Why is ‘Byzantine’ used to describe excessive bureaucracy? Was Byzantium really an administrative mess?
In: Other
Keep in mind that the Byzantine Empire had *way* more state capacity than a typical medieval kingdom.
The King of France in 900AD had limited influence over the land he ostensibly owned. There simply were not many literate, educated men to do all of the normal state things like collect taxes, run courts, write laws, etc. and so he couldn’t just hire 1000 men to go out each year and collect taxes. Especially because he didn’t actually have any tax money to pay them.
The way around this was to find the few literate men outside of the clergy and give them land in exchange for handling administrative stuff within their fiefs.
The Byzantines, on the other hand, actually did have plenty of money and plenty of literate men to serve as bureaucrats, so it was far more feasible for the Emperor to have much more direct control over his land through an extensive bureaucracy. Even if this bureaucracy wouldn’t seem extraordinary by today’s standards, it *was* quite a marvel in comparison to the rest of medieval Europe.
Latest Answers