The "vicarius" was a high official appointed by the Emperor and accountable only to him. The position was held by equites who were given the rank of "perfectissimus" (before the "egregii" and after the "eminentissimi"). Thus, in rank, the vicars were inferior to the governors of the senatorial provinces (the "consulares"), although they had to exercise political authority over them. René Rémond suggests that this paradox was resolved by promoting vicars whose dioceses contained provinces with senatorial governors to the rank of "clarissimus", but there is no evidence for this.