Perperak
The perperak was a local fiscal official attested in the Rila and Vitosha charters of Tsar Ivan Shishman. He most probably collected the monetary levy known as the perper and held an important place in the provincial tax administration.
The office is known only from two Bulgarian royal acts: the Rila chrysobull, a solemn charter authenticated with a gold seal, and the Vitosha Charter of Tsar Ivan Shishman. In their lists of officials, the title appears in the form “perpirake.” No individual holder is named, and the limited evidence does not establish when the office was created or when it disappeared.
The name is a Slavic phonetic form of the Byzantine ὑπερπυράκης (hyperpyrakēs). It is connected with the ὑπέρπυρον, or hyperpyron, known elsewhere in the Balkans as the perper. This coin or monetary unit occurs frequently in Serbian acts and is also mentioned in the Virgin and Zograf charters, demonstrating its use in Bulgaria. In the Virgin Charter, “perper” additionally denotes a fiscal obligation listed alongside other levies. The perperak is therefore generally understood as the Bulgarian counterpart of a Byzantine official responsible for collecting monetary taxes. The evidence is insufficient, however, to determine whether the Bulgarian office reproduced its Byzantine model in every respect.
Evidence from neighbouring states supports this interpretation. In a charter of Tsar Stefan Dušan dated 1347–1350, “perperak” refers not to an official but to a state levy from which monastic dependants were exempted. The two usages are compatible: the Serbian act names the charge, whereas the Bulgarian charters identify the officer responsible for it. Wallachian charters from the fifteenth century onward mention a tax called “perper,” whose name derived from the Byzantine and later Ragusan coin. It chiefly affected commercial goods and produce, particularly wine and fish; the corresponding Moldavian levy was called “leul pe bute.” These parallels suggest that the Bulgarian perperak may have been concerned not only with tax collection but also with the fiscal supervision of the market, although direct Bulgarian evidence for such a broader role is lacking.
The perperak’s position in lists of officeholders suggests that he enjoyed substantial standing within the local fiscal administration. He appears sixth in the Rila chrysobull and seventh in the Vitosha Charter. Among officials with fiscal duties he is placed particularly high, although separate account must be taken of the praktor, another agent involved in collecting state dues. The order does not prove a precise court hierarchy, but it indicates that the perperak was not a minor collector. No insignia, official seals, or coins associated with the office are known, and no individual holder can be identified by name.