Argyritzos (fl. 1071–81) was one of the leading citizens of

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

during the final years of Byzantine rule. He held the rank of ''

protospatharios ''Prōtospatharios'' ( el, πρωτοσπαθάριος) was one of the highest court dignities of the middle Byzantine period (8th to 12th centuries), awarded to senior generals and provincial governors, as well as to foreign princes. History Th ...

'' under the empire.Alessandro Pratesi
"Argirizzo di Giovannacio"
''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Vol. 4 (Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1962). His father was named Ioannakes.Argyritzos 10101
at the ''

Prosopography of the Byzantine World The Prosopography of the Byzantine World (PBW) is a project to create a prosopographical database of individuals named in textual sources in the Byzantine Empire and surrounding areas in the period from 642 to 1265. The project is a collaboration b ...

''. When the

Normans The Normans (Norman language, Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norsemen, Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Fran ...

besieged Bari in 1068–71, Argyritzos led the faction that favoured seeking terms. On 18 July 1070, the leader of the opposite faction, Bisantius Guirdeliku, was assassinated through the "treachery" of Argyritzos, according to the ''

Annales Barenses The ''Annales Barenses'' is an anonymous set of annals written in the city of Bari in the late eleventh century. At the time of its composition, Bari was the chief city of the Byzantine Empire in southern Italy.. The ''Annales Barenses'' are clos ...

'' and the '' Annales Lupi Protospatharii''.William J. Churchill (ed.)
''The ''Annales Barenses'' and the ''Annales Lupi Protospatharii'': Critical Edition and Commentary''
Ph. D. dissertation, Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Toronto (1979), p. 147, s.a. 1071: ''Hoc etiam anno, dolo cujusdam Argirizi, filii Joannaci, occisus est Bisantius...'' Still, the city held out for another nine months. Argyritzos appears to have inherited a leading position following its surrender on favourable terms to the Norman leader

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calabri ...

. According to the chronicler

William of Apulia William of Apulia ( la, Guillelmus Apuliensis) was a chronicler of the Normans, writing in the 1090s. His Latin epic, ''Gesta Roberti Wiscardi'' ("The Deeds of Robert Guiscard"), written in hexameters, is one of the principal contemporary source ...

, Robert "entrusted the city" to Argyritzos. If he did, it was short-lived. By 1075, the city's governors were one Lizius the

viscount A viscount ( , for male) or viscountess (, for female) is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial ...

, probably a Norman, and Maurelianus the

catepan The ''katepánō'' ( el, κατεπάνω, lit. "he oneplaced at the top", or " the topmost") was a senior Byzantine military rank and office. The word was Latinized as ''capetanus/catepan'', and its meaning seems to have merged with that of the ...

, a local with the imperial rank of ''

patrikios The patricians (from la, patricius, Greek: πατρίκιος) were originally a group of ruling class families in ancient Rome. The distinction was highly significant in the Roman Kingdom, and the early Republic, but its relevance waned after ...

''.G. A. Loud, ''The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Norman Conquest'' (Routledge, 2013), p. 136. In 1078, Argyritzos arranged the marriage of his daughter to

Abelard Peter Abelard (; french: link=no, Pierre Abélard; la, Petrus Abaelardus or ''Abailardus''; 21 April 1142) was a medieval French scholastic philosopher, leading logician, theologian, poet, composer and musician. This source has a detailed desc ...

, Robert's nephew, who was planning a rebellion. The revolt broke out on 3 February 1079. Robert re-captured Bari the following year and in April 1081 Argyritzos fled to the court of King

Mihailo Vojislavljević Mihailo Vojislavljević ( sr-cyr, Михаило Војислављевић) was a medieval Serbian king and the ruler of Dioclea (Duklja), from 1046 to 1081 initially as a Byzantine vassal holding the title of ''protospatharios'', then after 10 ...

Duklja Duklja ( sh-Cyrl, Дукља; el, Διόκλεια, Diokleia; la, Dioclea) was a medieval South Slavic state which roughly encompassed the territories of modern-day southeastern Montenegro, from the Bay of Kotor in the west to the Bojana Ri ...

, a Byzantine vassal. There he arranged the marriage of his daughter

Jaquinta Jaquinta ( sh, Jakvinta/Јаквинта; 1081 – 1118) was a queen consort of Dioclea by marriage to king Constantine Bodin. She is best known for her role in the Dioclean civil war, where she violently intervened in a succession crisis follow ...

to Mihailo's son Bodin. The date of Argyritzos' death is unknown. An epitaph for a ''Kyri'' (Lord) ''Ioannatius'' in the church of Santa Maria de' Sannaci in

Gioia del Colle Gioia del Colle (; Barese: ) is a town and ''comune'' of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. The town is located on the Murge plateau at above sea level, between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Physical geography Territory ...

, a suburb of Bari, has been identified as his.Francesco Babudri
"Di una singolare iscrizione greca nella Cattedrale di Bari"
''Iapigia'' 7 (1936), p. 133.

Notes

References

{{reflist People from Bari 11th-century Italian nobility 11th-century Byzantine people Protospatharioi Catepanate of Italy Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Norman wars