Despot (court title)

Despot or despotes was a senior Byzantine court title that was bestowed on the sons or sons-in-law of reigning emperors, and initially denoted the heir-apparent of the Byzantine emperor.

From Byzantium it spread throughout the late medieval Balkans and was also granted in the states under Byzantine cultural influence, such as the Latin Empire, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Serbian Empire and its successor states (Bulgarian and Serbian: деспот, romanized: despót), and the Empire of Trebizond. With the political fragmentation of the period, the term gave rise to several principalities termed "despotates" which were ruled either as independent states or as appanages by princes bearing the title of despot; most notably the Despotate of Epirus, the Despotate of the Morea, the Despotate of Dobruja and the Serbian Despotate.

In modern usage, the word has taken a different meaning: "despotism" is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. The semantic shift undergone by the term is mirrored by "tyrant", an ancient Greek word that originally bore a neutral connotation, and the Latin "dictator", a constitutionally sanctioned office of the Roman Republic. In colloquial Modern Greek, the word is often used to refer to a bishop. In English, the feminine form of the title is despotess (from Ancient Greek: δεσπότισσα, romanized: despótissa; Bulgarian: деспотица, romanized: despotítsa; Serbian: деспотица/despotica), which denoted the spouse of a despot, but the transliterated traditional female equivalent of despotes, despoina (Ancient Greek: δέσποινα, romanized: déspoina, lit. 'lady of the house'), is also commonly used.

Origin and history

The original Greek term δεσπότης (despotes) meant simply 'lord' and was synonymous with κύριος (kyrios). As the Greek equivalent to the Latin dominus, despotes was initially used as a form of address indicating respect. As such it was applied to any person of rank, but in a more specific sense to God (e.g.