pronoia system

pronoia system, Byzantine form of feudalism based on government assignment of revenue-yielding property to prominent individuals in return for services, usually military; instituted during the reign of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachus (1042–55).

In the beginning, a pronoia (grant of land) was bestowed for the life of the holder and could not be transferred by alienation or inheritance. The grants varied from large areas including several villages to small estates sufficient to fill a single family’s needs. The holder was absolute master over the peasants living on his land, collecting taxes from them and meting out justice to them.

In the 11th century the pronoia became the basis of the military system, obliging its holder to provide military service and troops in proportion to the value of his grant. Under the Comnenus dynasty (1081–1185), monastic lands were seized in order to be redistributed as pronoias, thereby increasing the number of landholders supplying troops for the army.

By the late 13th century, the pronoia could be passed on to heirs, and the obligation for military service was transferred as well. Under the Palaeologian dynasty (1261–1453), the feudal nobility refused to fulfill their military obligations but retained their grants of land.