Makrembolites or Macrembolites ( el, Μακρεμβολίτης), feminine form Makrembolitissa or Macrembolitissa (Μακρεμβολίτισσα), was the name of a prominent
Byzantine aristocratic family. It was active particularly in the 11th–13th centuries, when it produced several high-ranking members of the civil bureaucracy, and one empress,
Eudokia Makrembolitissa.
History
The Makrembolitai apparently originated in the Byzantine capital,
Constantinople: the first attested member of the family lived there, and the family name seems to be derived from the ''Makros Embolos'', the "Long
Portico
A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...
", a district of the city.
The first influential members of the family was
John Makrembolites, a brother-in-law to the Patriarch
Michael I Keroularios.
His daughter,
Eudokia Makrembolitissa, married
Constantine Doukas
Constantine X Doukas or Ducas ( el, Κωνσταντῖνος Δούκας, ''Kōnstantinos X Doukas'', 1006 – 23 May 1067), was Byzantine emperor from 1059 to 1067. He was the founder and first ruling member of the Doukid dynasty. Duri ...
and became
Empress
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...
when the latter ascended the throne as Constantine X (r. 1059–1068); after his death she ruled as regent for her under-age sons until she re-married to
Romanos IV Diogenes (r. 1068–1071).
The family remained prominent under the
Komnenoi as high-ranking civilian functionaries: Theodore Makrembolites was bishop of
Methymna in the early 12th century;
Demetrios Makrembolites served as envoy to the
Second Crusade
The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa in 1144 to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusa ...
in 1146–47;
John Makrembolites was ''
megas droungarios tes viglas
The ''Droungarios'' of the Watch ( el, δρουγγάριος τῆς βίγλης/βίγλας, ''droungarios tēs viglēs/viglas''), sometimes anglicized as "Drungary of the Watch", was originally a senior Byzantine military post. Attested since ...
'' in 1157;
Eumathios Makrembolites was
Eparch of the City later in the century; and
Theophylact of Ohrid records another member of the family as ''
archon
''Archon'' ( gr, ἄρχων, árchōn, plural: ἄρχοντες, ''árchontes'') is a Greek word that means "ruler", frequently used as the title of a specific public office. It is the masculine present participle of the verb stem αρχ-, mean ...
'' of
Prespa.
The late 12th-century writer
Eustathios Makrembolites, sometimes equated with the contemporary Eparch, is known for his prose romance ''On Hysmine and Hysminias'', which introduced several innovations in
Byzantine literature.
Of the later members of the family the most prominent is the mid-14th century writer
Alexios Makrembolites,
author of ''Dialogue Between the Rich and the Poor''.
References
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