( gr, σεβαστοϋπέρτατος, , the supreme venerable one) was a

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 ...

honorific title. The title formed the basis for a further compound title, ( gr, πρωτοσεβαστοϋπέρτατος, , the first supreme venerable one). These titles were part of the reordering of the Byzantine titulature under the

Komnenian emperors The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the Komnenos dynasty for a period of 104 years, from 1081 to about 1185. The ''Komnenian'' (also spelled ''Comnenian'') period comprises the reigns of five emperors, Alexios I, John II, Manuel I, A ...

, where titles formed around the formerly imperial epithet (the Greek translation of ) were created to denote kinship with the emperor. As such, and were among the titles accorded to the emperor's sons-in-law (). According to

Lucien Stiernon Lucien is a male given name. It is the French form of Luciano or Latin ''Lucianus'', patronymic of Lucius. Lucien, Saint Lucien, or Saint-Lucien may also refer to: People Given name * Lucien of Beauvais, Christian saint *Lucien, a band member ...

was awarded to husbands of the third daughter of a Byzantine emperors, and to the husband of the fourth; while the husband of the second one bore the title of , and of the first that of . and both appear for the first time in the reign of

John II Komnenos John II Komnenos or Comnenus ( gr, Ἱωάννης ὁ Κομνηνός, Iōannēs ho Komnēnos; 13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143) was Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as "John the Beautiful" or "John the Good" (), he ...

():

Manuel Anemas Manuel Anemas was an aristocrat and military commander in the Byzantine Empire during the reigns of John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos. Background and life Manuel Anemas was a member of the Anemas family. Four Anemas brothers were involved in ...

, who married John's third daughter Theodora, assumed the latter, while

Theodore Vatatzes Theodore Vatatzes or Batatzes ( gr, Θεόδωρος Βατάτζης) was an aristocrat and military commander in the Byzantine Empire during the reigns of John II Komnenos and Manuel I Komnenos. Background Theodore Vatatzes was a member of the ...

who married John's fourth daughter Eudokia, and

Constantine Angelos Constantine Angelos ( gr, Κωνσταντῖνος Ἄγγελος; – after 1166) was a Byzantine aristocrat who married into the Komnenian dynasty and served as a military commander under Manuel I Komnenos, serving in the western and north ...

, who married Alexios' fourth daughter Theodora, assumed the former. In letters addressed to the bearers of these titles, forms such as ( gr, πανυπερπρωτοσεβαστοϋπέρτατος, , the first supreme venerable one, above all) and ( gr, πανυπερπρωτοπανσεβαστοϋπέρτατος, , the first above all supreme venerable one, above all) appear, but these are merely rhetoric augmentations of the proper titles.

References

Sources

* * {{cite journal , last = Stiernon , first = Lucien , title = Notes de titulature et de prosopographie byzantines. Sébaste et Gambros , journal = Revue des études byzantines , volume = 23 , year = 1965 , pages = 222–243 , doi= 10.3406/rebyz.1965.1349 , url = http://www.persee.fr/doc/rebyz_0766-5598_1965_num_23_1_1349 , language = French Byzantine court titles