Constantine Keroularios () was a high-ranking

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

official in the third quarter of the 11th century.

Life

Constantine was a nephew of the powerful

Michael Keroularios Michael I of Constantinople (''Cerularius'' or ''Keroularios''; ; 1000 – 21 January 1059) was the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople from 1043 to 1059. His disputes with Pope Leo IX over church practices in the 11th century played a ro ...

Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as ...

in 1043–1059. The name of his father is unknown. A friend and correspondent of

Michael Psellos Michael Psellos or Psellus (, ) was a Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek monk, savant, writer, philosopher, imperial courtier, historian and music theorist. He was born in 1017 or 1018, and is believed to have died in 1078, although it has also b ...

, Constantine and his brother Nikephoros were among the supporters of

Isaac I Komnenos Isaac I Komnenos or Comnenus (; – 1 June 1060) was Byzantine emperor from 1057 to 1059, the first reigning member of the Komnenian dynasty. The son of the general Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, he was orphaned at an early age, and w ...

when he rose in revolt to seize the throne in 1057, and went on to occupy senior offices in the Byzantine hierarchy. In his correspondence with Psellos, Constantine is variously referred to by the high court ranks of ''

sebastos ( , ) 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 century Byzantine Empire and came to form the basis of a new system of co ...

'', ''

proedros ''Proedros'' (, "president") was a senior Byzantine court and ecclesiastic title in the 10th to mid-12th centuries. The female form of the title is ''proedrissa'' (προέδρισσα). Court dignity The title was created in the 960s by Nikephor ...

'', '' protoproedros'', and ''

magistros The (Latin; ; ) was one of the most senior administrative officials in the Later Roman Empire and the early centuries of the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantium, the office was eventually transformed into a senior honorary rank, simply called ''magist ...

'', the senior fiscal offices of ''

sakellarios A ''sakellarios'' () or ''sacellarius'' is the title of an official entrusted with administrative and financial duties (cf. ''sakellē'' or ''sakellion'', "purse, treasury") in a government or institution. The title was used in the Byzantine Empi ...

'' and '' genikos logothetes'', and the judicial offices of '' epi ton kriseon'' and ''

droungarios tes viglas The of the Watch (), sometimes anglicized as Drungary of the Watch, was originally a senior Byzantine military post. Attested since the late 8th century, the commanded the or "Watch", one of the elite professional cavalry regiments () of the mi ...

''. It was probably under Constantine's tenure that the latter office acquired the epithet "''megas''" ("grand"), and was confirmed as the Empire's senior-most judicial authority. Constantine was apparently also the first person to hold the title of ''sebastos''. A seal which may be attributable to him further records the titles of "''

vestarches () was a senior Byzantine honorific dignity in use from the late 10th to early 12th centuries. The term means 'master of the ', another group of high court dignitaries. Etymologically, these terms are related to the , the imperial wardrobe, bu ...

'', judge of the Velum, and grand curator of the Mangana". Constantine was also a cousin of

Eudokia Makrembolitissa Eudokia Makrembolitissa () was a Byzantine empress by her successive marriages to Constantine X Doukas and Romanos IV Diogenes. She acted as ruler with her two sons in 1067, and resigned her rule by marriage to Romanos IV Diogenes. When he was ...

, who married Isaac's lieutenant and successor as emperor,

Constantine X Doukas Constantine X Doukas or Ducas (; – 23 May 1067), was Byzantine emperor from 1059 to 1067. He was the founder of the Doukid dynasty. During his reign, the Normans took over much of the remaining Byzantine territories in Italy, while in the ...

, as she too is referred to as a niece of the patriarch. In 1067, Constantine X was dying. Eudokia, as empress-dowager and mother of Constantine's under-age sons, would lead the regency, but Constantine X feared that she might well include her relatives, who already held high posts in court, in the regency, thus posing a potential threat to the succession of Constantine X's own children. He therefore had Eudokia swear publicly that she would not remarry nor appoint any co-regents over her under-age sons with Constantine other than the latter's brother John Doukas, an oath that she would soon break, however, with her marriage to

Romanos IV Diogenes Romanos IV Diogenes (; – ) was Byzantine emperor from 1068 to 1071. Determined to halt the decline of the Byzantine military and to stop Turkish incursions into the empire, he is nevertheless best known for his defeat and capture in 1071 at ...

. Constantine Keroularios died sometime under

Nikephoros III Botaneiates Nikephoros III Botaneiates (; 1002–1081), Romanization of Greek, Latinized as Nicephorus III Botaniates, was Byzantine Empire, Byzantine List of Byzantine Emperors, Emperor from 7 January 1078 to 1 April 1081. He became a general du ...

(ruled 1078–1081), as his will was the subject of an investigation at this time.

Family

According to genealogy of the 12th-century writer

John Tzetzes John Tzetzes (; , Constantinople – 1180, Constantinople) was a Byzantine poet and grammarian who lived at Constantinople in the 12th century. He is known for making significant contributions in preserving much valuable information from ancien ...

, Constantine Keroularios married a Georgian lady, a relative of the empress

Maria of Alania Maria of Alania (; born Martha; ka, მართა; 1053–1118) was Byzantine empress by marriages to emperors Michael VII Doukas and Nikephoros III Botaneiates. Her status as empress was considered a significant success for a newly unified ...

. The couple had a daughter, who was eventually adopted by Eudokia Makrembolitissa. She married a tax official named George, and gave birth to Tzetzes' own mother. Constantine had also several sons, of whom

was the most prominent: he likewise became ''megas droungarios tes viglas'' and married into the

Komnenos The House of Komnenos ( Komnenoi; , , ), Latinized as Comnenus ( Comneni), was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries. The first reigning member, Isaac I Komnenos, ruled from 1057 to 1059. ...

dynasty, but defrauded his other brothers of their father's inheritance.

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Keroularios, Constantine 11th-century deaths 11th-century Byzantine government officials

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I * Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine g ...

Year of birth unknown Magistroi Vestarchai Sebastoi