Voivode (
Old Slavic, literally "war-leader" or "war-lord") is a
Slavic title that originally denoted the principal commander of a military force. It derives from the word
vojevoda, which in early Slavic meant the
bellidux, i.e. the military commander of an area, but it usually had a greater meaning. In Byzantine times it was used to refer to mainly military commanders of Slavic populations, especially in the Balkans. In medieval Serbia it meant a high-ranking official and before the Ottoman occupation the commander of a military area. During Ottoman times, Voivode was the title borne by the ruler of a province, whose powers included the administration, security and tax collection under a special regime. According to the chronicle of the Voutsas monastery, the Slavic title of “voivode”, which prevailed in certain areas of Epirus and Thessaly before the Ottoman occupation, used to denote the leader of a Vlach community or family. The same title was borne by the Ottoman official who oversaw the “Chora Metzovo” each time. The word gradually came to denote the
governor of a
province.
