Megas Doux

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The Megas Doux (Greek: Μέγας Δουξ, "Grand Duke") was one of the highest positions in the hierarchy of the Byzantine Empire. It is sometimes also given by the half-Latinizations "Megaduke" or "Megadux".

Originally the equivalent of the Lord High Admiral, the Megas Doux had been expanded under the late Palaiologean emperors and functioned as an unofficial Prime Minister, overseeing the Imperial Bureaucracy in place of the Megas Logothetes who had previously exercised this function.

The last and most famous Megas Doux was Loukas Notaras.

[edit] See also

• Byzantine aristocracy and bureaucracy
• Byzantine navy

[edit] Sources

• The Immortal Emperor, by Prof. Donald M. Nicol.
• The Fall of Constantinople 1453, by Sir James Cochran Stevenson (Steven) Runciman.
• Byzantium: Decline and Fall & A Short History of Byzantium, by John J. Cooper, the 2nd Viscount Norwich.