Procesul definirii instituției voievodale în sfera de influență a Bizanțului
The Voivodeship Definition Process under the Influence of Byzantine Rule

Summary/Abstract: The evolution of the Slavic dignity of voivode has been influenced by the contact of the people who have used the aforementioned dignity with Byzantine administrative institutions and culture. This contact was part of the diplomatic efforts of the Byzantine Empire to protect its Danubian frontier and that of Constantinople. This policy proved successful starting from the middle of the IXth century with the reign of Michael III until the Komnenoi Dynasty. The main elements of this diplomacy were conversion to Christianity, offering imperial princesses in marriage and bestowment of imperial titles on the leaders. The populations that we shall consider for this paper are the Bulgarians, Serbs, Russian and Magyars. The first step to form any form of administration was the adoption of Christianity by its leaders, as is the case with the Bulgarians and the Rus. Eventually, the voivode had evolved to become a territorial governor with military attributes, thus maintaining his basic military rank. In the case of the Bulgarians, the main Byzantine administrative rank that contributed to the formation of what was to become the dignity of voivode during the Second Bulgarian Empire was the strategos. The formation was facilitated by the similarities of their functions and, of course, direct contact with the strategos, bearers of such titles serving under the Bulgarian khans. Also, the territories of the First Bulgarian Empire did come under Byzantine rule during the reign of Basil II, who brought them under the direct administration of strategoi. For the Rus, the voivode was the knyaz’s main military advisor. After the death of Yaroslav the Wise, the Kievan Rus state maintained its unity, but only nominally, each of Yaroslav’s sons and nephews ruled their princedoms virtually independent of Kiev, the seat of the Grand Knyaz. This situation permitted them to become kingmakers and influence the succession to the throne and political life of each princedom due to their military power and reliance of the leader on them. In the medieval Serbian Kingdom and then empire, the voivode represented a military governor, and the grand voivode represented the highest military dignity and a very influential member of the court. The main Byzantine dignity that influenced the grand voivode was probably the megas doux (grand duke) who during the Komennoi was initially high admiral but had also command over land forces. The influence of the nobles, and among others, the grand voivode, was caused mainly by the complex realities within Dușan’s empire and the maintenance of the balance between Greek and Serbian nobles and administrators. During the reign of the despot Ștefan Lazarević, the voivodes represented influential territorial governors with military attributes. As for the Slavs that lived in Montenegro, there existed the tradition of the election of a voivode by the elders, with influences from the Serbian Kingdom/ Empire. Also, this tradition existed during the Venetian dominance in the area, the voivode being elected after they received the approval of Venice. Later, another case can be observed, the election of two voivodes as a consequence that a part of the people were Venetian loyalists. The Magyars have an interesting case, using the Slavic dignity of voivode in Transylvania, the voivode of Transylvania being one of the highest dignitaries in the Kingdom of Hungary. A link may exist between the voivode and the Magyar gyula, first time made by the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII, the two being similar from the point of view of their military ranks. There is also the idea that gyula/gylas may be the basis for the voivode of Transylvania. Of course, further study must be made as concerns this assumption, primarily because of the tendency of the Magyars to keep local institutions, like the Ban of Croatia, for example.

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