Michael Stryphnos ( el, Μιχαὴλ Στρυφνός, ) was a high-ranking

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

official under the

Angeloi The House of Angelos (; gr, Ἄγγελος), feminine form Angelina (), plural Angeloi (), was a Byzantine Greek noble lineage which rose to prominence through the marriage of its founder, Constantine Angelos, with Theodora Komnene, the young ...

emperors. Stryphnos is first attested in 1192 as ''

sebastos ( grc-gre, σεβαστός, sebastós, venerable one, Augustus, ; plural , ) was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of . The female form of the title was (). It was revived as an honorific in the 11th-ce ...

'' and the head of the ''

vestiarion The ''vestiarion'' ( el, βεστιάριον, from la, vestiarium, "wardrobe"), sometimes with the adjectives ''basilikon'' ("imperial") or ''mega'' ("great"),. was one of the major fiscal departments of the Byzantine bureaucracy. In English, it ...

'' (the imperial treasury), under Emperor

Isaac II Angelos Isaac II Angelos or Angelus ( grc-gre, Ἰσαάκιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος, ; September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204. His father Andronikos Doukas Angelos was a ...

(

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-prince of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kings, the Franks, List of ...

ed 1185–1195).Brand & Cutler (1991), p. 1968Guilland (1967), pp. 546–547 Stryphnos then married Theodora, the daughter of

Andronikos Kamateros Andronikos Doukas Kamateros ( el, ) was a Byzantine aristocrat, senior official under Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, and theologian, best known for his theological treatise ''Sacred Arsenal''. Family and career Born probably around 1110, Andronikos Ka ...

and sister of Empress

Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamaterina or better Kamatera ( el, Εὐφροσύνη Δούκαινα Καματερίνα ἢ Καματηρά, – 1211) was a Byzantine Empress by marriage to the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos. Euphrosyne was ...

, the wife of Emperor Alexios III Angelos (r. 1195–1203) and through this connection advanced to the position of '' megas doux'', commander-in-chief of the Byzantine navy, when the latter ascended the throne. The contemporary historian Niketas Choniates portrays him as a man of "extraordinary rapacity and rare dishonesty" (Guilland), who used his position to sell off the sails, anchors and other equipment of the fleet, down to the very nails of the ships. His actions marked the effective end of the Byzantine fleet, which was hence unable to resist the Fourth Crusade a few years later. As ''megas doux'', he was also the governor of the joint province of Hellas and Peloponnese (southern mainland

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

), and in this capacity he went to

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

ca. 1201–1202 to oppose the rising power of

Leo Sgouros Leo Sgouros ( el, Λέων Σγουρός), Latinized as Leo Sgurus, was a Greek independent lord in the northeastern Peloponnese in the early 13th century. The scion of the magnate Sgouros family, he succeeded his father as hereditary lord in th ...

, a local magnate turned autonomous ruler. He does not seem to have succeeded in checking Sgouros, but the local bishop,

Michael Choniates Saint Michael Choniates (or Acominatus; el, ; c. 1140 – 1220) was a Byzantine Greek writer and cleric, born at Chonae (the ancient Colossae). At an early age he studied at Constantinople and was the pupil of Eustathius of Thessalonica. Around ...

, nevertheless composed an

encomium ''Encomium'' is a Latin word deriving from the Ancient Greek ''enkomion'' (), meaning "the praise of a person or thing." Another Latin equivalent is ''laudatio'', a speech in praise of someone or something. Originally was the song sung by the c ...

in his honour. Three seals of Stryphnos survive, as well as a large enamelled gold ring, possibly given to him on his appointment as ''megas doux''.Ross (2005), pp. 108–109

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stryphnos, Michael 12th-century births 13th-century deaths 12th-century Byzantine people 13th-century Byzantine people Megaloi doukes Byzantine governors of Hellas Byzantine governors of the Peloponnese Byzantine officials Sebastoi