Sentence:  Unlike fiefs, <WSD>pronoiai</WSD> were granted only by the emperor, and so they played no role in producing the subinfeudation and the hierarchical social and political structure characteristic of Western feudalism. <WSD>Pronoia</WSD> was a fiscal and administrative institution; the fief territorial and personal. The grant of a <WSD>pronoia</WSD> was primarily a grant of revenue expressed as a monetary sum (the posotes), not in terms of a quantity of property. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  An imperial grant to an individual of temporary fiscal rights in the form of land, incomes or taxes from land, fishing rights, etc., sometimes carrying with it an obligation of military service.