it in 1163 to the future King Béla III of Hungary, the Emperor's son-in-law and, until the birth of Alexios II in 1169, heir-presumptive. According to the contemporary Byzantine historian John Kinnamos, the title of despot was analogous to Béla's Hungarian title of , or heir-apparent. From this time and until the end of the Byzantine Empire, the title of despot became the highest Byzantine dignity, which placed its holders "immediately after the emperor" (Rodolphe Guilland). Nevertheless, the Byzantine emperors from the Komnenoi to the Palaiologoi, as well as the Latin Emperors who claimed their succession and imitated their styles, continued to use the term in its more generic sense of 'lord' in their personal seals and in imperial coinage. In a similar manner, the holders of the two immediately junior titles of and could be addressed as (). The despot shared with the another appelatory epithet, (, 'most fortunate') or (, 'most fortunate of all'). During the last centuries of Byzantium's existence, the title was awarded to the younger sons of emperors (the eldest sons were usually crowned as co-emperors, with the title of ) as well as to the emperor's sons-in-law (). The title entailed extensive honours and privileges, including the control of large estates – the domains of Michael VIII's brother John Palaiologos for instance included the islands of Lesbos and Rhodes – to finance their extensive households. Like the junior titles of and however, the title of despot was strictly a courtly dignity, and was not tied to any military or administrative functions or powers. Women could not hold a noble title, but bore the titles of their husbands. Thus the spouse of a despot, the despotess (), had the right to bear the same insignia as he. Among the women of the court, the despotesses likewise took the first place after the empress. The use of the title spread also to the other countries of the Balkans. The Latin Empire used it to honour the Doge of Venice Enrico Dandolo and the local ruler of the Rhodope region, Alexius Slav. After ca. 1219 it was regularly borne (it is not clear whether the title was awarded by the Emperor or usurped) by the Venetian podestàs in Constantinople, as the Venetian support became crucial to the Empire's survival. In 1279/80, it was introduced in Bulgaria to placate the powerful magnate (and later Tsar) George Terter in