(After J.B. Bury.) The three major categories were as follows (in descending order):
- illustres: heads of the great central ministries; commanders-in-chief of the armies; the Comes domesticorum; the Grand Chamberlain (praepositus sacri cubiculi)
- spectabiles: proconsuls; vicars; provincial military governors; the magistri scriniorum, et al.
- clarissimi (the qualification for the Senate): provincial governors (ex officio), other lesser posts; bestowed on many civil servants after their retirement (the title frequently was acquired by imperial conferment rather than by fulfillment of a particular office)
Because the clarissimate was bestowed on so many, over time its value lessened. Many, therefore, were raised to the rank of spectabilis to compensate for the diminished value of the rank of clarissimus. This debasement rippled upward through the ranks and resulted, before the middle of the sixth century, in a new highest rank: that of the gloriosi.
Since I’m completely ignorant of the period, are there any echoes of this system in post-Roman Europe?
I don’t know much about the continuation of rank in the post-Roman period. I do know from a talk by Edward Schoolman this summer that versions of the late ranks persisted in Ravenna, at least, into (I think) the 9th or 10th century (in his talk this was based on a record of the unsealing of a will, which included references to men of various rank), though occupations that made one eligible had shifted somewhat (e.g., scribes became men of high rank). I’m foggy on the details, but I think I have the handout, so I’ll try to check it for more precise information.
Salve , great post, re titles in the late empire. Years ago , one of my instructors, quoted J.B. Bury, to the effect, the decline of the late empire could be traced in the gradual proliferation of ever more grandiose designations of imperial rank.
After grad school, I went to work for the federal government, and found rapid confirmation to the truth of the old profs comment in every federal department and organizational manual
My question do you have a J.B. Bury citation for something similar ?
Vale
John
p.s. Perhaps in A. M. H. Jones’s The Later Roman Empire, 284–602?