Rector provinciae was a Latin generic term forRoman governor, the governor of aRoman province, known after the time ofSuetonius, and specifically a legal term (as used in the Codices of the EmperorsTheodosius I andJustinian I) after Emperor Diocletian'sTetrarchy (when they came under the administrative authority of theVicarius of a diocese and these under a Pretorian prefect), regardless of what their specific titles (of different rank, such asConsularis,Corrector provinciae,Praeses andProconsul) may have been.
A similar gubernatorial use or aschief magistrate existed in theRepublic of Ragusa (presently Dubrovnik, Croatia), which was governed by a Rector (also used in the Italian formRettore and the Slavonic equivalentKnez):
1358–1808, during the independence of the Ragusan Republic and two years after it was occupied by Napoleonic France in 1806.
one more Rector, from 18 to 29 January 1814, was Count Sabo Đurđević (Savino de Giorgi), the last previous incumbent, during the short-lived liberation of the Republic, before the occupation by Austrian troops.
Contemporary charters in Latin used a number of additional styles for the Danish king Cnut (Canute the Great, with Norway as his third realm; 23 April 1016 – 12 November 1035 in Britain) havingrex Anglorum in the core plus various other titles, includingrex Anglorum totiusque Brittannice orbis gubernator et rector i.e., 'king of the Angli and of all Britain governor and rector' (the last two in the generic sense 'ruler')
TheComtat Venaissin in southern France was administered by a rector since it became a papal possession until 1790 (on 24 May its States-General (representative assembly) proclaimed a constitution, but remained loyal to the pope).
