Prōtospatharios (Greek: πρωτοσπαθάριος) was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes.
[1] The meaning of the title, "first spatharios", indicates its original role as leader of the order (taxis) of the spatharioi, the imperial bodyguards, was already attested in the 6th century.
Probably under the Heraclians, the rank became an honorary dignity (Greek: δια βραβείου ἀξία, dia brabeiou axia), and was henceforth bestowed to high-ranking theme commanders, senior court officials, and allied rulers.
Its prestige was consequently very high, as illustrated by a well-known story related by Emperor Constantine Porphyrogennetos (r. 913–959) in his De Administrando Imperio: during the reign of his father, Emperor Leo VI the Wise (r. 886–912), an aged cleric of the Nea Ekklesia, Ktenas by name, paid 60 litras of gold (circa 19.4 kg),[5] i.e. sixty times the annual stipend of 72 nomismata to which prōtospatharioi were entitled, to acquire the title.
[3] In the Book of Offices of pseudo-Kodinos, the garb of this rank is defined as a gold wire-embroidered skaranikon (a tubular headdress), with the image of the reigning emperor enthroned in front and riding a horse behind, a gold kabbadion (caftan) and a skiadion (brimmed hat) of the klapōton type,[9] while bearing no distinctive dikanikion (staff of office).