Noun

Singular despotate

Plural despotates

despotate (plural despotates)

1. An area ruled by a despot (δεσπότης) in the late Byzantine Balkans (13th to 15th centuries).
   • 1974, Vladimir Dedijer, History of Yugoslavia‎, page 129:

     Even before the great sultan Mehmed II, known as El Fatih (the Conqueror), took power in Turkey, the Serbian despotate had become the booty of the invaders.

Related terms

• despot
• despotic
• despotism

Despot (from Greek: δεσπότης, despotēs; plural δέσποτες, despotes; feminine δέσποινα, despoina; in Bulgarian and Serbian: деспот, despot; feminine деспотица, despotitsa), was a Byzantine court title, also granted in the states under Byzantine influence, such as the Latin Empire, Bulgaria, Serbia, and the Empire of Trebizond. In the last two hundred years or so, the term "despot" is perceived negatively, as it is associated with despotism, but the original title had no such connotations. This change of meaning is shared with other terms in different times such as "tyrant", derived from the ancient Greek word for "King", and "Dictator", originally a legally-appointed Roman magistrate.