# Vestarches

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{{Short description|Byzantine honorific title}}
[[File:Seal of Michael Antipapos, vestarches and pronoetes of Athens (Schlumberger, 1894).png|thumb|Seal of Michael Antipapos, {{Transliteration|el|vestarches}} and {{Transliteration|el|[pronoetes](/source/pronoetes)}} of [Athens](/source/Athens)]]
'''{{Transliteration|el|Vestarches}}''' ({{langx|el|βεστάρχης}}) was a senior [Byzantine](/source/Byzantine_Empire) [honorific dignity](/source/Byzantine_aristocracy_and_bureaucracy) in use from the late 10th to early 12th centuries.

The term {{Transliteration|el|vestarches}} means 'master of the {{Transliteration|el|[vestai](/source/vestes)}}', another group of high court dignitaries.{{sfn|Oikonomides|1972|pp=294, 299}} Etymologically, these terms are related to the {{Transliteration|el|[vestiarion](/source/vestiarion)}}, the imperial [wardrobe](/source/wardrobe), but despite earlier attempts (cf. Bréhier) to connect the {{Transliteration|el|vestai}} or {{Transliteration|el|vestarches}} with the officials of the {{Transliteration|el|vestiarion}}, no such relation appears to have existed.{{sfn|Bréhier|2000|pp=81, 111}}<ref name="ODB">{{harvnb|Kazhdan|1991|p=2162}}.</ref>

It is first mentioned in the ''[Escorial Taktikon](/source/Escorial_Taktikon)'', a list of offices and court titles and their precedence compiled in the 970s. Initially, it was restricted to senior court [eunuchs](/source/eunuchs), but came to be awarded to senior officers as well after the mid-11th century. Its holders included famed generals such as [Michael Bourtzes](/source/Michael_Bourtzes), [Nikephoros Melissenos](/source/Nikephoros_Melissenos), and possibly also the future Byzantine emperors [Nikephoros Botaneiates](/source/Nikephoros_Botaneiates) and [Romanos Diogenes](/source/Romanos_Diogenes), but also some senior judicial officials of [Constantinople](/source/Constantinople).<ref name="ODB"/> In the palace hierarchy, it came between the title of {{Transliteration|el|[magistros](/source/magistros)}} and that of {{Transliteration|el|[vestes](/source/vestes)}}, but was devalued with the general inflation of awards during the latter decades of the 11th century: by the turn of the century, the new title of '''{{Transliteration|el|protovestarches}}''' ({{langx|el|πρωτοβεστάρχης||first {{Transliteration|el|vestarches}}}}) is attested as being awarded to judges and notaries. Both titles are in evidence in the early 12th century, but apparently fell completely out of use soon after.<ref name="ODB"/>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|last=Bréhier|first=Louis|authorlink=Louis Bréhier|title=Les institutions de l'Empire byzantin|location=Paris|publisher=Albin Michel|year=2000|orig-year=1949|language=French|isbn=978-2-226-04722-9}}
* {{ODB | last=Kazhdan | first=Alexander | authorlink=Alexander Kazhdan | title = Vestarches | page = 2162}}
*{{cite book|last=Oikonomides|first=Nicolas|authorlink=Nicolas Oikonomides|title=Les listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles|location=Paris|publisher=Éditions du Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique|year=1972|language=French|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RFdmAAAAMAAJ}}

Category:Byzantine court titles

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