Military offices in the provinces

In medieval government, civil and military authority was not always clearly separated. This characteristic had older roots: under the Byzantine theme system, the military commander of a theme—a military and administrative province—also directed its civil government. In early states created through conquest, administrative structures were likewise often based on institutions that had originally served military purposes. Some offices in the Bulgarian provinces therefore cannot be classified as exclusively military or exclusively civil.

The military organization of early medieval Bulgaria was largely disrupted during the period of Byzantine rule. Although the restored Bulgarian Empire presented itself as the continuation of the state of Symeon I and the saintly Emperor Peter, it also adopted the Byzantine administrative and military arrangements then in operation. Byzantium itself had already transformed the old theme system: during the eleventh century the themes finally lost their former character, the army became more centralized, smaller, and more professional, and the provinces assumed a more limited defensive role. Regional governors nevertheless retained certain military responsibilities.

In the Second Bulgarian Empire, the army appears to have been directed chiefly from the centre, while the available forces were comparatively small and to a considerable extent non-professional. A separate and highly developed provincial military administration probably did not exist. Regional governors commanded small detachments that guarded fortresses and important installations or performed military-police duties against bands of raiders. These personnel belonged to the empire’s defensive organization, but their work was closer to permanent guard duty and the maintenance of local security than to the command of substantial field armies.

Not every governor who possessed military responsibilities should automatically be counted among the provincial military officers. Such individuals were primarily heads of administrative and territorial units. Offices concerned with obligations to supply and support the army also fall outside this category. Although their holders may have been attached to the armed forces, their duties were mainly fiscal or economic. Cooks and toll collectors may have belonged to this group, but neither their precise responsibilities nor their chain of command is adequately known.

Almost no reliable information survives about the internal organization of the provincial military services. It is clear chiefly that they were subordinate to the regional governors. The kastrophylakes—officials responsible for guarding individual fortresses—may have enjoyed a more independent position. They appear to have been among the closest military assistants of the kephale, the governor of a region or town. Three offices connected with the cavalry service are also known, but their functions are difficult to distinguish; their proposed ranking rests solely on the order in which they appear in charters. For the remaining officers, it is unknown whether they were subordinate to one another or how they fitted into a common command structure. Any detailed reconstruction of their hierarchy is therefore uncertain. The sources also provide no precise date for the disappearance of this group of provincial offices.