The ''nomophylax'' (, "guardian of the laws") was a senior

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

judicial office of the 11th–15th centuries.

History

The office of ''nomophylax'' was established by Emperor

Constantine IX Monomachos Constantine IX Monomachos (; 980/ 1000 – 11 January 1055) reigned as Byzantine emperor from June 1042 to January 1055. Empress Zoë Porphyrogenita chose him as a husband and co-emperor in 1042, although he had been exiled for conspiring agai ...

(r. 1042–1055) either in 1043, 1045, or 1047 for John Xiphilinos, the future

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

. The office held extraordinary authority and was of high distinction: he presided over the law school of the capital,

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, was a member of the Byzantine Senate, held the seat next to the '' epi ton kriseon'', and was accorded an annual salary (''roga'') of 4 pounds of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

and a silk tunic, not counting various imperial donations and gifts on holidays. The post's authority was further strengthened by precisely specifying the few cases in which an incumbent could be dismissed. The post did not long survive in its original conception, however, and quickly became associated with

ecclesiastical law Canon law (from , , a 'straight measuring rod, ruler') is a set of ordinances and regulations made by ecclesiastical jurisdiction, ecclesiastical authority (church leadership) for the government of a Christian organization or church and its membe ...

, enjoying, according to J. Darrouzès, an intermediate position between the civil and ecclesiastical administrations. Thus in the 12th century, it was held by several notable canonists, such as Alexios Aristenos,

Neilos Doxapatres Neilos Doxapatres () was a Byzantine Greek monk, theologian, and writer active in Constantinople and Sicily during the first half of the 12th century. Biography Born into a native Greeks, Greek family of Constantinople, he made his career there, ...

, and

Theodore Balsamon Theodore Balsamon, also called Balsamo, () was a canonist of the Eastern Orthodox Church and 12th-century Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch. Biography Born in the second half of the 12th century at Constantinople; died there, after 1195 (Petit ...

. In the 14th century, there were both civil and ecclesiastical ''nomophylakes'', with the latter analogous to another ecclesiastical judicial office, the '' dikaiophylax''.

References

Sources

*{{cite encyclopedia, editor-last=Kazhdan, editor-first=Alexander, editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan, title=

The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium The ''Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium'' (ODB) is a three-volume historical dictionary published by the English Oxford University Press. With more than 5,000 entries, it contains comprehensive information in English on topics relating to the Byzan ...

, location=New York and Oxford, publisher=Oxford University Press, year=1991, isbn=978-0-19-504652-6, ref={{harvid, ODB Byzantine ecclesiastical titles and offices Byzantine judicial offices * 1040s establishments in Europe 11th-century establishments in the Byzantine Empire