THE NOT-SO-SECRET FUNCTIONS OF THE MYSTIKOS*
Paul MAGDALINO
« The service of the mystikos is obvious from the very name »1. Pseudo- Kodinos' 'somewhat Sibylline' remark2 well illustrates the difficulties involved in attempting to define the administrative role of the Byzantine imperial official who was literally 'the secret one', and whose work, by definition confidential, has not surprisingly left little trace in narrative histories and imperial charters. However, the evidence for the functions exercised by the mystikos since the creation of the office in the ninth century is more considerable than Pseudo-Kodinos might lead one to expect. Whether or not the mystikos acted as the emperor's private secretary, there is some indication that by the eleventh century he performed judicial functions and presided over a sekreton3. By the mid twelfth century he had
* Most of the research for this paper was carried out during my tenure of a fellowship granted by the Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung.
1. J. Verpeaux, Pseudo-Kodinos. Traité des Offices (Paris 1966, p. 179) : ή του μυστικού υπηρεσία νοείται και άπ' αύτοϋ τοϋ ονόματος.
2. J. Verpeaux, Nicéphore Choumnos, Paris 1959, p. 38 n. 5.
3. See R. Guilland, Études sur l'histoire administrative de l'empire byzantin : Le mystique, δ μυστικός, REB 26, 1968, p. 279-86 ; N. Oikonomidès, Z,es listes de préséance byzantines des IXe et Xe siècles, Paris 1972, p. 324 ; Idem, L'évolution de l'organisation administrative de l'empire byzantin au xic siècle (1025-1118), TM 6, 1976, p. 134 and n. 54 ; V. Laurent, Le corpus des sceaux de Vempire byzantin, Π : U administration centrale, Paris 1981, p. 50-59. To the names of mystikoi listed by Guilland and Laurent may now be added that of Constantine Leichoudes : N. Oikonomides, St. George of Mangana, Maria Skleraina, and the « Malyj Sion » of Novgorod, DOP 34-35, 1980- 1981, p. 243ff.
