General characteristics of the aristocracy

he word "aristocracy" defines the higher stratum of society, the ruling class, which consisted of the dynatoi ("powerful"), that is the most prosperous citizens of the realm. It was from this class that the Byzantine emperors usually came. The aristocrats were conscious of their high social position and were proud of it. Indeed, those who could claim descent from distinguished and powerful ancestors often referred with pride to their family tree.

Noble descent, however, was not a common characteristic of all aristocrats, but only of a few. What they all possessed was land, either fully (inherited or purchased) or ceded in the form of a pronoia, as a concession, that is, on the part of the Emperor, together with its paroikoi and the right to collect the taxes normally paid to the state. The property (mostly in the form of land) of the aristocrats dominated the scene in every part of the Empire. The aristocrats themselves, however, usually resided in the cities, where the wealth produced on the land, and on which they were financially dependent, was brought. Among the aristocratic families, which had been in existence since the 13th century at least, and which consisted of the greatest landowners, were the families of the Palaiologoi, the Nestongoi, the Tarchaneiotes, the Raouls, the Kantakouzenoi, the Angeloi, the family of Theodore Philes, the Vatatzes and Metochites families, the Philanthropenoi, the Kaballarioi, the Aprenoi and the Kamytzai.

A basic characteristic of the late Byzantine period is that the more the power and influence of the imperial environment and the state declined, the more the aristocracy strengthened its dominant position and increased the importance of its political and economic role. As regards its structure, contemporary research seems to indicate the existence, within the aristocracy itself, of a higher and a lower class.