Tzaousios

The tzaousios (Greek: τζαούσιος) was a late Byzantine military office, whose exact functions and role are somewhat unclear.^[1]

The term is derived from the Turkish çavuş, meaning "courier" or "messenger",^[1] and was in use by the Byzantines perhaps as early as the late 11th century.^[2] In the 13th–15th centuries, it became applied to officers serving in provincial posts. A tzaousios could serve as commander of the garrison of a kastron (a fortified administrative center run by a kephale), possibly combining the military and administrative roles, to the megala allagia of the imperial field army.^[1][2] Most of the tzaousioi mentioned in the sources came from the Byzantine Morea,^[3] where they played an important role in provincial administration. In Macedonia and Thrace by contrast, they seem to have been limited to a purely military role within the megala allagia.^[2]

The title of megas tzaousios (Greek: μέγας τζαούσιος, "grand tzaousios") is first attested under John III Vatatzes (r. 1221–1254). His functions are unclear.^[4] The French Byzantinist Rodolphe Guilland suggested that he was in command of subordinated tzaousioi, who acted as the successors of the earlier imperial courier corps, the mandatores.^[5] In pseudo-Kodinos's mid-14th century Book of Offices, he is described as being responsible for maintaining the order of the imperial retinue.^[3] Certainly, the first megas tzaousios, Constantine Margarites, was the commander of Vatazes's personal retinue,^[6] but in later times, it does not appear to have had a fixed function.^[7]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Kazhdan 1991, p. 2135.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Bartusis 1997, p. 194.
3. ^ ^{a b} Kazhdan 1991, p. 2136.
4. ^ Kazhdan 1991, pp. 2135–2136.
5. ^ Guilland 1967, p. 605 (Note #35).
6. ^ Bartusis 1997, pp. 370–371.
7. ^ Bartusis 1997, p. 382.

Sources

• Bartusis, Mark C. (1997). The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204–1453. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 0-81221-620-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=rUs-hHd89xAC. 
• Guilland, Rodolphe (1967) (in French). Recherches sur les Institutions Byzantines, Tome I. Berlin, Germany: Akademie-Verlag. http://books.google.com/books?id=1_MnAQAAIAAJ. 
• Kazhdan, Alexander Petrovich, ed (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York, New York and Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=Q3u5RAAACAAJ.