Organisation du pouvoir en Serbie médiévale

Abstract

The organization of power in medieval SerbiaThe Serbian Mediaeval State was a monarchy where the ruler exercised supreme powers with legislative, military, diplomatic and judicial competences. The kings also claimed property right over the whole territory of the State (dominium eminens). However, diverse types of institutional representation completed the governmental structure. State Councils exercised a great influence. They were representative body comprising the most powerful lords, secular and ecclesiastical. The sources also mention the existence of various court dignitaries and local civil servants. The most important court dignitaries comprised the kaznac (tax collector) and the tepcija (land official). In the administrative reform of 1340, under King Dusan, new titles and offices were introduced, mostly as a result of the Byzantine influence. These new titles included the logothet (chancellor), the protovestijar (chamberlain), the great celnik (comes palatinus), and the dvorodržica (marshal of the court), while on the local level, a new office of kefalija (capitaneus) was created. Representative assemblies (sabori) comprised the most powerful lords of the kingdom. They met on thirtyseven occasions between the end of the twelfth century and the middle of the fifteenth century. A few Serbian and Byzantine narrative sources point also to the existence of a Privy Council that regrouped the highest nobility of the kingdom.