Pronoia

an institution of the Byzantine feudal government; a lifetime income from state taxes levied on a territory. It is first mentioned in the Treatise on Taxation (tenth or 11th century). Beginning in the 13th century, it was an income, sometimes hereditary, derived from land.

The institution of pronoia, particularly beginning in the late 12th century, was in many ways similar to the Western European benefice or fief. However, the income of a person receiving pronoia was largely composed of state rent that was transferred to him. Pronoia was received primarily by military men, but civilians (including women) and monasteries also sometimes received it, especially in the 13th through 15th centuries. In the 14th and 15th centuries, pronoia became widespread in such southern Slavic regions as Serbia and Zeta. In accordance with the Code of Stefan Dušan, pronoia could not be transferred, even to the church income.