1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Logothete

LOGOTHETE (Med. Lat. logotheta, Gr. λογοθέτης, from λόγος, word, account, calculation, and τιθέναι, to set, i.e. “one who accounts, calculates or ratiocinates”), originally the title of a variety of administrative officials in the Byzantine Empire, e.g. the λογοθέτης τοῦ δρόμου, who was practically the equivalent of the modern postmaster-general; and the λογοθέτης τοῦ στρατιωτικοῦ, the logothete of the military chest. Gibbon defines the great Logothete as “the supreme guardian of the laws and revenues,” who “is compared with the chancellor of the Latin monarchies.” From the Eastern Empire the title was borrowed by the West, though it only became firmly established in Sicily, where the logotheta occupied the position of chancellor elsewhere, his office being equal if not superior to that of the magnus cancellarius. Thus the title was borne by Pietro della Vigna, the all-powerful minister of the emperor Frederick II., king of Sicily.

See Du Cange, Glossarium, s.v. Logotheta.