Drungary of the Watch The Drungary of the Watch ( , " droungarios tēs viglas / viglēs " ) was originally a senior Byzantine military post , commanding the " Vigla " or " Watch " , one of the elite " tagma ta " regiments of the middle Byzantine period , and in charge of the Byzantine emperor ' s safety . From ca . 1030 , the office was disassociated from its military origin and was transformed into a senior judicial position , thereafter usually referred to as the Grand Drungary of the Watch ( μέγας δρουγγάριος τ . β . , " megas droungarios t . v . " ) . The office continued to exist as a court dignity in the Palaiologan era , until the end of the Byzantine Empire . Military office . The Drungary of the Watch was originally the commander of the " Vigla " ( " guard watch " ) or " Arithmos " ( " number " ) , the third of the " tagma ta " , professional cavalry regiments headquartered in and around Constantinople , and distinct from the provincial or thematic troops . Judging from the unit ' s name and the peculiar titles of its officers , it had a considerable ancestry , dating back to the East Roman army of Late Antiquity , but it is unknown exactly when it was constituted as a " tagma " . The office of the Drungary of the Watch at any rate is first attested ca . 791 , when Alexios Mosele is recorded as " spatharios " and " droungarios tēs viglas " . In comparison to the other " tagmata " , the Watch and its commanders had special duties related to the safety of the emperor and the imperial palace . Within Constantinople , the Watch provided guards for the palace precinct , and kept a permanent garrison at the Covered Hippodrome ( also the Drungary ' s seat ) , which remained in the city at all times and accompanied the emperor whenever he was under way outside the palace precinct . The Drungary in particular was always in close attendance to the emperor , and went on campaign only when the emperor himself did so . Then he was entrusted with the safety of the army and the camp , including tasks such as the supervision of the night watch , the advance , rear and flank guards , as well as guarding the prisoners of war . Due to his proximity to the emperor , the Drungary had to be a person of confidence , and was often entrusted with delicate missions such as arrests or executions of high - ranking officials . On the other hand , as R . Guilland remarks , the sensitive nature of the office meant that " the merest negligence , the lightest suspicion could cause his fall " , while " the first care of a new emperor . . . was to elevate to the post of Drungary of the Watch one of his creatures " . As detailed in the " De Ceremoniis " , the Drungary always accompanied the emperor and was a frequent participant in various imperial ceremonies , often accompanied by his aide , the " akolouthos " . His ceremonial dress is indicated as the " skaramangion " tunic and a red " sagion " cloak , while on some occasions he bore a sword , a mace and an axe . The latter weapon was highly unusual for a Byzantine officer , and R . Guilland suggests that this was connected to his command of foreign troops via the " akolouthos " ( who later became the commander of the axe - bearing Varangian Guard ) . In the 10th century , when several holders of the post were scions of the most prominent families of the military aristocracy , including Eustathios Argyros , John Kourkouas and Manuel Kourtikes , the Drungary occupied the 36th place in the imperial hierarchy and usually held the senior court dignities of " anthypatos " , " patrikios " or " prōtospatharios " . Judicial office . In ca . 1030 , the office changed from military to purely judicial , and was further distinguished by acquiring the epithet " Grand " ( " megas " ) in the 1070s . It seems that the Drungary took over the Court of the Hippodrome , extant since the mid - 9th century and so known after its location in the Covered Hippodrome ( or , according to an alternative interpretation , in the substructures of the main Hippodrome of Constantinople ) . This was followed by the creation of new courts and the restructuring of the Byzantine judicial system , so that in the Komnenian period ( 1081 – 1185 ) , the Court of the Hippodrome or Court of the Drungary ( τὸ δρουγγαρικὸν δικαστήριον ) was one of the seven superior civil courts , alongside those of the Eparch of the City , the " dikaiodotēs " , the " koiaistōr " , the " epi tōn kriseōn " , the " prōtasēkrētis " and the " katholikos " , who headed the court for fiscal affairs ( " dēmosiaka pragmata " ) . The Drungary also served as an appellate court for the decisions of the " epi tōn kriseōn " . The holders of the post belonged to some of the most distinguished families of the civil aristocracy , including such men as Eustathios Rhomaios , John Skylitzes and Andronikos Kamateros . Palaiologan era . Following the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 , the office ' s continuity was broken , and when it reappears in the Palaiologan period , it has lost any judicial functions and resembles more its original military character : according to the mid - 14th century work of Pseudo - Kodinos , the Grand Drungary of the Watch was a subordinate of the Grand Domestic , charged with the night watch and with supervising the army ' s scouts . In reality , it had become more of a sinecure and was essentially a court dignity devoid of any but ceremonial duties . In Pseudo - Kodinos ' work , the Domestic of the Schools ranks 24th in the imperial hierarchy , between the Eparch and the Grand Hetaeriarch . The Domestic ' s distinctive court dress , as reported by Pseudo - Kodinos , consisted of a gold - brocaded hat ( " skiadion " ) , a plain silk " kabbadion " tunic and a staff ( " dikanikion " ) with a gilded knob on top , and covered with golden - red braid below . For ceremonies and festivities , he bore the domed " skaranikon " , of yellow and golden silk and decorated with gold wire embroidery , and with a portrait of the emperor seated on a throne in front and another with the emperor on horseback on the rear . The dignity survived until the end of the Byzantine Empire , with the historian Sphrantzes equating the Ottoman post of chief of the Janissaries to the Grand Drungary of the Watch .