Pronoia in the Military Organization of the Byzantine Empire at Early Palaeologian Period (Part 2)
Abstract
In the present study the author disclosed the role of pronoia in the military organization of the Byzantine Empire at early Palaeologian period. The concrete cases of the award allow recognizing the proniarety as the Byzantine military institution dealing exclusively with the military leadership. The grant of pronoia was a replacement for traditional rewards of military commanders of noble origin. However, in some cases it was identified that compulsory military service was a function of power which was granted to the proniares in addition to the tax quota. Holders of pronoia were not only the Romans military commanders but also the mercenaries. Such awards could reduce the costs of imperial treasury for direct payments. In the case of proniares-Byzantines, depending on posotis, we can talk about the conferring upon pronoia the representatives of various levels of the military leadership. The pronoias granted as a reward or the compensation for losses incurred as a result of the performance of official engagements, could be transferred to the commanders of low levels which were recruited from among stratiotes (obviously, dekarhes). Definition of the role of pronoia in military practice of the early palaeologian period which would be possible in the identification of the proportion of pronoiares and strateia contingents and the correlation of victories and defeats, won by them, is impossible in practice.
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