Logothetes tou stratiotikou

The logothetes tou stratiotikou (Greek: λογοθέτης τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ), rendered in English as the Logothete of the Military or Military Logothete, was a Byzantine imperial official in charge of the pay and provisioning of the Byzantine army. The office appears in the late 7th century and is mentioned until the 14th century.

This duty was originally exercised by the praetorian prefecture, but the military chest (το στρατιωτικόν, to stratiotikon) was eventually detached and formed as a separate logothesion (department). The first attested logothetes tou stratiotikou was Julian, the "most glorious apo hypaton and patrikios" in 680.^[1][2]

The exact sphere of duties of the Military Logothete is somewhat obscure. The only direct evidence as to his functions comes from the De Ceremoniis of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959), according to which he oversaw the imposition and exemption from taxes on the households of soldiers. It is also known that by the 11th century, he exercised some juridical functions.^[2] Several scholars (notably Ernst Stein) have argued that the Military Logothete supervised military affairs in general, such as the levying of troops, the construction of fortifications and the overall military expenditure. This hypothesis, however, cannot be proved.^[2]

The subordinates of the logothetes tou stratiotikou were:

• The chartoularioi of the sekreton (χαρτουλάριοι τοῦ σεκρέτου), the senior subaltern officials of the department.^[1]
• The chartoularioi of the themata (χαρτουλάριοι τῶν θεμάτων) and the tagmata (χαρτουλάριοι τῶν ταγμάτων), supervising the financial affairs of the thematic troops and the imperial tagmata, respectively.^[1]
• A number of legatarioi (λεγατάριοι), whose exact function is unknown.^[3][4]
• The optiones (ὀπτίονες, from Latin optio), officials responsible for the distribution of pay to the troops.^[4]
• A number of kankellarioi under a protokankellarios.^[4]
• A number of mandatores ('messengers').^[4]

Rodolphe Guilland also lists some 6th-century officials, who served under Justinian I and were in charge of the army pay chest, as predecessors of the later office of logothetes tou stratiotikou: Alexander "Scissors", active in Greece and Italy in c. 540–541;^[12][13] the patrikios and former praetorian prefect Archelaus, who accompanied Belisarius as his quartermaster in the Vandalic War;^[12][14] and the senator Symmachus, who was sent to Africa as praetorian prefect and quartermaster for Germanus in 536–539.^[6][15]

• Bury, J. B. (1911). The Imperial Administrative System of the Ninth Century – With a Revised Text of the Kletorologion of Philotheos. London: Oxford University Press. OCLC 1046639111.
• Carr, M. (2015). "Crossing Boundaries in the Mediterranean: Papal Trade Licences from the Registra supplicationum of Pope Clement VI (1342-1352)." Journal of Medieval History 41, 107-29.
• Guilland, Rodolphe (1971). "Les Logothètes: Etudes sur l'histoire administrative de l'Empire byzantin" [The Logothetes: Studies on the Administrative History of the Byzantine Empire]. Revue des études byzantines (in French). 29: 5–115. doi:10.3406/rebyz.1971.1441.
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
• Martindale, John R., ed. (1980). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume II, AD 395–527. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20159-4.
• Martindale, John R., ed. (1992). The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire: Volume III, AD 527–641. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-20160-8.
• Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Walther, Rainer; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja; Kislinger, Ewald; Leontiadis, Ioannis; Kaplaneres, Sokrates (1976–1996). Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.