Byzantine army

The pronoia (; , meaning "care", "forethought" or "providence," from 'before' and 'mind') was a system of granting dedicated streams of state income to individuals and institutions in the late Byzantine Empire. Beginning in the 11th century and continuing until the empire's fall in the 15th century, the system differed in significant ways from European feudalism of the same period.

land branch of the armed forces of the Byzantine Empire

thumb|A 12th century turcopole, historical re-enactment During the Crusades, turcopoles (also "turcopoles" or "turcopoli"; from the , literally "sons of Turks"; singular: τουρκόπουλος) were locally recruited mounted archers and light cavalry employed by the Byzantine Empire and the Crusader states. A leader of these auxiliaries was designated as Turcopolier, a title subsequently given to a senior officer in the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller in charge of the coastal defence and fortifications of Rhodes and Malta. In addition to the two Military Orders, the army of the Kingdom of J

Period of the byzantine army

Stratopedarchēs (), sometimes Anglicized as Stratopedarch, was a Greek term used with regard to high-ranking military commanders from the 1st century BC on, becoming a proper office in the 10th-century Byzantine Empire. It continued to be employed as a designation, and a proper title, of commanders-in-chief until the 13th century, when the title of ' (μέγας στρατοπεδάρχης) or Grand Stratopedarch' appeared. This title was awarded to senior commanders and officials, while the ordinary stratopedarchai were henceforth low-ranking military officials.

Akolouthos () was a Byzantine office with varying functions over time. Originally a subaltern officer of the imperial guard regiment (tagma) of the Vigla, it was associated with the command over the famed Varangian Guard in the 11th–12th centuries.

Aplekton (, from ) was a Byzantine term used in the 10th–14th centuries for a fortified army base (in this sense similar to the metaton) and later in the Palaiologan period for the obligation of billeting soldiers.

thumb|right|250px|Seal of the magistros, vestēs, and stratēlatēs of the East [[Hervé Frankopoulos]] Stratēlatēs (, "driver/leader of the army") was a Greek term designating a general, which also became an honorary dignity in the Byzantine Empire. In the former sense, it was often applied to military saints, such as Theodore Stratelates.

Byzantine military from the late 13th to 15th centuries