Spatharios
The spatharii or spatharioi (singular:
History
Originally, the term was probably applied to both private and imperial bodyguards.
By the early 8th century, these titles had lost their original military connotations and become honorific titles. The title of spatharios ranked initially quite high, being awarded for instance by Emperor Justinian II (r. 685–695) to his friend and future emperor Leo III the Isaurian (r. 717–741).[1] It gradually declined, however, and in the Klētorologion of 899, it occupies the seventh-highest place in the hierarchy of ranks for non-eunuchs, above the hypatos and below the spatharokandidatos.[4] According to the Klētorologion, the insignia of the dignity was a gold-hilted sword.[5] At the same time, the term oikeiakos spatharios still designated a bodyguard of the imperial oikos ("household"), as distinct from the basilikoi spatharioi who now were the holders of the honorary dignity.[1] The term ceased to be used in these contexts after circa 1075, and by the time Anna Komnene wrote her Alexiad in the early 12th century, a spatharios was held to be completely insignificant.[1]
Other occurrences
- In the Lex Alemannorum (79.7), a spatharius is a swordsmith.
- In medieval
- Ælfric of Eynsham glosses spatharius as "sword-bearer": "swyrd-bora. Id est, Ensifer."
- In the 12th century, the chivalric order, were known as Spatharii.
See also
References
Sources
- OCLC 1046639111.
- ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
Further reading
- du Fresne, Carolo (1883–1887). "Spatharius (t. 7, col. 545a)". Glossarium Mediae et Infimae Latinitatis (in French). Niort: L. Favre.