Praeses (plural Praesides), is a Latin word meaning "Seated in front of, i.e. at the head (of a meeting or company)", has both ancient and modern uses.

Roman imperial use[link]

Praeses, a common Latin word, meaning chief or patron,^[1] was increasingly used for Roman governors during the 2nd century AD, largely replacing procurator.^[2] When Diocletian remodeled the system at the end of the 3rd century, he reduced the sizes of the provinces and called all provincial governors praesides. He also made it impossible for Roman Senators to be governors, restricting the office entirely to the equites (knights). In the 6th Century, when Justinian increasingly reversed Diocletian's strict separation of civil and military authority, praeses granted military authority over their province were generally elevated to the related, older term Praetor.

Provinces administered by a Praeses[link]

According to the Notitia dignitatum (circa AD 400), the following provinces were administered by a Praeses (grouped by diocese):

There were thirty-one provincial praesides in the Western Roman Empire:

• four in Illyricum: Dalmatia, Pannonia Prima, Noricum mediterraneum, Noricum ripense
• seven in Italia: Alpes Cottiae, Rhaetia Prima and Secunda, Samnium, Valeria, Sardinia, Corsica.
• two in Africa: Mauretania Sitifensis, Tripolitana
• four in Hispania: Tarraconensis, Carthaginensis, Mauretania Tingitana, Insulae Baleares
• eleven in Gallia: Alpes Maritimae, Alpes Poenninae et Graiae, Maxima Sequanorum, Aquitanica Prima and Secunda, Novempopulana, Narbonensis Prima and Secunda, Lugdunensis Secunda, Tertia and Senonica
• three in Britannia: Britannia Prima and Secunda, Flavia Caesariensis.

There were forty provincial praesides in the Eastern Roman Empire:

• five in Egypt: Libya Superior and Inferior, Thebais, Ægyptus, Arcadia.
• eight in Oriens: Palaestina Salutaris and Secunda, Phoenice Libanensis, Euphratensis, Syria Salutaris, Osrhoene, Mesopotamia, Cilicia Secunda
• seven in Asiana: Pisidia, Lycaonia, Phrygia Pacatiana and Salutaris, Lycia, Caria, Insulae.
• eight in Pontica: Honorias, Cappadocia Prima and Secunda, Helenopontus, Pontus Polemoniacus, Armenia Prima and Secunda, Galatia Salutaris.
• four in Thracia: Haemimontus, Rhodope, Moesia Secunda, Scythia
• four in Dacia: Dacia ripensis, Moesia Prima, Praevalitana, Dardania
• four in Macedonia:Thessalia, Epirus vetus and nova, Macedonia salutaris.

Old German Academic Use[link]

In German academia a doctoral advisor is called the Doktorvater. However in the 18th century and before, the doctoral system was quite different. Instead of a Doktorvater, as such, the candidate had a praeses to act as mentor and who would also head the oral viva voce exam. In the 18th century the praeses often chose the subject and compiled the theses and the candidate had only to defend. Sometimes there were several candidates at the same time defending the same thesis, in order to save time.

Modern use[link]

The chair of a student society in the Netherlands or Belgium may be called a praeses; in Dutch the official spelling has changed to "preses" but most student societies still observe the Latin spelling. Various minor offices may be designated be a compound title, e.g. dooppraeses in charge of initiation and associated hazing.

The leader of the Aquila Legis Fraternity, a law based fraternity in the Philippines, is called Praeses.

In Norway, the office of archbishop has been abolished. Instead, the Church of Norway has a Bishop’s Conference which is presided over by a praeses which is elected for four years. Also the church bodies Evangelical Church in the Rhineland and Evangelical Church of Westphalia, which do not know the title and function of bishop, are chaired by a praeses (German: Präses, plural: Präsides). In other German church bodies the title usually refers to the president of the synod.

Roman Catholic monastic institutions, especially Franciscans use the term to indicate the presiding officer of a collegial meeting of the order.

See also[link]

• Pauly-Wissowa

References[link]

1. ^ Cassell's Latin Dictionary.
2. ^ Oxford Classical Dictionary s. "procurator"

Louis Pauwels (born in Ghent, Belgium, 2 August 1920 – 28 January 1997) was a French journalist and writer.

Biography[link]

Louis Pauwels was a teacher at Athis-Mons from 1939 to 1945 (licence de Lettres was interrupted at the start of the Second World War), Louis Pauwels wrote in many monthly literary French magazines as early as 1946 (including Esprit and Variété) until the 1950s. He participated in the foundation of Travail et Culture (Work and Culture) in 1946 (intended to spread culture to the masses, and of which he was the secretary). In 1948, he joined the work groups of G. I. Gurdjieff for fifteen months, until he became editor in chief of Combat in 1949 and editor of the newspaper Paris-Presse. He directed (among others) the Bibliothèque Mondiale (Worldwide Library) (the precursor of "Livre de Poche" ["Pocket Books"]), Carrefour (Intersection), the monthly women's Marie Claire, and the magazine Arts et Culture in 1952.

Pauwels met Jacques Bergier in 1954 while he was the literary director of Bibliothèque Mondiale, he would write Le Matin des Magiciens (The Dawn of Magic or The Morning of the Magicians) in 1960, and in 1970 the interrupted continuation of "L'Homme Eternel" (The Eternal Man). Constantly with Bergier (as well as François Richaudeau), he founded the bi-monthly magazine Planète in October 1961 (around 150 pages) that appeared until May 1968 (and would appear again that same year under the title le Nouveau Planète (the New Planet); 64 numbers in total between the two editions). Various studies were researched and published in a collection which the authors called "Encyclopédie Planète" (each volume containing around 250 pages, with around thirty volumes in all). The seventeen "Anthologies Planètes" dedicated to Jacques Sternberg grouped short texts by various authors on a given subject together. A great friend of Aimé Michel, the "Planète" was also dedicated to him. In the 1970s, he became friend with some members of GRECE.

Pauwels wrote numerous articles for Le Journal du Dimanche (The Sunday Newspaper) from 1975 to 1976. In 1977, he directed the cultural services of Le Figaro, where he established the bases of the Figaro-Magazine. Le Figaro-Magazine was launched in October 1978, as a weekly supplement to the newspaper Le Figaro. The intention of Robert Hersant was to create a counterweight to the influential Le Nouvel Observateur that he considered too left-wing. Louis Pauwels was in charge of the new magazine. Louis Pauwels offered initially the position of chief editor to Alain de Benoist who declined it due to his editorial duties at Éléments and at the Éditions Copernic. Jean-Claude Valla (politics and society) and Patrice de Plunkett (culture) thus became the first chief editors. Members of the GRECE were such as Alain de Benoist, Michel Marmin or Yves Chisten contributed to Le Figaro Magazine until the summer 1979. After their departure, the tone of the magazine became more libertarian (on economics) while remaining socially conservative. Louis Pauwels remained at the head of the weekly until 1993. When students demonstrated against the Devaquet law on universities in 1986, Louis Pauwels penned his most famous editorial on the Mental AIDS that had hit French youth. He founded, with Gabriel Véraldi and Rémy Chauvin, la Fondation Marcel et Monique Odier de Psycho-Physique in Geneva in 1992.

Returning to his Catholic faith, he spoke against his past associated with Planète (Alain de Benoist thus dedicated his book Comment peut-on être païen? (How Can One Be a Pagan?) to Pauwels in 1981 (ed. Albin Michel), a short while before his conversion in 1982 in Acapulco).

• François Quinton Le Figaro Magazine entre droite et "Nouvelle droite" : octobre 1978-juillet 1979 (Institut d'études politiques de Rennes, Master thesis, 2005)

See also[link]

• Vril