Grand Logothete

The Grand Logothete (μέγας λογοθέτης, Megas logothetēs) is the effective head of the Rhomanian government, the leader of whichever political party is able to command a majority in the Imperial Senate. The position arose in the later eleventh century under the Komnenid Emperors, as head of the Imperial bureaucracy. The first Grand Logothete to sit in the Senate was Michael Keroularios, who was appointed to the position in spring 1381 by the Emperor Isaac III. Grand Logothetes under the Syrian dynasty tended to be the most senior member of the Senate, but this could often be challenged by the then largely unchecked power of the Emperor.

Grand Logothetes began to gain significant power from the time of Isaac Phokas and George Rossi in the 1420s, but, following the widespread unrest that followed them, the position was frequently left vacant by the Emperors of the fifteenth century. Only in the reign of Anna the Great did the position finally become established as a permanent one, partly to counter the fears of the Senatorial aristocracy at being dominated first by a woman, and then by a dynasty of Russian barbarians. The position had yet to be formalised however, and different holders of the office had different mandates- some were merely Imperial yes-men, others were elected representatives. Following the period of the Republic, the office of Grand Logothete was finally defined by Psaras, together with that of his Symboulion. Psaras himself held the office for fifteen years, which remains to this day a record. Since Psaras, there have been a total of twenty three Grand Logothetes.