippon" (aka Horse tax) this was a tax imposed to all citizens of the Empire and it went directly in buying horses for the cavalry. Since we know that a horse costed 15-20 numismata the tax would be around this cost.
7) Collatio Glebalis or "Foros Gis" (aka Land tax) this a land property tax was imposed only to Senators and they were obliged to pay it.
If a Senator was unable to pay it or refused to pay it he was deposed from the office of the Senator.
This tax was abolished by Emperor Marcian after he saw the Senatorial rank being reduced dramatically since they couldnt pay as their estates were overran by Huns. Marcian replaced this tax with the obligation of Senators to donate 1 Litre of Gold to the Emperor every New Year's Day.
Besides these taxes which were the tactical taxes that every citizen payed per year or 5 years etc. there were the extraordinary taxes imposed to cover some unexpected expenses like a war, or a natural disaster etc.
The imposition of extraordinary taxes was an Imperial prerogative and only the Emperor could enact these taxes.
Every citizen participated in the extraordianry taxes with no exemptions and their payment happened along with regular taxes.
Some examples of extraordinary taxes are the following
1) Aerikon or Aerarium it was imposed by Emperor Justinian in order to fund his campaign in Italy and it was a special land tax. Although Justinian's treasury was filled, the tax drained the economy of lower classes.
2) Dikeraton (literally two-horns) ot was imposed by Emperor Leo III as an extraordinary tax and it was the 1/12 of the regular tax.
3) Aurum Oblaticium or "Prosfora Chrysou" in Greek (aka Offer of Gold) it was a special extraordianry tax in which the nobles offered 1 (or sometimes more) Litre of gold to the Emperor on occasion of some feast (birthday, victorious war, birth of an heir etc.)
4) Aurum Coronarum or "Stefanikos Chrysos" in Greek (aka Crown Gold) it is the same with the above but it was offered by the communities.
All these special/extraordinary taxes caused heavy reactions so the Emperor should be extra careful when imposing them since thigs could end up badly for him.
Another source of income for the Empire were the tariffs and taxes payed for various formalities.
People promoted to various offices were taxed according to their property with a one-time tax upon promotion, people wanting to draft various documents (birth certificate for instance) payed an one-time tax for the draft etc.
The height of these taxes was regulated by the Emperor and any chances of corruption/fraud was dealt severely, Justinian ordered the confiscation of property and exile as a penalty for corruption while Isaurians instituted the cutting of the right hand for the same crimes.
Also inheritance tax was an important source of income as it was calculated on about the 5% of the property inherited.
Thats for now... I ll continue with the indirect taxes later as gf wants to go with her and buy some presents for tonight...
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B) Indirect taxes
Indirect taxation included trade tariffs, custom tolls, gate tolls, port tolls etc..
This was an important source of income for the Empire and custom tolls were legislated around 4th century and they were fixed on 12.5% for exports from Constantinople ports. Same percentage was fixed also to imports to Constantinople and the trade ports of Abydos.
It was such a major income source for the Empire what when Empress Irene abolished all tariffs and tolls the Empire's finances sunk and forced her successor Nicephorus I to reinstate them on the very first day of his reign.
Tax/tariffs/toll exemption was rarely given and only afrer a thorough investigation that the finances of the Empire wont suffer.
Exemptions were given freely during the Komneni era because of the bad financial situation of the state. In order to avoid destabilaisation of trade after exempting Venetians from tolls Komneni lowered all other tariffs/tolls to 4% in order to encourage other merchants to come over. But the combination of exemption and lowering the tariffs/tolls reduced the income of the Empire shattered its currency and ultimately destroyed its trade.
3. Banking System/capital market
This was an important sector of finance, trade and agriculture and banking system was governed by state interventionism in order to avoid cases of profiteering and usury.
Emperors enacted severe laws against profiteering and usury based in Church's teaching which prohibit them.
The majority of capital movements happened between professionals (goldsmiths etc.) and a few citizens who offered loans with interest to merchants, farmers, labour unions etc.
Until the reign of Justinian I the highest interest rate allowed for loans to people was 12% while in his Novellae the same Emperor instituted benefits when the borrower was poor.
People who had legally formed a "Bank" could loan with an interest rate up until 8% while private citizens offering loans could not exceed 6% on interest rate. Also it should be noted that wealthy landowners and nobles lending money to their surfs (or other citizens who approached them for a loan) could not exceed 4%
Of course several times these limits were ignored and lenders charged higher interest but they never exceeded 12% since Justinian's legislation allowed the borrowing of money with 12% interest but only for external trade.
It should be noted that when someone wanted a loan for sea trade the interest could climb as high as 17% (also allowed in the novellae) since sea trade was extremely dangerous (piracy, storms, mutinys etc).
Emperor Nicephorus I was forced to enact severe legislation against usury and profiteering since the Empire was in a finacial crisis during his reign and these phenomena were rampant.
However this legislation didnt stop him from lending money from the Imperial Treasury with 16% interest rate to everyone...
By 8th-9th century usury and profiteering were rampant throughout the Empire and it came in about 10th century and Basil II to enact legislation regulating interest rates to 8-9%.
However after Basil II and the gradual declining of economy Basil's laws fell into misuse and usury started again until 13th-14th century when it passed to venetian banks (which were exempted from Byzantine laws and could charge even higher interest rates thus destroyng whatever was left from byzantine economy).
4. State Industries/Factories
Of course as we said above the main sources of income for the Empire was agriculture and trade.
Agriculture was mainly for internal consumption (grain, oil, honey, fishing, flocks etc.).
Also an important factor for the economy was the Imperial monopoly of gold mines (Balkans, Egypt, Sardenia, Spain), copper mines (Balkans, Cyprus). lead mines (Attica, Kappadocia) , iron mines (Sardenia), sulfur and marble quarries (Greece) etc.
Several factories also were part of Imperial monopoly such as purple dye factories, clothing factories, weapon factories, tanneries etc. and it was strictly forbidden to any citizen to open a factory of these mentioned above or control a mine (at least not without a licence from the Emperor himself).
Private citizens could open factories like goldsmithing, jewelry, carpentry, pottery, furniture, glass works etc. but they were constantly overseen by the state and the labour unions.
Most of the factories working in the Empire were located in Constantinople and its suburbs and they were overseen by the Praefect of the City, while all provincial factories were overseen by the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum.
Production aimed mainly in covering internal consumption of goods and exports were rarely allowed (like wine which was exported to France mainly) and only from the ports of Constantinople.
It should be noted that exports of weapons, silk clothing, purple dye an few other products of Imperial monopoly was strictly forbidden under severe penalties.
Smuggling was severely punished and all exported goods had to be inspected first by state officials and if everything was ok the merchants obtained formal papers with the Imperial seal to export them.
One notorious case of smuggling happened in 968 when Liutprand (the german ambassador) decided to smuggle a few silk clothes to Germany without obtaining formal Imperial licence.
Customs officials found them hidden in a trunk and confiscated them after publicly humiliating him.
Thats for now... I ll continue later or tomorrow with trade...
Indirect taxation included trade tariffs, custom tolls, gate tolls, port tolls etc..
This was an important source of income for the Empire and custom tolls were legislated around 4th century and they were fixed on 12.5% for exports from Constantinople ports. Same percentage was fixed also to imports to Constantinople and the trade ports of Abydos.
It was such a major income source for the Empire what when Empress Irene abolished all tariffs and tolls the Empire's finances sunk and forced her successor Nicephorus I to reinstate them on the very first day of his reign.
Tax/tariffs/toll exemption was rarely given and only afrer a thorough investigation that the finances of the Empire wont suffer.
Exemptions were given freely during the Komneni era because of the bad financial situation of the state. In order to avoid destabilaisation of trade after exempting Venetians from tolls Komneni lowered all other tariffs/tolls to 4% in order to encourage other merchants to come over. But the combination of exemption and lowering the tariffs/tolls reduced the income of the Empire shattered its currency and ultimately destroyed its trade.
3. Banking System/capital market
This was an important sector of finance, trade and agriculture and banking system was governed by state interventionism in order to avoid cases of profiteering and usury.
Emperors enacted severe laws against profiteering and usury based in Church's teaching which prohibit them.
The majority of capital movements happened between professionals (goldsmiths etc.) and a few citizens who offered loans with interest to merchants, farmers, labour unions etc.
Until the reign of Justinian I the highest interest rate allowed for loans to people was 12% while in his Novellae the same Emperor instituted benefits when the borrower was poor.
People who had legally formed a "Bank" could loan with an interest rate up until 8% while private citizens offering loans could not exceed 6% on interest rate. Also it should be noted that wealthy landowners and nobles lending money to their surfs (or other citizens who approached them for a loan) could not exceed 4%
Of course several times these limits were ignored and lenders charged higher interest but they never exceeded 12% since Justinian's legislation allowed the borrowing of money with 12% interest but only for external trade.
It should be noted that when someone wanted a loan for sea trade the interest could climb as high as 17% (also allowed in the novellae) since sea trade was extremely dangerous (piracy, storms, mutinys etc).
Emperor Nicephorus I was forced to enact severe legislation against usury and profiteering since the Empire was in a finacial crisis during his reign and these phenomena were rampant.
However this legislation didnt stop him from lending money from the Imperial Treasury with 16% interest rate to everyone...
By 8th-9th century usury and profiteering were rampant throughout the Empire and it came in about 10th century and Basil II to enact legislation regulating interest rates to 8-9%.
However after Basil II and the gradual declining of economy Basil's laws fell into misuse and usury started again until 13th-14th century when it passed to venetian banks (which were exempted from Byzantine laws and could charge even higher interest rates thus destroyng whatever was left from byzantine economy).
4. State Industries/Factories
Of course as we said above the main sources of income for the Empire was agriculture and trade.
Agriculture was mainly for internal consumption (grain, oil, honey, fishing, flocks etc.).
Also an important factor for the economy was the Imperial monopoly of gold mines (Balkans, Egypt, Sardenia, Spain), copper mines (Balkans, Cyprus). lead mines (Attica, Kappadocia) , iron mines (Sardenia), sulfur and marble quarries (Greece) etc.
Several factories also were part of Imperial monopoly such as purple dye factories, clothing factories, weapon factories, tanneries etc. and it was strictly forbidden to any citizen to open a factory of these mentioned above or control a mine (at least not without a licence from the Emperor himself).
Private citizens could open factories like goldsmithing, jewelry, carpentry, pottery, furniture, glass works etc. but they were constantly overseen by the state and the labour unions.
Most of the factories working in the Empire were located in Constantinople and its suburbs and they were overseen by the Praefect of the City, while all provincial factories were overseen by the Comes Sacrarum Largitionum.
Production aimed mainly in covering internal consumption of goods and exports were rarely allowed (like wine which was exported to France mainly) and only from the ports of Constantinople.
It should be noted that exports of weapons, silk clothing, purple dye an few other products of Imperial monopoly was strictly forbidden under severe penalties.
Smuggling was severely punished and all exported goods had to be inspected first by state officials and if everything was ok the merchants obtained formal papers with the Imperial seal to export them.
One notorious case of smuggling happened in 968 when Liutprand (the german ambassador) decided to smuggle a few silk clothes to Germany without obtaining formal Imperial licence.
Customs officials found them hidden in a trunk and confiscated them after publicly humiliating him.
Thats for now... I ll continue later or tomorrow with trade...
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5. Trade
Byzantium first and later Constantinople was an important trade post since its unique place controlled the sea route between North and South while on the same time was a safe bridge connecting East and West.
Trade in Constantinople (and in all ERE) wasnt aiming in covering everyday needs as these needs were covered sufficiently by agriculture, but to offer luxury goods (spices, silk, herbs etc.) to its citizens.
Constantinople was the heart of all trade happening to the Empire but trade posts were founded in several other cities that were connected with land or sea trade routes such as Antioch, Tyrus, Beirut, Nisibin, Dara, Trapezus, Sinai, Cherson, Thessalonike, Amorium etc.
During the first centuries of ERE trade with East (India, China etc.) flourished because barbarian raids prohibited merchants from going to the North so they found new trade partners on the East.
Eastern trade routes were initially by land and by sea.
The main land trade route started from Antioch crossed N. Persia and reached India and China trade centres.
Roman-Persian wars during 6th century affected this trade route so merchants were forced to found another safe trade route, so they created a new one starting from Trapezus and through Caucausus and Turkestan reached India and China.
An alternative to this was to travel by land from Antioch to Persian Gulf and there board a ship and take the sea route towards India and China.
But Persians (and later Arabs) charged high tariffs and tolls for all trade through their country and Persian Gulf as they wished to monopolise all Eastern trade, so ERE decided to move trading posts to Red Sea thus creating a new sea trade route connecting Sinai with India and China with Ceylon acting as an intermediate trade post.
ERE also had an important "trade ally" in Ethiopia from where they bought gold and ivory while they offered them pottery, furniture and other stuff of Roman artcraft.
By 7th century the Arabs expansion in the East (plus the high tolls they inherited from Persians) forced ERE to diminish trade with East (although they didnt abandoned it, they used only the Trapezus-India trade route) and turn to the North for trade for one more time while at the same time silk industry began to flourish in ERE as an Imperial monopoly freeing them from the obligation to buy silk from China only.
When there was no war between ERE and the Arabs Roman merchants would be free to use the Persian Gulf-India and the Seleukeia-Antioch-Aleppo-Bagdad-India trade routes but that was a risky bysiness since these trade routes were already flooded with Arab merchants.
Trade Corporations/Companies was a risky bysiness too since the Empire exerted severe intervationist policy in order to control profits and avoid profiteering.
Plus the dangers of loosing the whole cargo from pirate raids, shipwrecks etc. was great and according to Leo's III legislation the merchant and the ship owner were both responsible in compensating the company in case of cargo loss.
All trade activities in Constantinople were overseen by the Praefect of the City. His responsibilities were vast and had complete control over every trade agreement happened under his jurisdiction and in quite a few cases this lead to corruption of the Praefectus Urbi.
In 10th century his responcibilities and duties were codified and embodied into legislation as the "Eparchial Book".
While merchants were a source of wealth for the Empire they never managed to create personal fortunes and wealthy families the same ways the nobles did so they couldnt polically influence the course of the Empire like it happened in Venice.
By 9th-10th century trade in ERE saw a brief declining and Emperors lured merchants from Khazaria to Constantinople and used them for trade with East through Bagdad, also Khazarians took over trade with Volga territorry on behalf of Constantinople. Same thing happened with Russian merchants who took over Dniper territory trade on behalf of Constantinople and Scandinavian merchants who took over trade with Scandinavia on behalf of Constantinople. All of them accepted to work for the Emperor in exchange eith some benefits (slightly lower tariffs etc.)
By 9th Century Cherson evolved into a major trading post of the North where Roman merchants traded with Khazars, Russian, Scandinavian etc. merchants. At the same time Thessalonike evolved too as a major trading post handling all trade in Balkans.
However Constantinople remained the heart of trade of the Empire.
Trade with West flourished during the reign of Justinian I and merchants used rivers as trade routes to connect ERE with the various Kingdoms of the West.
Roman merchants supported financially the trade posts of Lugdunum (Lyon), Treverum (Trier) and Paris in Gaul and their trade activities expand from Germany till Spain.
Roman provinces in S. Italy despite constant raids from Saracens remained a significant trade post sort of a portal to the West and Bari became the most important trade port in S. Italy handling all sea trade to and from West.
At the same time other Italian cities (mostly under Roman influence) developed merchant fleets (Gaeta, Amalfi, Naples, Pisa, Venice) thus helping Bari in handling trade with West.
Venice initially a small trade post of ERE quickly flourished and connected by trade with Central Europe and Germany.
By 10th century Venice had complete control of the Adriatic and Basil II appointed the Doge as "guardian" of the Adriatic with some finacial benefits in trade which boosted Venice to become one of the 1st naval powers.
By the Komneni era the relocation of trade centres in Venice at first it helped with the reorganisation of production in Balkans as now they were free from handling all trade but on the negative side the Empire's income sunk after the loss of tariffs and tolls.
After I Crusade, the creation of Crusader states, and the total collapse of agriculture in Anatolia after Manzikert, Latin states altered the trade status quo and now all trade with East was handled from the trade posts of Syria, Palestine and Cyprus all under Crusader's control. Roman merchant fleet was left only with North trade posts.
Also further reduction of tolls and tariffs to 4% by the Komneni for Venice, Genoa and Pisa while on the same time Roman merchants payed 10% in their trade posts visualises the complete collapse of Roman trade by 12th century.
During the Palaeologian era Genoese merchants managed to take over northern trade from Byzantines who were left only with 2 trade ports in Georgia while all other ports passed to Genoese who controled all trade from their new HQ in Galata across of Constantinople which lost her status as heart of the Empire's trade.
Only Thessalonike was left to support the almost non-existant Byzantine trade and was handling all trade in Balkans and Trapezus.
However the situation was irreversable since trade had virtually ceased and it has passed to foreign powers while agriculture and industrial production was disintegrated leading to the Empire's financial death.
Thats for now... I ll continue later with agriculture.
Byzantium first and later Constantinople was an important trade post since its unique place controlled the sea route between North and South while on the same time was a safe bridge connecting East and West.
Trade in Constantinople (and in all ERE) wasnt aiming in covering everyday needs as these needs were covered sufficiently by agriculture, but to offer luxury goods (spices, silk, herbs etc.) to its citizens.
Constantinople was the heart of all trade happening to the Empire but trade posts were founded in several other cities that were connected with land or sea trade routes such as Antioch, Tyrus, Beirut, Nisibin, Dara, Trapezus, Sinai, Cherson, Thessalonike, Amorium etc.
During the first centuries of ERE trade with East (India, China etc.) flourished because barbarian raids prohibited merchants from going to the North so they found new trade partners on the East.
Eastern trade routes were initially by land and by sea.
The main land trade route started from Antioch crossed N. Persia and reached India and China trade centres.
Roman-Persian wars during 6th century affected this trade route so merchants were forced to found another safe trade route, so they created a new one starting from Trapezus and through Caucausus and Turkestan reached India and China.
An alternative to this was to travel by land from Antioch to Persian Gulf and there board a ship and take the sea route towards India and China.
But Persians (and later Arabs) charged high tariffs and tolls for all trade through their country and Persian Gulf as they wished to monopolise all Eastern trade, so ERE decided to move trading posts to Red Sea thus creating a new sea trade route connecting Sinai with India and China with Ceylon acting as an intermediate trade post.
ERE also had an important "trade ally" in Ethiopia from where they bought gold and ivory while they offered them pottery, furniture and other stuff of Roman artcraft.
By 7th century the Arabs expansion in the East (plus the high tolls they inherited from Persians) forced ERE to diminish trade with East (although they didnt abandoned it, they used only the Trapezus-India trade route) and turn to the North for trade for one more time while at the same time silk industry began to flourish in ERE as an Imperial monopoly freeing them from the obligation to buy silk from China only.
When there was no war between ERE and the Arabs Roman merchants would be free to use the Persian Gulf-India and the Seleukeia-Antioch-Aleppo-Bagdad-India trade routes but that was a risky bysiness since these trade routes were already flooded with Arab merchants.
Trade Corporations/Companies was a risky bysiness too since the Empire exerted severe intervationist policy in order to control profits and avoid profiteering.
Plus the dangers of loosing the whole cargo from pirate raids, shipwrecks etc. was great and according to Leo's III legislation the merchant and the ship owner were both responsible in compensating the company in case of cargo loss.
All trade activities in Constantinople were overseen by the Praefect of the City. His responsibilities were vast and had complete control over every trade agreement happened under his jurisdiction and in quite a few cases this lead to corruption of the Praefectus Urbi.
In 10th century his responcibilities and duties were codified and embodied into legislation as the "Eparchial Book".
While merchants were a source of wealth for the Empire they never managed to create personal fortunes and wealthy families the same ways the nobles did so they couldnt polically influence the course of the Empire like it happened in Venice.
By 9th-10th century trade in ERE saw a brief declining and Emperors lured merchants from Khazaria to Constantinople and used them for trade with East through Bagdad, also Khazarians took over trade with Volga territorry on behalf of Constantinople. Same thing happened with Russian merchants who took over Dniper territory trade on behalf of Constantinople and Scandinavian merchants who took over trade with Scandinavia on behalf of Constantinople. All of them accepted to work for the Emperor in exchange eith some benefits (slightly lower tariffs etc.)
By 9th Century Cherson evolved into a major trading post of the North where Roman merchants traded with Khazars, Russian, Scandinavian etc. merchants. At the same time Thessalonike evolved too as a major trading post handling all trade in Balkans.
However Constantinople remained the heart of trade of the Empire.
Trade with West flourished during the reign of Justinian I and merchants used rivers as trade routes to connect ERE with the various Kingdoms of the West.
Roman merchants supported financially the trade posts of Lugdunum (Lyon), Treverum (Trier) and Paris in Gaul and their trade activities expand from Germany till Spain.
Roman provinces in S. Italy despite constant raids from Saracens remained a significant trade post sort of a portal to the West and Bari became the most important trade port in S. Italy handling all sea trade to and from West.
At the same time other Italian cities (mostly under Roman influence) developed merchant fleets (Gaeta, Amalfi, Naples, Pisa, Venice) thus helping Bari in handling trade with West.
Venice initially a small trade post of ERE quickly flourished and connected by trade with Central Europe and Germany.
By 10th century Venice had complete control of the Adriatic and Basil II appointed the Doge as "guardian" of the Adriatic with some finacial benefits in trade which boosted Venice to become one of the 1st naval powers.
By the Komneni era the relocation of trade centres in Venice at first it helped with the reorganisation of production in Balkans as now they were free from handling all trade but on the negative side the Empire's income sunk after the loss of tariffs and tolls.
After I Crusade, the creation of Crusader states, and the total collapse of agriculture in Anatolia after Manzikert, Latin states altered the trade status quo and now all trade with East was handled from the trade posts of Syria, Palestine and Cyprus all under Crusader's control. Roman merchant fleet was left only with North trade posts.
Also further reduction of tolls and tariffs to 4% by the Komneni for Venice, Genoa and Pisa while on the same time Roman merchants payed 10% in their trade posts visualises the complete collapse of Roman trade by 12th century.
During the Palaeologian era Genoese merchants managed to take over northern trade from Byzantines who were left only with 2 trade ports in Georgia while all other ports passed to Genoese who controled all trade from their new HQ in Galata across of Constantinople which lost her status as heart of the Empire's trade.
Only Thessalonike was left to support the almost non-existant Byzantine trade and was handling all trade in Balkans and Trapezus.
However the situation was irreversable since trade had virtually ceased and it has passed to foreign powers while agriculture and industrial production was disintegrated leading to the Empire's financial death.
Thats for now... I ll continue later with agriculture.
6. Agriculture
This was the backbone of the Roman economy and major supply resource of the puplic and private life of the Empire, plus the Emperor relied a lot to the taxes that the farmers payed for land and their family. The majority of the provincial population were farmers who either owned the land or leased it from the nobility or the Emperor.
The lands of the Empire could be divided in 3 categories
A) Imperial Lands
B) Church Lands
C) Private Lands
We ll see each one separately
A) Imperial Lands
These lands belonged to the Emperor either as family lands or lands belonging to the Crown and they were administrated by the Comes de Rerum Privatarum.
Both sub-categories (family and crown lands) were leased to the higher bidder for a certain amount of time and with the term that production and crops should be enhanced.
The tenant of the land payed the rent annually to the Emperor through the Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum plus a share of the crop went directly to the Emperor and after the agreed amount of time has passed (or sometimes earlier) the leasing could be transformed to indefinite leasing (ius perpetuum), however this ocuured mainly in the lands that were attached to the Crown while it rarely if ever happened to the Emperor's own lands.
The tenants who had their contracts tranformed to perpetuus they also gained the right of keeping all the crop and paying only the rent to the Emperor.
After Constantine VIII instituted "Pronoia" (thus abolishing his brother's Allileggyon laws) the tenant was granted land for life in exchange of providing soldiers for the Imperial army or at least the money to buy mercenaries if the family couldnt afford to send one of their family members to the army.
It should be noted that tenants of Imperial lands were almost never exempted from taxes and heavier taxes burdened them first.
B) Church lands
These were lands that belonged to Monasteries or the local Bishop anw generally followed the same pattern with Imperial lands but with a few modifications.
The rent was significally lower than the rent that Imperial tenants payed and after 20 years contracts could become perpetuus.
And 2nd the tenant after a certain amount of time could opt to transform the contract to life but only if he and some wealthy person(s) could form some sort of "partnership"
However Emperor Justinian I forbade this practice of perpetuus and after 20 years the Church could revoke the contract and give the land elsewhere, while he allowed the partnership thing but only as long as the original tenant would live.
C) Private lands
These were lands that belonged to nobles, or wealthy merchants, or simply to people that they bought this land or it was donated to them (no matter if they owned 1 acre or 10000 acres).
These lands could be farmed by the owners or the owner could choose to lease the land to farmers.
The contract signed between the tenant(s) and the owner stipulated the exact amount of leasing time, the rent amount and the percentage of the crop given to the owner. The owner could also opt to lease the land in perpetuity following roughly the same pattern as with the Imperial lands.
Big landowners always tried to grab lands from neighbouring farmers or smaller landowners and in many cases thy used their influence on the Government to achieve their goals (sometimes they did it by just playing dirty).
Justinian I tried to contain the agression of big landowners by enacting severe legislation against grabing lands but this legislation was ignored at first and after his death fell into misuse and smaller landowners and free farmers continued to suffer feom bigger landowners.
Leo III tried to regulate this problem be reinstating Justinian's laws and by issuing new ones but this try failed too since the nobles (being the majority of landowners) managed either to block the new legislation or neutralising it in practice.
The big landowners being closely connected with high offices in the Palace and/or the army had chances of augmenting their fortune by any mean (either by flattering the Emperor or through conquest of enemy lands) and by this augmentation smaller landowners suffered even more.
Despite efforts by earlier Emperors to help smaller landwoners survive the big landowners finally won by 11th-12th century. The Pronoia institution initially provided that lands granted to big landowners for farmers and small landowners could be revoked by the Emperor if misuse of land occurs it was transformed to life donation first without the right of inheritance and around 12th century inheritence rights were granted thus cancelling Pronoia in practice.
Around the same time the practices of leasing Church lands with a low rent
and Church giving away lands to citizens for free (to prominent landless citizens) were abolished thus destroying small landowners and free farmers while on the same time big landowners amassed huge estates feom impoverished farmers and minor nobles who under pressure from the big landowners were forced to abandon their lands and seek work elsewhere.
Small landowners were these people who held land expanding from 1.25 aruras till 58.5 aruras aka 3 acres to 145 acres.
In the majority of the cases the landowner's family was farming the land directly with the help of farmers if the landowner was able to hire some.
The landowner however could opt to lease part of his estate to farmers but this could backfire as in case of bad crop the tenants would have to borrow money from the nobles in order to pay the landlord thus indirectly mortgaging the small landowners land, and once the nobles have set foot in the land by lending money to the tenants they could easily claim the land if repayment was impossible, or buy it cheap in oirder to "forget the debt".
All in all throughout all ERE's history we can come down to 5 classes...
A) Big landowners
B) Small ladowners
C) Free farmers
D) Surfs
E) Slaves
A) Big landowners
In most cases they leased their large estates to free farmers and surfs in exchange for rent and part of the crop while few opted to farm the lands on their own through slavery.
B) Smal landowners
Most of them farmed the lands directly along with their family and slaves while a small portion of them leased the lands to free farmers and surfs (with the danger of falling victim to the nobles)
C) Free farmers
These people didnt had land of their own but they could be hired as employees by landowners or rent part of land from a landowner.
According to legislation enacted by Anastasius I every free farmer renting land for more than 30 years they could transform their contracts to perpetuus and they could choose either be payed annually by the landlord or keep a share of the crop.
Anastasius went a step further than that giving the ability after some amount of time or if they pay a certain amount of time to the landlord to buy the land and the upgrade to small landowners.
D) Surfs
Surfs had limited legal rights and in the eyes of the law they were considered slaves to the land they farmed.
Surfs were bound to the land and they couldnt sue their master or acquire their own land or even be married into small landowners families and up.
However law stipulated that their master must provide them housing and food so the landowner (whether small or big) was granting them a small piece of land for housing and food (upon the death of the surf the land returns to the master).
Surfs could be divided in 2 subcategories 1. the "Imiseiastes" aka "half-croppers" meaning that they farmed the land with means provided by the landlord and half the crop went to the landlord and to "Mortites" who farmed the land with their own means and gave the landlord 1/10 of the crop.
E) Slaves
Complete subjects of their master did whatever the master told them to do without any objections.
Usually slaves were bought in slave markets but since the cost of buying them and feeding them was big in some cases only big landowners could afford to have a fair number of them.
After 11th century with the big landowners winning and the smaller landowners and free farmers classes in decline under pressure from the big landowners, the surfs class grew dramatically thus destroying the very base of agriculture and plummeting the Empire's income from land taxes.
The simultaneous disintegration of the Empire's 2 main sources of supply (trade, ageiculture) was the main cause of financially and military collapse of the Empire during 13th century.
I will continue later with Chapter II Justice and Legislation
This was the backbone of the Roman economy and major supply resource of the puplic and private life of the Empire, plus the Emperor relied a lot to the taxes that the farmers payed for land and their family. The majority of the provincial population were farmers who either owned the land or leased it from the nobility or the Emperor.
The lands of the Empire could be divided in 3 categories
A) Imperial Lands
B) Church Lands
C) Private Lands
We ll see each one separately
A) Imperial Lands
These lands belonged to the Emperor either as family lands or lands belonging to the Crown and they were administrated by the Comes de Rerum Privatarum.
Both sub-categories (family and crown lands) were leased to the higher bidder for a certain amount of time and with the term that production and crops should be enhanced.
The tenant of the land payed the rent annually to the Emperor through the Comitiva de Rerum Privatarum plus a share of the crop went directly to the Emperor and after the agreed amount of time has passed (or sometimes earlier) the leasing could be transformed to indefinite leasing (ius perpetuum), however this ocuured mainly in the lands that were attached to the Crown while it rarely if ever happened to the Emperor's own lands.
The tenants who had their contracts tranformed to perpetuus they also gained the right of keeping all the crop and paying only the rent to the Emperor.
After Constantine VIII instituted "Pronoia" (thus abolishing his brother's Allileggyon laws) the tenant was granted land for life in exchange of providing soldiers for the Imperial army or at least the money to buy mercenaries if the family couldnt afford to send one of their family members to the army.
It should be noted that tenants of Imperial lands were almost never exempted from taxes and heavier taxes burdened them first.
B) Church lands
These were lands that belonged to Monasteries or the local Bishop anw generally followed the same pattern with Imperial lands but with a few modifications.
The rent was significally lower than the rent that Imperial tenants payed and after 20 years contracts could become perpetuus.
And 2nd the tenant after a certain amount of time could opt to transform the contract to life but only if he and some wealthy person(s) could form some sort of "partnership"
However Emperor Justinian I forbade this practice of perpetuus and after 20 years the Church could revoke the contract and give the land elsewhere, while he allowed the partnership thing but only as long as the original tenant would live.
C) Private lands
These were lands that belonged to nobles, or wealthy merchants, or simply to people that they bought this land or it was donated to them (no matter if they owned 1 acre or 10000 acres).
These lands could be farmed by the owners or the owner could choose to lease the land to farmers.
The contract signed between the tenant(s) and the owner stipulated the exact amount of leasing time, the rent amount and the percentage of the crop given to the owner. The owner could also opt to lease the land in perpetuity following roughly the same pattern as with the Imperial lands.
Big landowners always tried to grab lands from neighbouring farmers or smaller landowners and in many cases thy used their influence on the Government to achieve their goals (sometimes they did it by just playing dirty).
Justinian I tried to contain the agression of big landowners by enacting severe legislation against grabing lands but this legislation was ignored at first and after his death fell into misuse and smaller landowners and free farmers continued to suffer feom bigger landowners.
Leo III tried to regulate this problem be reinstating Justinian's laws and by issuing new ones but this try failed too since the nobles (being the majority of landowners) managed either to block the new legislation or neutralising it in practice.
The big landowners being closely connected with high offices in the Palace and/or the army had chances of augmenting their fortune by any mean (either by flattering the Emperor or through conquest of enemy lands) and by this augmentation smaller landowners suffered even more.
Despite efforts by earlier Emperors to help smaller landwoners survive the big landowners finally won by 11th-12th century. The Pronoia institution initially provided that lands granted to big landowners for farmers and small landowners could be revoked by the Emperor if misuse of land occurs it was transformed to life donation first without the right of inheritance and around 12th century inheritence rights were granted thus cancelling Pronoia in practice.
Around the same time the practices of leasing Church lands with a low rent
and Church giving away lands to citizens for free (to prominent landless citizens) were abolished thus destroying small landowners and free farmers while on the same time big landowners amassed huge estates feom impoverished farmers and minor nobles who under pressure from the big landowners were forced to abandon their lands and seek work elsewhere.
Small landowners were these people who held land expanding from 1.25 aruras till 58.5 aruras aka 3 acres to 145 acres.
In the majority of the cases the landowner's family was farming the land directly with the help of farmers if the landowner was able to hire some.
The landowner however could opt to lease part of his estate to farmers but this could backfire as in case of bad crop the tenants would have to borrow money from the nobles in order to pay the landlord thus indirectly mortgaging the small landowners land, and once the nobles have set foot in the land by lending money to the tenants they could easily claim the land if repayment was impossible, or buy it cheap in oirder to "forget the debt".
All in all throughout all ERE's history we can come down to 5 classes...
A) Big landowners
B) Small ladowners
C) Free farmers
D) Surfs
E) Slaves
A) Big landowners
In most cases they leased their large estates to free farmers and surfs in exchange for rent and part of the crop while few opted to farm the lands on their own through slavery.
B) Smal landowners
Most of them farmed the lands directly along with their family and slaves while a small portion of them leased the lands to free farmers and surfs (with the danger of falling victim to the nobles)
C) Free farmers
These people didnt had land of their own but they could be hired as employees by landowners or rent part of land from a landowner.
According to legislation enacted by Anastasius I every free farmer renting land for more than 30 years they could transform their contracts to perpetuus and they could choose either be payed annually by the landlord or keep a share of the crop.
Anastasius went a step further than that giving the ability after some amount of time or if they pay a certain amount of time to the landlord to buy the land and the upgrade to small landowners.
D) Surfs
Surfs had limited legal rights and in the eyes of the law they were considered slaves to the land they farmed.
Surfs were bound to the land and they couldnt sue their master or acquire their own land or even be married into small landowners families and up.
However law stipulated that their master must provide them housing and food so the landowner (whether small or big) was granting them a small piece of land for housing and food (upon the death of the surf the land returns to the master).
Surfs could be divided in 2 subcategories 1. the "Imiseiastes" aka "half-croppers" meaning that they farmed the land with means provided by the landlord and half the crop went to the landlord and to "Mortites" who farmed the land with their own means and gave the landlord 1/10 of the crop.
E) Slaves
Complete subjects of their master did whatever the master told them to do without any objections.
Usually slaves were bought in slave markets but since the cost of buying them and feeding them was big in some cases only big landowners could afford to have a fair number of them.
After 11th century with the big landowners winning and the smaller landowners and free farmers classes in decline under pressure from the big landowners, the surfs class grew dramatically thus destroying the very base of agriculture and plummeting the Empire's income from land taxes.
The simultaneous disintegration of the Empire's 2 main sources of supply (trade, ageiculture) was the main cause of financially and military collapse of the Empire during 13th century.
I will continue later with Chapter II Justice and Legislation
Chapter II
Justice and Legislation
The Emperor as God's chosen and representative on Earth was commisioned to exert the Royal Authority according to God's will and the interests of the people, and because of that the Divine Person of the Emperor was the supreme source of Legislative, Executive and Judicial powers.
The Emperor being the source of legislative power he was empowered to create and promulgate new laws, abolishing old ones and revising existing laws in accordance with God's will and for this the Emperor received the title of "Lex Animata" (aka the Animated Law).
However despite the vast legislative authority the Emperor was subjected to the same laws as with every commoner of the Empire (at least in theory... In practice the Emperor could easily get away with it).
We will examine Justice and Legislation separatelly in different periods of the Empire's History starting from 527 (since until then the old Roman Laws were still in force as they were codified in the Codex Theodosianus) and Justinian's enactment of Corpus Iuris Civillis.
1. 1st Period (426-717)
The classical Roman laws were the base of what we call "Byzantine Law" since they remained in force during the whole "protobyzantine" period.
In 426 Emperor Theodosius II received several complaints from lawyers and judges about the authority of which Roman jurist should be followed in different cases amd it was decreed (and also included in the Codex Theodosianus) that in common cases the jurists Papinian, Ulpian, Paulus, Gaius and Modestinus should be followed while in more complexed matters the judges could follow the jurists Scaevola, Sabinus, Julian and Marcellus but only in terms with the first 5 jurists.
However the results of this decree werent the expected as confusion in Justice system continued due to many conflicting laws.
So in 429 Theodosius II appointed a commitee of 9 men to codify all Roman legislation from the very beginning of Rome till his days and clean up any conflicting laws based on Codex Gregorianus and Codex Hermogenianus.
However this commitee failed in its task (for various reasons) and in 435 Theodosius appointed a second commitee of 16 members but now reduced the timeline of codification and ordered them to codify all laws issued from the proclamation of Constantine I as Caesar till his days.
The commitee's work was accomplished in in 15/2/438 and it was named Codex Theodosianus.
It was divided in 16 Books and it was the base of legislation for both East and West.
From these 16 Books we have:
Book I: Sources of Law and the responsibilities of various offices and agencies
Books II-V: Issues of Private Law
Book VI: Canons and regulations about palace and civil servants
Book VII: Military codes, canons and regulations
Book VIII: Civil Law and civil servants legislation
Book IX: Penal Law
Books X-XI: Taxing/Financial Law
Books XII-XIV: Labour Law and regulations about provinces and communities
Book XV: Public Works issues and Hippodrome Games
Book XVI: Ecclesiastical Law
Codex Theodosianus was a huge step forward but still it wasnt enough as still there were conflicting laws causing mayhem to judges.
Justinian used Codex Theodosianus as a base and upon it he "built" a renewed Justice system which was (and still is) the best (of his times)
Justinian's first goal was to clean up legislation from conflicting and useless laws and for this reason in 13/2/528 he appointed a commitee of 10 prominent jurists and empowered them to do the clean up.
The comitee concluded its works in 7/4/529 and presented to Justinian the codification of all old laws which were deemed as still useful. This was a first draft of the Digesta aka the collection of all the old laws up until the reign of Theodosius II.
Justinian immediatelly appointed a 5 persons commitee which drafted the Codex Justinianus which included all laws issued from Emperor Marcian until his own reign. Justinian himself added 403 new decrees to the Codex thus adjusting the legislation to current times.
Codex Justinianus was writen in Latin but 150 of Justinian's decrees were written in Greek. The second commitee concluded its work in 16/11/534 and immediatelly joined the commitee revising the Digesta and the joint commitees concluded their work in 16/12/535 presenting the Emperor the final form of Digesta renewed and cleansed from conflicting or useless laws.
On the same time the commitee worked in creating the "Institutiones" a handbook for law students which summarised Codex Justinianus and Digesta in 4 books (Digesta alone was 50 books and Codex Justinianus was 19 books)
After the commitees empowered to revise and codify legislation had completed their work Justinian abolished every law not included in the 69 Books presented to him as unecessary and stipulated that if a matter arises and there is no relevant law for it then a new Law will be promulgated for this matter and the use of old laws except of those included in the Digesta would be forbidden.
Translation or interpation of Corpus Iuris Civillis without prior licence from the Emperor was strictly forbidden and the only language that Justinian ever allowed the laws to be translated was Greek (in fact he encouraged Greek translations since most of his subject spoke it)
Whoever violated the above orders he would be exiled and his fortune would be confiscated (if he escaped execution)
At the same time Justinian reorganised the Law schools of Constantinople, Rome and Beirut by replacing all previous law books with his own and increased study to 5 years from the original 4.
Justinian's work remained the base of all legislation after and every subsequent law promulgated by later Emperors were based on his work.
It should be noted that almost 600 years after Justinian promulgated his legislation law students were still examined in Corpus Iuris Civillis when they took the tests in order to obtain a lawyers degree.
Justinian's work was so complete that until 8th century there was no need to enact new legislation as Corpus Iuris Civillis was sufficiently covering every aspect of life.
Thats for now... I ll continue later with 2nd period (717-1045)
Justice and Legislation
The Emperor as God's chosen and representative on Earth was commisioned to exert the Royal Authority according to God's will and the interests of the people, and because of that the Divine Person of the Emperor was the supreme source of Legislative, Executive and Judicial powers.
The Emperor being the source of legislative power he was empowered to create and promulgate new laws, abolishing old ones and revising existing laws in accordance with God's will and for this the Emperor received the title of "Lex Animata" (aka the Animated Law).
However despite the vast legislative authority the Emperor was subjected to the same laws as with every commoner of the Empire (at least in theory... In practice the Emperor could easily get away with it).
We will examine Justice and Legislation separatelly in different periods of the Empire's History starting from 527 (since until then the old Roman Laws were still in force as they were codified in the Codex Theodosianus) and Justinian's enactment of Corpus Iuris Civillis.
1. 1st Period (426-717)
The classical Roman laws were the base of what we call "Byzantine Law" since they remained in force during the whole "protobyzantine" period.
In 426 Emperor Theodosius II received several complaints from lawyers and judges about the authority of which Roman jurist should be followed in different cases amd it was decreed (and also included in the Codex Theodosianus) that in common cases the jurists Papinian, Ulpian, Paulus, Gaius and Modestinus should be followed while in more complexed matters the judges could follow the jurists Scaevola, Sabinus, Julian and Marcellus but only in terms with the first 5 jurists.
However the results of this decree werent the expected as confusion in Justice system continued due to many conflicting laws.
So in 429 Theodosius II appointed a commitee of 9 men to codify all Roman legislation from the very beginning of Rome till his days and clean up any conflicting laws based on Codex Gregorianus and Codex Hermogenianus.
However this commitee failed in its task (for various reasons) and in 435 Theodosius appointed a second commitee of 16 members but now reduced the timeline of codification and ordered them to codify all laws issued from the proclamation of Constantine I as Caesar till his days.
The commitee's work was accomplished in in 15/2/438 and it was named Codex Theodosianus.
It was divided in 16 Books and it was the base of legislation for both East and West.
From these 16 Books we have:
Book I: Sources of Law and the responsibilities of various offices and agencies
Books II-V: Issues of Private Law
Book VI: Canons and regulations about palace and civil servants
Book VII: Military codes, canons and regulations
Book VIII: Civil Law and civil servants legislation
Book IX: Penal Law
Books X-XI: Taxing/Financial Law
Books XII-XIV: Labour Law and regulations about provinces and communities
Book XV: Public Works issues and Hippodrome Games
Book XVI: Ecclesiastical Law
Codex Theodosianus was a huge step forward but still it wasnt enough as still there were conflicting laws causing mayhem to judges.
Justinian used Codex Theodosianus as a base and upon it he "built" a renewed Justice system which was (and still is) the best (of his times)
Justinian's first goal was to clean up legislation from conflicting and useless laws and for this reason in 13/2/528 he appointed a commitee of 10 prominent jurists and empowered them to do the clean up.
The comitee concluded its works in 7/4/529 and presented to Justinian the codification of all old laws which were deemed as still useful. This was a first draft of the Digesta aka the collection of all the old laws up until the reign of Theodosius II.
Justinian immediatelly appointed a 5 persons commitee which drafted the Codex Justinianus which included all laws issued from Emperor Marcian until his own reign. Justinian himself added 403 new decrees to the Codex thus adjusting the legislation to current times.
Codex Justinianus was writen in Latin but 150 of Justinian's decrees were written in Greek. The second commitee concluded its work in 16/11/534 and immediatelly joined the commitee revising the Digesta and the joint commitees concluded their work in 16/12/535 presenting the Emperor the final form of Digesta renewed and cleansed from conflicting or useless laws.
On the same time the commitee worked in creating the "Institutiones" a handbook for law students which summarised Codex Justinianus and Digesta in 4 books (Digesta alone was 50 books and Codex Justinianus was 19 books)
After the commitees empowered to revise and codify legislation had completed their work Justinian abolished every law not included in the 69 Books presented to him as unecessary and stipulated that if a matter arises and there is no relevant law for it then a new Law will be promulgated for this matter and the use of old laws except of those included in the Digesta would be forbidden.
Translation or interpation of Corpus Iuris Civillis without prior licence from the Emperor was strictly forbidden and the only language that Justinian ever allowed the laws to be translated was Greek (in fact he encouraged Greek translations since most of his subject spoke it)
Whoever violated the above orders he would be exiled and his fortune would be confiscated (if he escaped execution)
At the same time Justinian reorganised the Law schools of Constantinople, Rome and Beirut by replacing all previous law books with his own and increased study to 5 years from the original 4.
Justinian's work remained the base of all legislation after and every subsequent law promulgated by later Emperors were based on his work.
It should be noted that almost 600 years after Justinian promulgated his legislation law students were still examined in Corpus Iuris Civillis when they took the tests in order to obtain a lawyers degree.
Justinian's work was so complete that until 8th century there was no need to enact new legislation as Corpus Iuris Civillis was sufficiently covering every aspect of life.
Thats for now... I ll continue later with 2nd period (717-1045)
2. 2nd Period (717-1045)
A) Legislation enacted by Isaurians
As we said above the legislation enacted by Justinian was so perfect that there was no need from subsequent Emperors to change it.
However the abolition of the old provisional division and its replacement by the Themes system forced Heraclius to reform Codex Justinianus but only in the part of political Government.
By the time Isaurians took power there were a few drastic changes in the Empire that were not covered by Justinian's laws (reforms could have happened earlier but wars with Persians/Arabs and civil wars prevented that).
Changes such as the equalisation of Imperial authority with Church's authority, incorporation of Canon Law into legislation and civil and penal law, the sanctity of marriage, divorce (according to church's teachings) etc. made it imperative that these should be included in legislation.
Isaurian Emperors took the task of modernising legislation as it was obvious that some of the laws included in Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis were outdated while some others have been severely misinterpreted thus causing the Empire to malfunction.
Isaurians tried to modernise legislation by issuing 3 importanr legislative Codes
I) Ekloge
II) Nomos Georgikos (aka Agricultural Law)
III) Nomos Rodion Naftikos (aka Maritime Law of Rhodians)
We ll see its one separatelly
I) Ekloge
Ekloge was promulgated by Emperor Leo III in 726 consisting of 18 chapters and its main task was to modernise and clean up Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis and was based on it.
Ekloge covered mainly issues of Family Law and it was heavily influenced by Church's teachings as in its articles the said law aboliches in practice civil marriages, institutes religious marriage as the sole legitimate ritual to unite a man and a woman, abolishes consenting divorce, limiting causes of divorce only to adultery, attempt to murder partner and impotency, instituted heavy penalties to everyone who attempted to convert a christian to another religion etc.
Also Isaurians legitimated the use of mutilations as a penalty in Ekloge (actually mutilations were used before Isaurians as a penalty but it was more like a an unofficial punishment, Justinian made limited use of mutilations in his laws too but under Isaurians their use grew).
Penalties like cutting off of hands,tongue, nose, penis, blinding etc. could now be imposed for moral "crimes"(aka against Church's law) too such as perjury, stealing, sex with nuns, sex with god-child, incest, beastiality etc.
For more serious crimes like continuing incest, rape, premeditated murder, desertion, witchcraft, sorcery, converting to Manichaism or Montanism etc. the death penalty was used quite frequently.
Also Ekloge deals with matters of donations, wills, children's guardianship, slaves emancipation, business contracts, loans and several other Civill law issues all under Church's influence which supported the use of extreme penalties as a frightening measure.
It should be noted that all laws included in the Ekloge were abolished after the end of Iconoclasm as an act of revenge to the Iconoclast Leo III who imported them despite the fact that it was a masterpiece of legal work and it covered several aspects of public and private life of citizens which Justinian's legislation didnt cover.
II) Nomos Georgikos (aka Agricultural Law)
This law was a codification of previous land and tax laws of Justinian combined with legislation enacted by his successors along with some new legislation enacted by Isaurians.
It was an important law since it supported and strengthened small landowners and free farmers. Isaurian Emperors didnt abolish slavery and surfdom but they did the best to contain the agreession of big landowners against smaller landowners and free farmers and reformed agricultural society on a more just base.
However Macedonian Emperors repealed Agricutural Law and reinstated Justinian's legislation on agricultural matters.
III) Nomos Rodion Naftikos (aka Maritime Law of Rhodians)
This law was a compilation and codification of all traditions and customary laws still in force in trade around Mediterranean. It is believed that Isaurians enacted this law but some scholars believe that this law is much older than the Isaurians and that Isaurian dynasty just ratified it as an Imperial Law rather than a mere customary law.
This law deals with maritime issues, mainly with piracy which devastated seas by then, the law stipulated that if a ship had fallen victim of pirates then the merchant who hired the ship and the captain would have to compensate the rest of the merchant for lost cargo, also in a few cases passengers were included in shared responsibility along with the merchant and the captain.
This law is divided in 3 chapters from which the first is based on Justinian's Digesta the second deals with maritime law, piracy, insurance etc. and the third part deals about compensations for cargo damage or cargo loss.
B) Legislation enacted by Macedonians
With the final conviction of Iconoclasm in 843 the Macedonian Emperors abolished all legislation enacted by the Iconoclasts Isaurians as an act of revenge against them and reinstated Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis in full power.
However this brought Basil I to the same place where Leo III was in 726.
While Justinian's work was excellent it was outdated and may aspects of life werent covered in his books nor they were foreseen.
Basil I faced the dilemma to either restor Isaurian's legislation or draft a new one?
And he chose the later. Macedonian's dynasty legislation included
1) Procheiros Nomos (aka Rough Law)
2) Epanagoge
3) Anakatharsin (aka Re-cleanse)
4) Vasilika (aka Royal Laws)
5) Eparchikon Vivlion (aka Book of the Eparch)
6) Neares (aka Novellae or New Laws)
We will examine each one of them
1) Procheiros Nomos
This law was issued between 870 and 879 was divided in 40 chapters and its main task was to replace the abolished Ekloge of Isaurian Emperors.
The prologue and every chapter starts with slander against the Isaurians and proclaim that the new laws will be in conformity with the Laws of Divine Justinian.
Its roughly similar to Justinian's Institutiones and deals with matters around family law, inheritance law, penal law and civil law but actually its a "restatement" of Justinian's legislation along with some altered laws drwn from the Ekloge and some new legislation promulgated by Basil I.
2) Epanagoge
This law was issued between 880 and 886 and it was divided in 40 chapters. It was propably a draft aiming in reforming Procheiros Nomos with new legislation but propably Basil's I death in 886 cancelled this plans.
Its almost certain that whoever drafted Epanagoge was infuenced by the Church and the theology of Patriarch Photius I (some scholars claim that it was the Patriarch himself who drafted the Epanagoge).
This law regulates the authority of the Emperor and the Patriarch's and is in conformity with Justinian's Novellae VI.
3) Anakatharsis
This was a draft which concentrated and cleansed all previous Emperor's legislation in order to be used for issuing the "Vasilika".
Propably it was never promulgated as a law but it was frequently used as a legal handbook for law students, lawyers and judges.
4) Vasilika
This was most important and largest piece of legislation issued by the Macedonian Dynasty and first masterpiece of legal work after Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis.
It was issued by Emperor Leo VI and it was divided in 60 books. Leo VI himself wrote the prologue and justified the issuing of such law by saying that Justinian's work (along with his successors legislation although most of it was ignored) needed to be unified and codified in a single law collection, plus new legislation would modernise Divine Justinian's work.
Leo VI believed that Corpus Iuris Civillis was an excellent legislation but he saw many conflicting or outdated laws that need to be changed immediatelly.
Leo VI never intended to abolish Corpus Iuris Civillis but he used it as a base in which he drafted his own "Corpus Iuris Civillis" since it was a long practice for lawyers and jurists (even under Isaurians) to use Justinian's legislation when a case arose which was unclear or undefined under current legislation. And Leo VI kept with tradition by upholding the original Corpus Iuris Civillis above all other legislation in unclear or undefined cases.
From the 60 Books of Vasilika we have
Book I: About the Christian Faith
Book II-IV: Judicial system and courts organisation
Book V-XLIX: Private Law, Military Law, Civil Law, laws about the dead and burials and Penal Law
Book L-LX: Lost but they covered everything else not mentioned above.
5) Eparchikon Vivlion
This was a special law issued by Leo VI in 895 and it was adressed to the Praefectus Urbi Constantinopolitanae (Praefect of the City) and it is divided in 22 Chapters.
This law aimed in reorganising and regulating trade and labour unions in the City of Constantinople and augment the Imperial control over them.
By this law every merchant or labour was obliged to enroll in the corresponding union and enrolling in more than one unions was outlawed.
The Praefect acquired the right to appoint directly the union leader thus augmenting the Imperial control over them.
In the first 19 Chapters there are the laws regulating and organising various unions with details for every profession and special regulations for each one separatelly.
So we have:
Chapter I: Notaries
Chapter II: Silver-sellers
Chapter III: Bankers
Chapter IV-VIII: Silk and purple-dye sellers
Chapter IX: Moneychangers
Chapter X: Perfume and medicines sellers
Chapter XI: Candle sellers
Chapter XII: Soap sellers
Chapter XIII: Groceries
Chapter XIV: saddlers
Chapter XV: sellers of beef and sheep meat
Chapter XVI: sellers of pork meat
Chapter XVII: Fishers
Chapter XVIII: Bakers
Chapter XIX: Tavern owners
Chapters 20 included trade regulations and empowered the Praefect of the City to personally oversee all imports and exports to and from the City.
Chapter 21 included regulations about animals and flocks trade
Chapter 22 included regulations about builders and contracts between people and builders.
With all these detailed decrees the Empire increased it intervationism in order to control production, avoid tax-evasion and profiteering, and constantly observed prices in order to protect the citizens from paying high prices for everyday needs.
6) Neares
This law was promulgated by Emperor Leo VI in 900 and it was a collection of new laws issued to cover the needs of the citizens and to modernise existant legislation.
The most important laws from this collection were
Neara XVIII: Abolished all (remaining) Senate powers making the title Senator only titular and honorific.
Neara XCIV: Abolition of Consular title
Neara XCI: A marriage is considered blessed only when the full marriage ritual is completed fully
Neara LIV: Renews an old law of Constantine I instituting Sunday as day of rest
It should be noted that Leo's VI successors also issued Neares in order to deal with with contemporary problems.
Also during the Macedonian Dynasty jurists and law professors wrote several law handbooks in order for them to be used by students and judges as quick references.
These are considered masterpieces in the area of "school books" and continued to be taught in Law schools till the end of the Empire.
They were the following
1) Epitome ton Nomon (aka Summary of Laws): Contained legislation for the most common or usual case a judge could meet.
2) Synopsis (aka Summary): Contained all laws of Vasilika in alphabetical order. It was so useful that it continued to be used by judges even after 1204.
3) Legum: A summary of Procheiros Nomos.
4) Peira (aka Experience): these book contained the norms of courts and judges and had instructions about how Justice should be served. Also used by judges till the end of the Empire.
5) Nomokanon (aka Rule of Law): This book summarised civil and canon law and it was revised in 883 by Patriarch Photius. Its an important book since Cyril and Methodius translated it into slavic and it became the source of all Slavic Laws. It was revised one more time in 12th century in order to be modernised.
3) 3rd Period (1045-1453)
3rd period begins with the reopening of the Law School of Magnaura University by Constantine IX (Basil II had shut down the whole University)
who relocated the school to the Palace of Maggana and appointed the Metropolitan Bishop of Euchaita Ioannes as its Headmaster.
In the same time Constantine IX issued laws (Neara) which organised and regulated the new school. The students were obliged to memorise all legislation from Corpus Iuris Civillis and after and they would be examined in the end of each year both in theory (by pronouncing large parts of legislation by heart) and in practice by participating in trials (both actual in courts and "mock" trials inside the school).
During this era we have some new legislation but in most cases jurists and the Emperor were busy codifying, cleansing and modernising previous legislation.
We have the following legislative works:
1) Synopsis ton Nomon (aka Summary of the Laws): A legal study summarising all contemporary laws issued about 1070
2) Meleti ton psilon symfonon (aka Study on contracts): Again a legal study dealing with bysiness contracts.
3) Poiima Nomikon (aka Legal Poem): dealt with Penal Law based on Vasilika and Leo's VI Neares
4) Tipoukeitos: A huge work, it was the compilation of every law that was promulgated in the Empire from the very beggining till 12th century. its very useful to the scholars since it survived pieces of very old laws or laws which suffered "damnatio memoriae" (like the Isaurian's Ekloge).
5) Nomon Parekvoli (aka Explanation of Laws): compilation of laws with comments and interpration.
6) Nomimon Stoicheion (aka Legal Clue): Collection of laws issued by John III
7) Ekloge Nomon: Compiled Macedonian dynasty laws with contemporary laws issued arounf 13th century.
8) Exavivlos (aka Six Books): It was the last piece of legislation issued before the fall of the Empire in 1453.
It was issued around late 14th century by the Judge K. Armenopoulos and it became the basic law of the Empire by early 15th century.
It should be noted that Exavivlos survived the fall of Byzantine Empire and remained in force for 500 years until 1946 when it was repealed by the Greek Parliament and replaced by the new Greek Civil Law.
Exavivlos was consisted of 6 Books of which:
Book 1: Judicial system and Financial rules
Book 2: Legislation against profiteering
Book 3: Lands, buy/sell, loans, insurances, etc.
Book 4: Marriage and Divorce
Book 5: Inheritance Law
Book 6: Penal Law
Thats for now... I ll come up later about how Justice was served (in a more detailed form than Volume I)
A) Legislation enacted by Isaurians
As we said above the legislation enacted by Justinian was so perfect that there was no need from subsequent Emperors to change it.
However the abolition of the old provisional division and its replacement by the Themes system forced Heraclius to reform Codex Justinianus but only in the part of political Government.
By the time Isaurians took power there were a few drastic changes in the Empire that were not covered by Justinian's laws (reforms could have happened earlier but wars with Persians/Arabs and civil wars prevented that).
Changes such as the equalisation of Imperial authority with Church's authority, incorporation of Canon Law into legislation and civil and penal law, the sanctity of marriage, divorce (according to church's teachings) etc. made it imperative that these should be included in legislation.
Isaurian Emperors took the task of modernising legislation as it was obvious that some of the laws included in Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis were outdated while some others have been severely misinterpreted thus causing the Empire to malfunction.
Isaurians tried to modernise legislation by issuing 3 importanr legislative Codes
I) Ekloge
II) Nomos Georgikos (aka Agricultural Law)
III) Nomos Rodion Naftikos (aka Maritime Law of Rhodians)
We ll see its one separatelly
I) Ekloge
Ekloge was promulgated by Emperor Leo III in 726 consisting of 18 chapters and its main task was to modernise and clean up Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis and was based on it.
Ekloge covered mainly issues of Family Law and it was heavily influenced by Church's teachings as in its articles the said law aboliches in practice civil marriages, institutes religious marriage as the sole legitimate ritual to unite a man and a woman, abolishes consenting divorce, limiting causes of divorce only to adultery, attempt to murder partner and impotency, instituted heavy penalties to everyone who attempted to convert a christian to another religion etc.
Also Isaurians legitimated the use of mutilations as a penalty in Ekloge (actually mutilations were used before Isaurians as a penalty but it was more like a an unofficial punishment, Justinian made limited use of mutilations in his laws too but under Isaurians their use grew).
Penalties like cutting off of hands,tongue, nose, penis, blinding etc. could now be imposed for moral "crimes"(aka against Church's law) too such as perjury, stealing, sex with nuns, sex with god-child, incest, beastiality etc.
For more serious crimes like continuing incest, rape, premeditated murder, desertion, witchcraft, sorcery, converting to Manichaism or Montanism etc. the death penalty was used quite frequently.
Also Ekloge deals with matters of donations, wills, children's guardianship, slaves emancipation, business contracts, loans and several other Civill law issues all under Church's influence which supported the use of extreme penalties as a frightening measure.
It should be noted that all laws included in the Ekloge were abolished after the end of Iconoclasm as an act of revenge to the Iconoclast Leo III who imported them despite the fact that it was a masterpiece of legal work and it covered several aspects of public and private life of citizens which Justinian's legislation didnt cover.
II) Nomos Georgikos (aka Agricultural Law)
This law was a codification of previous land and tax laws of Justinian combined with legislation enacted by his successors along with some new legislation enacted by Isaurians.
It was an important law since it supported and strengthened small landowners and free farmers. Isaurian Emperors didnt abolish slavery and surfdom but they did the best to contain the agreession of big landowners against smaller landowners and free farmers and reformed agricultural society on a more just base.
However Macedonian Emperors repealed Agricutural Law and reinstated Justinian's legislation on agricultural matters.
III) Nomos Rodion Naftikos (aka Maritime Law of Rhodians)
This law was a compilation and codification of all traditions and customary laws still in force in trade around Mediterranean. It is believed that Isaurians enacted this law but some scholars believe that this law is much older than the Isaurians and that Isaurian dynasty just ratified it as an Imperial Law rather than a mere customary law.
This law deals with maritime issues, mainly with piracy which devastated seas by then, the law stipulated that if a ship had fallen victim of pirates then the merchant who hired the ship and the captain would have to compensate the rest of the merchant for lost cargo, also in a few cases passengers were included in shared responsibility along with the merchant and the captain.
This law is divided in 3 chapters from which the first is based on Justinian's Digesta the second deals with maritime law, piracy, insurance etc. and the third part deals about compensations for cargo damage or cargo loss.
B) Legislation enacted by Macedonians
With the final conviction of Iconoclasm in 843 the Macedonian Emperors abolished all legislation enacted by the Iconoclasts Isaurians as an act of revenge against them and reinstated Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis in full power.
However this brought Basil I to the same place where Leo III was in 726.
While Justinian's work was excellent it was outdated and may aspects of life werent covered in his books nor they were foreseen.
Basil I faced the dilemma to either restor Isaurian's legislation or draft a new one?
And he chose the later. Macedonian's dynasty legislation included
1) Procheiros Nomos (aka Rough Law)
2) Epanagoge
3) Anakatharsin (aka Re-cleanse)
4) Vasilika (aka Royal Laws)
5) Eparchikon Vivlion (aka Book of the Eparch)
6) Neares (aka Novellae or New Laws)
We will examine each one of them
1) Procheiros Nomos
This law was issued between 870 and 879 was divided in 40 chapters and its main task was to replace the abolished Ekloge of Isaurian Emperors.
The prologue and every chapter starts with slander against the Isaurians and proclaim that the new laws will be in conformity with the Laws of Divine Justinian.
Its roughly similar to Justinian's Institutiones and deals with matters around family law, inheritance law, penal law and civil law but actually its a "restatement" of Justinian's legislation along with some altered laws drwn from the Ekloge and some new legislation promulgated by Basil I.
2) Epanagoge
This law was issued between 880 and 886 and it was divided in 40 chapters. It was propably a draft aiming in reforming Procheiros Nomos with new legislation but propably Basil's I death in 886 cancelled this plans.
Its almost certain that whoever drafted Epanagoge was infuenced by the Church and the theology of Patriarch Photius I (some scholars claim that it was the Patriarch himself who drafted the Epanagoge).
This law regulates the authority of the Emperor and the Patriarch's and is in conformity with Justinian's Novellae VI.
3) Anakatharsis
This was a draft which concentrated and cleansed all previous Emperor's legislation in order to be used for issuing the "Vasilika".
Propably it was never promulgated as a law but it was frequently used as a legal handbook for law students, lawyers and judges.
4) Vasilika
This was most important and largest piece of legislation issued by the Macedonian Dynasty and first masterpiece of legal work after Justinian's Corpus Iuris Civillis.
It was issued by Emperor Leo VI and it was divided in 60 books. Leo VI himself wrote the prologue and justified the issuing of such law by saying that Justinian's work (along with his successors legislation although most of it was ignored) needed to be unified and codified in a single law collection, plus new legislation would modernise Divine Justinian's work.
Leo VI believed that Corpus Iuris Civillis was an excellent legislation but he saw many conflicting or outdated laws that need to be changed immediatelly.
Leo VI never intended to abolish Corpus Iuris Civillis but he used it as a base in which he drafted his own "Corpus Iuris Civillis" since it was a long practice for lawyers and jurists (even under Isaurians) to use Justinian's legislation when a case arose which was unclear or undefined under current legislation. And Leo VI kept with tradition by upholding the original Corpus Iuris Civillis above all other legislation in unclear or undefined cases.
From the 60 Books of Vasilika we have
Book I: About the Christian Faith
Book II-IV: Judicial system and courts organisation
Book V-XLIX: Private Law, Military Law, Civil Law, laws about the dead and burials and Penal Law
Book L-LX: Lost but they covered everything else not mentioned above.
5) Eparchikon Vivlion
This was a special law issued by Leo VI in 895 and it was adressed to the Praefectus Urbi Constantinopolitanae (Praefect of the City) and it is divided in 22 Chapters.
This law aimed in reorganising and regulating trade and labour unions in the City of Constantinople and augment the Imperial control over them.
By this law every merchant or labour was obliged to enroll in the corresponding union and enrolling in more than one unions was outlawed.
The Praefect acquired the right to appoint directly the union leader thus augmenting the Imperial control over them.
In the first 19 Chapters there are the laws regulating and organising various unions with details for every profession and special regulations for each one separatelly.
So we have:
Chapter I: Notaries
Chapter II: Silver-sellers
Chapter III: Bankers
Chapter IV-VIII: Silk and purple-dye sellers
Chapter IX: Moneychangers
Chapter X: Perfume and medicines sellers
Chapter XI: Candle sellers
Chapter XII: Soap sellers
Chapter XIII: Groceries
Chapter XIV: saddlers
Chapter XV: sellers of beef and sheep meat
Chapter XVI: sellers of pork meat
Chapter XVII: Fishers
Chapter XVIII: Bakers
Chapter XIX: Tavern owners
Chapters 20 included trade regulations and empowered the Praefect of the City to personally oversee all imports and exports to and from the City.
Chapter 21 included regulations about animals and flocks trade
Chapter 22 included regulations about builders and contracts between people and builders.
With all these detailed decrees the Empire increased it intervationism in order to control production, avoid tax-evasion and profiteering, and constantly observed prices in order to protect the citizens from paying high prices for everyday needs.
6) Neares
This law was promulgated by Emperor Leo VI in 900 and it was a collection of new laws issued to cover the needs of the citizens and to modernise existant legislation.
The most important laws from this collection were
Neara XVIII: Abolished all (remaining) Senate powers making the title Senator only titular and honorific.
Neara XCIV: Abolition of Consular title
Neara XCI: A marriage is considered blessed only when the full marriage ritual is completed fully
Neara LIV: Renews an old law of Constantine I instituting Sunday as day of rest
It should be noted that Leo's VI successors also issued Neares in order to deal with with contemporary problems.
Also during the Macedonian Dynasty jurists and law professors wrote several law handbooks in order for them to be used by students and judges as quick references.
These are considered masterpieces in the area of "school books" and continued to be taught in Law schools till the end of the Empire.
They were the following
1) Epitome ton Nomon (aka Summary of Laws): Contained legislation for the most common or usual case a judge could meet.
2) Synopsis (aka Summary): Contained all laws of Vasilika in alphabetical order. It was so useful that it continued to be used by judges even after 1204.
3) Legum: A summary of Procheiros Nomos.
4) Peira (aka Experience): these book contained the norms of courts and judges and had instructions about how Justice should be served. Also used by judges till the end of the Empire.
5) Nomokanon (aka Rule of Law): This book summarised civil and canon law and it was revised in 883 by Patriarch Photius. Its an important book since Cyril and Methodius translated it into slavic and it became the source of all Slavic Laws. It was revised one more time in 12th century in order to be modernised.
3) 3rd Period (1045-1453)
3rd period begins with the reopening of the Law School of Magnaura University by Constantine IX (Basil II had shut down the whole University)
who relocated the school to the Palace of Maggana and appointed the Metropolitan Bishop of Euchaita Ioannes as its Headmaster.
In the same time Constantine IX issued laws (Neara) which organised and regulated the new school. The students were obliged to memorise all legislation from Corpus Iuris Civillis and after and they would be examined in the end of each year both in theory (by pronouncing large parts of legislation by heart) and in practice by participating in trials (both actual in courts and "mock" trials inside the school).
During this era we have some new legislation but in most cases jurists and the Emperor were busy codifying, cleansing and modernising previous legislation.
We have the following legislative works:
1) Synopsis ton Nomon (aka Summary of the Laws): A legal study summarising all contemporary laws issued about 1070
2) Meleti ton psilon symfonon (aka Study on contracts): Again a legal study dealing with bysiness contracts.
3) Poiima Nomikon (aka Legal Poem): dealt with Penal Law based on Vasilika and Leo's VI Neares
4) Tipoukeitos: A huge work, it was the compilation of every law that was promulgated in the Empire from the very beggining till 12th century. its very useful to the scholars since it survived pieces of very old laws or laws which suffered "damnatio memoriae" (like the Isaurian's Ekloge).
5) Nomon Parekvoli (aka Explanation of Laws): compilation of laws with comments and interpration.
6) Nomimon Stoicheion (aka Legal Clue): Collection of laws issued by John III
7) Ekloge Nomon: Compiled Macedonian dynasty laws with contemporary laws issued arounf 13th century.
8) Exavivlos (aka Six Books): It was the last piece of legislation issued before the fall of the Empire in 1453.
It was issued around late 14th century by the Judge K. Armenopoulos and it became the basic law of the Empire by early 15th century.
It should be noted that Exavivlos survived the fall of Byzantine Empire and remained in force for 500 years until 1946 when it was repealed by the Greek Parliament and replaced by the new Greek Civil Law.
Exavivlos was consisted of 6 Books of which:
Book 1: Judicial system and Financial rules
Book 2: Legislation against profiteering
Book 3: Lands, buy/sell, loans, insurances, etc.
Book 4: Marriage and Divorce
Book 5: Inheritance Law
Book 6: Penal Law
Thats for now... I ll come up later about how Justice was served (in a more detailed form than Volume I)
4) How Justice was served
As we said above the Emperor was God's representative on Earth and as such he was the source of Justice for the Empire.
While Legislative power defined the principals of Justice through laws, Judicial power guaranteed through courts the right implementation of these laws in society.
The Emperor acted as Supreme Judge personally in specific cases only:
A) When someone appealed to him afrer the case has been judged in second degree.
B) He judged personally cases which involved high officials of the state or they were sensitive for the Empire (i.e. espionage or treason).
In both cases the Emperor's decisions were final and could not be revoked or appealed.
Reference of a certain case to the Emperor could happen only by following certain paths:
a) Appelatio or Ekklito in Greek (aka appeal): When a case has been judged to a second degree the offended member could appeal directly to the Emperor.
However only the most serious cases would be judged by the Emperor since it would be impossible for him to judge the millions of annual cases throughout the whole Empire.
Less serious cases or common ones were dealt by special judges called "Sacri Cognitores" and their decision could be overturned by the "Vicarii" and only in cases of mistrial the case went directly to the Emperor.
On the other side for cases which were judged in Constantinople before the Praefectus Praetorio his decision was final and none could appeal to the Emperor.
Emperor Theodosius II annoyed by the large numbers of citizens appealing to him empowered several judges to act in his name either in comitees or alone (iudex delegatus).
Justinian stipulated in his Novellae that from now on the Emperor would judge only the cases in which the fine would be more than 20 Litres of Gold whille all lesser cases would be judged by judicial comitees who would be appointed by the Quaestor Sacri Palatii in his capacity as top Judge of the Empire and unofficial Minister of Justice (the Quaestor could opt to preside if he wanted to but in most cases he delegated this right to the most senior judge present).
For civil and penal law case inside the City of Constantinople the Praefectus Urbi was responsible to Judge and also he was responsible for executing the penalties imposed.
b) Supplicatio or in Greek Deisi (aka petition): This was basically a petition from a private citizen to the Emperor to judge his case personally because the citizen was afraid that the judge who will judge his case wont be impartial. Petition to the Emperor was forbiden after the trial began so if someone had doubts about the Judge he had to to present the Supplicatio before the start of the trial.
The officer who received the petition decided if the case was serious enough for the Emperor to deal with and in case he deemed the case less serious he prompted the case to a iudex delegatus to act in the Emperor's name.
Justinian reformed this practice by appointing 12 Judges called "Theioi Dikastes" aka Divine Judges fully empowered to act in his name in lesser cases. These 12 Judges had one notary and each one of them was entitled to hire 2 scribes and 2 ushers. 4 of these Judges were former State officials while the rest were picked from among the city's lawyers. Their annual salary was 2 Litres of Gold and for each major case they received 4 solidi as an extra payment. It should be noted that these Judges didnt try cases collectively but separately.
c) Relatio or Anafora in Greek (aka Report) it was a special petition when a private citizen sent a written question about a legal case and the Emperor responded with a written report which was the final decision over this matter. This job was handled by the Quaestor Sacri Palatii and his notaries but the multitude of reports enraged Justinian who forbade the practice until the final court decision.
All cases who went directly or after an appeal to the Emperor and deemed serious enough for the Emperor to judge them personally, were judged by a special Tribunal called Sacrum Consistorium or Iero Konsistorio in Greek (aka Holy Tribunal) with the Emperor as President and Quaestor Sacri Palatii, Magister Officiorum, Comes Sacrarum Largitionum and Comes de Rerum Privatarum acting as members, with Quaestor acting as DA in some cases.
Also members from the scrinium Libellorum and scrinium Epistolae acted as clerks and notaries of the Tribunal.
After Justinian the Judicial system was reorganised and the Sacrum Consistorium was renamed to Aftokratoriko Kritirion (aka Imperial Court).
The Emperor continued to preside this Tribunal but there was a change in its members who now included the Praefectus Urbi, Quaestor Sacri Palatii, Drougarios tis Viglas, Vestes, Logothetes tou Kanikleiou, Protasekrites, Magister, Exactor and Judges or other officials the Emperor invited to join the Court.
In case of Emperor's absent the Tribunal would be presided by the Praefectus Urbi.
By 8th century the judicial powers of Praefectus Urbi expanded and included the whole Empire and not just the City of Constantinople and his office absorbed the agencies previously belonging to the Quaestor Sacri Palatii who was stripped of his position as top Judge and was restricted to his financial duties only (with some limited judicial power over some financial crimes).
By 11th century Praefectus Urbi lost the right to replace the Emperor in the presidency of the Imperial Court and this right was given to the Drougarios tis Viglas who was renamed Megas Drougarios (aka Great Drougarios).
At the same time the office of the Quaestor Sacri Palatii was stripped of even more duties and it became almost titular and dissappears from records after 12th century.
Emperor Manuel I reorganised Judicial system aiming in accelerating judicial procedure by founding 4 new courts:
1) Kritirio tou Megalou Drougariou tis Viglas (aka Court of the Great Drougarios of Vigla) which substituted Praefectus Urbi as top Judge of the Empire and propably it was the revival of a shortlived court founded by Emperor Michael VII earlier.
It had expanded Judicial powers and its authority covered every citizen of the Empire except the Senators and State official who were tried directly by the Emperor.
2) Kritirio tou Prokathimenou ton Dimosiakon Dikastirion (aka Court of the President of Public Courts): This court acted as an appeal court to lower courts.
3) Kritirion tou Protasekritou (aka Court of Protasekrites): This court was presided by the head of the Imperial Chancery and mainly judged civil servants.
4) Kritirio tou Dikaiodotou (aka Court of the Lawgiver): It was an appeal court judging cases of civil law only.
According to legislation enacted by Manuel I
a) all courts must meet in session at least 3 times a week and judges must be members to one court only.
b) Penal cases must be judged no further than 2 years after the crime happened while civil law cases no further than 3 years after the crime. If these time limits were exceeded the judges were sacked for incompetence.
c) Cases brought to an appeal court must be judges no further than 1 year after filling the appeal. If this time limit is breached Judges are scked for incompetence.
d) Intended obstruction of Justice by the accuser or of his lawyers incured severe penalties for him. If the accuser obstructs Justice he is punished by losing the case de facto and sentenced in paying a fine. If the accusers lawyers are found guilty of obstruction then they are disbarred and sentenced in paying a fine.
All these decrees aimed in accelerating Justice and were in conformity with laws of previous Emperors about Justice.
However fall of the city in 1204 disorganised Justice and this branch suffered until the reign of Andronicus II who reorganised Justice by founding a 12membered Supreme Court consisted by clergymen and Senators in 1296.
The members of this court took an oath upon appointment that they won be bribed and will be impartial. Also the appointment of clergymen for the first time in history wasnt an innovation as Alexius I allowed Episcopal Courts to judge cases of family and inheritance law.
Emperor Andronicus III abolished this supreme court and replaced it by 4 Judges with the title "Katholikos Kritis ton Romaion" aka Universal Judge of the Romans in 1331.
However Andronicus III soon regretted his decision to abolish the Supreme Court and appoint 4 Judges as 3 of them were embroidered in a major corruption scandal and were found guilty of bribe in 1337.
Andronicus III then deposed the 3 corrupted Judges and before appointing replacements he altered the law in order to secure that this will never happen again:
A) The appointment of a new Judge would be jointly by the Emperor and the Patriarch
B) At least one of the Judges must be a clergyman
C) The 4 Judges acquired the right to indict the Emperor.
Despite their vast powers these 4 judges werent sufficient for the whole Empire. Corruption in provincial courts compelled the Judges to travel frequently and spend large amounts of time in provincial cities trying to fix things up.
This lead to the creation of the "Topikos Katholikos Kritis" aka Regional Universal Judge as assistants to the 4 judges and they were based in major cities like Thessalonike, Trapezus, Mystras, Lemnos etc.
The institution of the 4 top Judges might have survived till the end of the Empire but it was an unstabel institution and their vast powers could challenge even the Emperor. In peacful times this could backfire against the Emperor himself.
Thats for now... I ll continue (propably) tomorrow with Provincial Courts....
As we said above the Emperor was God's representative on Earth and as such he was the source of Justice for the Empire.
While Legislative power defined the principals of Justice through laws, Judicial power guaranteed through courts the right implementation of these laws in society.
The Emperor acted as Supreme Judge personally in specific cases only:
A) When someone appealed to him afrer the case has been judged in second degree.
B) He judged personally cases which involved high officials of the state or they were sensitive for the Empire (i.e. espionage or treason).
In both cases the Emperor's decisions were final and could not be revoked or appealed.
Reference of a certain case to the Emperor could happen only by following certain paths:
a) Appelatio or Ekklito in Greek (aka appeal): When a case has been judged to a second degree the offended member could appeal directly to the Emperor.
However only the most serious cases would be judged by the Emperor since it would be impossible for him to judge the millions of annual cases throughout the whole Empire.
Less serious cases or common ones were dealt by special judges called "Sacri Cognitores" and their decision could be overturned by the "Vicarii" and only in cases of mistrial the case went directly to the Emperor.
On the other side for cases which were judged in Constantinople before the Praefectus Praetorio his decision was final and none could appeal to the Emperor.
Emperor Theodosius II annoyed by the large numbers of citizens appealing to him empowered several judges to act in his name either in comitees or alone (iudex delegatus).
Justinian stipulated in his Novellae that from now on the Emperor would judge only the cases in which the fine would be more than 20 Litres of Gold whille all lesser cases would be judged by judicial comitees who would be appointed by the Quaestor Sacri Palatii in his capacity as top Judge of the Empire and unofficial Minister of Justice (the Quaestor could opt to preside if he wanted to but in most cases he delegated this right to the most senior judge present).
For civil and penal law case inside the City of Constantinople the Praefectus Urbi was responsible to Judge and also he was responsible for executing the penalties imposed.
b) Supplicatio or in Greek Deisi (aka petition): This was basically a petition from a private citizen to the Emperor to judge his case personally because the citizen was afraid that the judge who will judge his case wont be impartial. Petition to the Emperor was forbiden after the trial began so if someone had doubts about the Judge he had to to present the Supplicatio before the start of the trial.
The officer who received the petition decided if the case was serious enough for the Emperor to deal with and in case he deemed the case less serious he prompted the case to a iudex delegatus to act in the Emperor's name.
Justinian reformed this practice by appointing 12 Judges called "Theioi Dikastes" aka Divine Judges fully empowered to act in his name in lesser cases. These 12 Judges had one notary and each one of them was entitled to hire 2 scribes and 2 ushers. 4 of these Judges were former State officials while the rest were picked from among the city's lawyers. Their annual salary was 2 Litres of Gold and for each major case they received 4 solidi as an extra payment. It should be noted that these Judges didnt try cases collectively but separately.
c) Relatio or Anafora in Greek (aka Report) it was a special petition when a private citizen sent a written question about a legal case and the Emperor responded with a written report which was the final decision over this matter. This job was handled by the Quaestor Sacri Palatii and his notaries but the multitude of reports enraged Justinian who forbade the practice until the final court decision.
All cases who went directly or after an appeal to the Emperor and deemed serious enough for the Emperor to judge them personally, were judged by a special Tribunal called Sacrum Consistorium or Iero Konsistorio in Greek (aka Holy Tribunal) with the Emperor as President and Quaestor Sacri Palatii, Magister Officiorum, Comes Sacrarum Largitionum and Comes de Rerum Privatarum acting as members, with Quaestor acting as DA in some cases.
Also members from the scrinium Libellorum and scrinium Epistolae acted as clerks and notaries of the Tribunal.
After Justinian the Judicial system was reorganised and the Sacrum Consistorium was renamed to Aftokratoriko Kritirion (aka Imperial Court).
The Emperor continued to preside this Tribunal but there was a change in its members who now included the Praefectus Urbi, Quaestor Sacri Palatii, Drougarios tis Viglas, Vestes, Logothetes tou Kanikleiou, Protasekrites, Magister, Exactor and Judges or other officials the Emperor invited to join the Court.
In case of Emperor's absent the Tribunal would be presided by the Praefectus Urbi.
By 8th century the judicial powers of Praefectus Urbi expanded and included the whole Empire and not just the City of Constantinople and his office absorbed the agencies previously belonging to the Quaestor Sacri Palatii who was stripped of his position as top Judge and was restricted to his financial duties only (with some limited judicial power over some financial crimes).
By 11th century Praefectus Urbi lost the right to replace the Emperor in the presidency of the Imperial Court and this right was given to the Drougarios tis Viglas who was renamed Megas Drougarios (aka Great Drougarios).
At the same time the office of the Quaestor Sacri Palatii was stripped of even more duties and it became almost titular and dissappears from records after 12th century.
Emperor Manuel I reorganised Judicial system aiming in accelerating judicial procedure by founding 4 new courts:
1) Kritirio tou Megalou Drougariou tis Viglas (aka Court of the Great Drougarios of Vigla) which substituted Praefectus Urbi as top Judge of the Empire and propably it was the revival of a shortlived court founded by Emperor Michael VII earlier.
It had expanded Judicial powers and its authority covered every citizen of the Empire except the Senators and State official who were tried directly by the Emperor.
2) Kritirio tou Prokathimenou ton Dimosiakon Dikastirion (aka Court of the President of Public Courts): This court acted as an appeal court to lower courts.
3) Kritirion tou Protasekritou (aka Court of Protasekrites): This court was presided by the head of the Imperial Chancery and mainly judged civil servants.
4) Kritirio tou Dikaiodotou (aka Court of the Lawgiver): It was an appeal court judging cases of civil law only.
According to legislation enacted by Manuel I
a) all courts must meet in session at least 3 times a week and judges must be members to one court only.
b) Penal cases must be judged no further than 2 years after the crime happened while civil law cases no further than 3 years after the crime. If these time limits were exceeded the judges were sacked for incompetence.
c) Cases brought to an appeal court must be judges no further than 1 year after filling the appeal. If this time limit is breached Judges are scked for incompetence.
d) Intended obstruction of Justice by the accuser or of his lawyers incured severe penalties for him. If the accuser obstructs Justice he is punished by losing the case de facto and sentenced in paying a fine. If the accusers lawyers are found guilty of obstruction then they are disbarred and sentenced in paying a fine.
All these decrees aimed in accelerating Justice and were in conformity with laws of previous Emperors about Justice.
However fall of the city in 1204 disorganised Justice and this branch suffered until the reign of Andronicus II who reorganised Justice by founding a 12membered Supreme Court consisted by clergymen and Senators in 1296.
The members of this court took an oath upon appointment that they won be bribed and will be impartial. Also the appointment of clergymen for the first time in history wasnt an innovation as Alexius I allowed Episcopal Courts to judge cases of family and inheritance law.
Emperor Andronicus III abolished this supreme court and replaced it by 4 Judges with the title "Katholikos Kritis ton Romaion" aka Universal Judge of the Romans in 1331.
However Andronicus III soon regretted his decision to abolish the Supreme Court and appoint 4 Judges as 3 of them were embroidered in a major corruption scandal and were found guilty of bribe in 1337.
Andronicus III then deposed the 3 corrupted Judges and before appointing replacements he altered the law in order to secure that this will never happen again:
A) The appointment of a new Judge would be jointly by the Emperor and the Patriarch
B) At least one of the Judges must be a clergyman
C) The 4 Judges acquired the right to indict the Emperor.
Despite their vast powers these 4 judges werent sufficient for the whole Empire. Corruption in provincial courts compelled the Judges to travel frequently and spend large amounts of time in provincial cities trying to fix things up.
This lead to the creation of the "Topikos Katholikos Kritis" aka Regional Universal Judge as assistants to the 4 judges and they were based in major cities like Thessalonike, Trapezus, Mystras, Lemnos etc.
The institution of the 4 top Judges might have survived till the end of the Empire but it was an unstabel institution and their vast powers could challenge even the Emperor. In peacful times this could backfire against the Emperor himself.
Thats for now... I ll continue (propably) tomorrow with Provincial Courts....