Thedynatoi (Greek:δυνατοί, sing. Δυνατός,Dynatos "the powerful") was a legal term in theByzantine Empire, denoting the senior levels of civil, military and ecclesiastic (including monastic) officialdom, who usually, but not always, also commanded considerable fortunes and landed estates. Although such positions were not usually hereditary, by the late 10th and early 11th centuries they had started to become monopolized by a limited number of families who by the mid-11th century formed a hereditaryaristocracy.[1]
Although the exact composition of thedynatoi class has been the subject of considerable scholarly debate (cf. Lemerle),[2] in economic terms, it encompassed the wealthy land-owners as opposed to the middling and small landowners, thepenetes (πένητες).[3] The former were usually members of military families, who had been able to use their influence to grab up the extensive lands that had been abandoned, especially inAsia Minor, as the result of the invasions of the 7th and 8th centuries.[citation needed] As the Empire's military position recovered from the 9th century on, these lands became profitable again, and major provincial magnate families began to appear. Among the main examples are thePhokades and theMaleinoi,[4] who almost monopolized the senior administrative and military posts in Asia Minor in the early and middle 10th century. Thedynatoi were able to use their political and financial strength to enrich themselves at the expense of thepenetes, who had hitherto formed the main pillar of Byzantine society and economy.[5] Consequently, several emperors fromRomanos I Lekapenos (reigned 920–944) toBasil II (r. 976–1025) enacted agrarian legislation to combat the activities of thedynatoi,[6] and to prevent their acquisition of thestratiotika ktemata, the military lands allocated to the maintenance of thethematic armies.[7] Basil II in particular showed care to check thedynatoi through the imposition of theallelengyon ("mutual guarantee") tax, making them liable to pay the taxes of their poorer neighbours.[8]
In the event, these efforts failed due to the rise of the provincial aristocracy, represented by theKomnenos dynasty, to power: in the 12th century, largelatifundia spread throughout the countryside at the expense of smaller communities.[9] The influence of thedynatoi reached its apogee in thePalaiologan period (1261–1453), and was marked by a concomitant decline in the authority of the central state government.[10]