User:Chief Ellingar/Defensor civitatis

Defensor civitatis (lat. "defender of the citizenry/community") was a title given to officials in the late Roman Empire. Created by Valentinian I in 364, the defensor was appointed for life by the praetorian prefect to protect the rights of the common people, in particular the poor, against abuse by the wealthy upper classes in minor legal squabbles. The official was also known as defensor plebis, patronus plebis or vindex civitatis. Under Theodosius I the office became elective. Every city of the empire was supposed to have one, but this was rarely true in practice. The defensor civitatus gradually evolved into a sort of chief of police and local magistrate. By the 6th century the office had generally fallen out of use, but the nominal title lived on into the Middle Ages in the Byzantine Empire and in parts of Western Europe.