Patrician: Encyclopedia II - Patrician - Patrician position

Patrician - Patrician position

Under the Roman Empire, patrician status as it had been understood in the Republic ceased to have meaning in everyday life. The emperor Constantine reintroduced the term; Patrician (Patricius) became an honorific title for those who demonstrated faithful service to the Empire. There were generally only a few patricians in the Empire at any given time, and sometimes only one. By the fifth century in the West, the title generally denoted a man who held the power behind the imperial throne, usually a general of the Roman army. Patricians of this era included Stilicho, Constantius III (before he became co-emperor), Aëtius, Boniface, and Ricimer. The term was occasionally used in this sense in Western Europe after the end of the Roman Empire; for instance, Pope Stephen III granted the title "Patrician of the Romans" to the Frankish ruler Pippin III. In the East, where the Emperors maintained their hold on power, the title maintained its meaning as an honorific until Latin titles fell out of use as Greek became the language of the court.

Patrician - List of Patricii

• Flavius Julius Constantius: 335-337
• Flavius Stilicho: 394-408 (also magister militum)
• Flavius Constantius: 417-421 (later emperor February-September 421)
• Flavius Castinus: 420s
• Bonifacius: 432
• Flavius Aëtius: 433-454 (also magister militum)
• Petronius Maximus: 445-455 (later emperor March-April 455)
• Ricimer: 456-472 (also magister militum)
• Gundobad: 472-473 (also magister militum, and later King of the Burgundians 473-516)
• Odoacer: 476-493 (also King of Italy)
• al-Harith ibn Jabalah: 529-569 (also King of the Ghassanids)

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Patrician position", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki