The Notitiae Episcopatuum (singular: Notitia Episcopatuum) is the name given to official documents that furnish for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the Patriarchate of Rome), archbishops and bishops were classed according to the seniority of their consecration, and in Africa according to their age. In the Eastern patriarchates, however, the hierarchical rank of each bishop was determined by the see he occupied. The principal documents (by church) are: