Byzantine senate
In 1197, the Byzantine senate was assembled alongside the clergy and guildsmen of Constantinople to approve a special tax called the Alamanikon. The senators refused. Paying the levy, they argued, was contrary to custom. The emperor backed down, taxing the provinces instead and exempting the capital. That act of resistance came after centuries of the senate's formal powers eroding. Few institutions in the ancient or medieval world persisted through so many changes in government, religion, and military fortune. How the Byzantine senate came to be, who sat in it, and how it persisted are the questions this documentary sets out to answer.
Constantine I offered free land and grain to any Roman senators willing to relocate to his new capital in the East. The new institution, however, initially resembled the councils of important cities like Antioch far more than the Roman Senate it was meant to continue. Constantine's son, Constantius II, worked to change this, elevating the body from a municipal institution to an imperial one. Constantius II also enrolled his own friends, courtiers, and provincial officials, swelling the membership to 2,000. Even so, the senators in Constantinople held essentially the same limited powers as those who remained in Rome.
Two senate houses served the institution in Constantinople. Constantine had the first built; Justinian I later restored it. It stood on the east side of the Augustaion, close to the Imperial Palace at Magnaura. A second house occupied the north side of the Forum of Constantine. The senate lost both houses in the 6th century and afterward assembled in the Great Palace of Constantinople.
The senatorial families of Constantinople were, on the whole, less affluent and less distinguished than those who remained in Rome.
By 395, when the Roman Empire divided permanently, praetors had been stripped of most of their serious responsibilities. Their sole remaining duty was to manage spending on public games and public works. The praetorship remained important despite this reduction, because it served as one of the main gateways into the senate. There were eight praetors in the Eastern Roman Empire who shared the financial burden of the office between them. The position was expensive: praetors were expected to maintain their own treasury to fund their municipal duties.
The senate was led by the Prefect of the City of Constantinople, who handled all communications with the emperor. Three orders divided the membership: the illustres, the spectabiles, and the clarissimi. The illustres occupied the top rank, holding offices such as master of soldiers and praetorian prefect. The spectabiles formed the middle tier, comprising proconsuls, vicars, and military governors of the provinces. The clarissimi occupied the lowest rank, attached to provincial governorships and lesser posts.
Senators of the clarissimi and spectabiles were permitted to live anywhere in the empire. They were rarely present at sessions in Constantinople. The illustres, whose offices were based in the capital, were the senate's truly active members. By the end of the 5th century, the two lower orders were formally excluded from sitting in the senate entirely.
The curiales, members of Rome's middle class, faced particularly harsh obligations under late Roman emperors. They were often required to serve as decurions, funding local government from their own pockets and personally making up any tax shortfalls. Some sought senate membership precisely to escape these duties. Theodosius I responded with a decree: even those who secured a senate seat must first complete their public service obligations. The emperor or the senate could also grant a seat by decree to someone not born into the senatorial order. Those admitted this way were often also excused from the expensive praetorship.
Under Justinian I, a significant expansion of the clarissimi created a chain reaction through the ranks. Officials were promoted from clarissimi to spectabiles, and from spectabiles into the illustres, which had previously been the senate's elite class. A new order was created to preserve a tier above the expanding illustres: the gloriosi, reserved for the highest-ranking senators. For most members, holding a senate seat was a secondary role alongside their primary positions in the empire's administrative machinery.
In 446, the Western Roman emperor Valentinian III formalized a procedure giving the senate the right of cooperation over new laws. Under this framework, any new law had to be discussed at a joint meeting of the senate and the imperial council. The emperor could confirm it only afterward. This procedure was later included in Justinian's code, though whether the Eastern empire fully adopted it is uncertain. The senate could pass resolutions called senatus consulta that the emperor might adopt as edicts. It could also suggest legislation. Some imperial pronouncements were read aloud before the assembled body, in the form of formal orations to the senate.
High treason cases in the Byzantine Empire were sometimes referred directly to the senate for judgment. Ordinary criminal matters were handled by a smaller panel: the prefect of the city sitting alongside five senators chosen by lot. Beyond criminal justice, the senate held constitutional significance in the selection of emperors. Officially, emperors were to be chosen by both the military and the senate. In practice, succession was almost always hereditary. The senate's constitutional authority over imperial succession, however theoretical it often was, would pull it into some of the most turbulent moments in Byzantine history.
In 457, the senate offered to enthrone the master of soldiers, an Alan military commander named Aspar. The throne went instead to Leo I, a tribune and senator who was Aspar's own subordinate.
In 532, a major urban uprising shook Constantinople: the Nika riots. Some members of the senate gave their support to the rioters against Justinian I. The emperor did not like or trust the wealthy senate. He survived the uprising. After 541, a plague pandemic killed many senators. Justinian then confiscated the wealth of many who remained.
In 608, during the reign of the emperor Phocas, the senate showed it could act at a distance. Senate members in Carthage backed the declaration of Heraclius the Elder and his son Heraclius as consuls. The younger Heraclius was later elected emperor. Phocas, the previous ruler, was deposed by the senate and arrested in a church by two of its members.
When Emperor Heraclius died in 641, he left the empire to two sons from different marriages. Constantine III was the son of his first wife, Eudokia; Heraklonas was the son of his second wife, Martina. Empress Martina demanded imperial power for herself in a ceremony held at the Hippodrome of Constantinople. The senate and the people refused her. Constantine III then died only four months later, leaving Heraklonas as sole ruler. Rumours of Martina having assassinated Constantine III spread quickly. A general named Valentinus led a revolt, and Heraklonas was forced to accept Constantine's son, Constans II, as co-ruler. Heraklonas's brother David was also crowned co-emperor. Even that was not enough. The senate deposed Heraklonas; his nose was slit, Martina's tongue was cut out, and both were exiled to Rhodes. Constans II became sole emperor under the senate's regency.
A senate with a child emperor formally under its regency in 641 was, for one brief moment, the nearest thing to supreme authority in the Eastern Roman world.
From the 7th century onward, the Byzantine senate functioned less as a governing institution and more as a class of dignitaries. Legal reforms carried out by the emperors Basil I and Leo VI removed many of the body's remaining formal powers. What had once been a deliberative body capable of deposing emperors was becoming, gradually, an honorific assembly.
The senate retained considerable prestige well into the 11th century. Following the death of Basil II, a faction known as the court party came to power. Civilian aristocrats, many of them senators, shaped imperial policy for a time. With the accession of Alexios I Komnenos, the military faction gained the upper hand and the senate began to fade into irrelevance. The title of senator could now simply be purchased from the emperor.
The senate's last known act was to elect Nikolaos Kanabos as emperor, in opposition to Isaac II and Alexius IV during the Fourth Crusade. The body had persisted for centuries by then. Even in its diminished state, it could still name a candidate for the throne. Under the Palaeologus dynasty that followed, the title of senator survived for a time. But the mid-14th century brought crises that finally extinguished the institution for good. Those who marked its passing noted that the office traced its origins back 2,000 years, to Romulus, the first leader of Rome.
Common questions
What was the Byzantine senate and when was it founded?
The Byzantine senate was the continuation of the Roman Senate in the Eastern Roman Empire, established in the 4th century by Emperor Constantine I. It survived for centuries before finally disappearing in the mid-14th century under the Palaeologus dynasty.
Who founded the Byzantine senate and how did it develop?
Emperor Constantine I founded the Byzantine senate in the 4th century, establishing it in his new capital of Constantinople. His son Constantius II later elevated it from a municipal body to an imperial institution and expanded its membership to 2,000.
What powers did the Byzantine senate have?
The Byzantine senate could pass resolutions called senatus consulta that the emperor might adopt as edicts. It functioned as a consultative body for imperial legislation, and some imperial pronouncements were read aloud before the assembled body. The senate also served as a court for high treason cases and held constitutional authority in the selection of emperors alongside the military.
What were the ranks and orders of senators in the Byzantine senate?
Senators in the Byzantine senate were divided into three orders: the illustres at the top, the spectabiles in the middle, and the clarissimi at the bottom. During the reign of Justinian I, a fourth order called the gloriosi was created above the illustres to accommodate the highest-ranking senators.
Why did the Byzantine senate decline and lose power?
The Byzantine senate's decline accelerated from the 7th century onward, as emperors Basil I and Leo VI stripped it of many formal powers through legal reforms. After the military faction's triumph under Alexios I Komnenos, the senate faded into irrelevance and the title of senator could simply be purchased from the emperor.
What was the last known act of the Byzantine senate?
The Byzantine senate's last known act was to elect Nikolaos Kanabos as emperor in opposition to Isaac II and Alexius IV during the Fourth Crusade. The title of senator survived for a time under the Palaeologus dynasty before the institution finally vanished in the mid-14th century.
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2 references cited across the entry
- 2BookByzantium Confronts the West, 1180–1204Charles M. Brand — Harvard University Press — 1968