IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ 

ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Authoring : Vougiouklaki Penelope
Translation : Μακρυπούλιας Χρήστος
For citation : Vougiouklaki Penelope , "Xiphilinos family", Encyclopaedia of the
Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=8609>

Summary :
The Xiphilinoi were an illustrious family that hailed from the Pontos and flourished in the eleventh-twelfth centuries. Members of this family
received high-ranking titles and offices, mainly administrative and ecclesiastic.

Date and Place of Birth

The family emerges in the 11th c., in the Pontos

Date and Place of Death

Information on the family until the 19th (?) c.

Main Role
Aristocratic lineage

1. Origins - Activity

The Xiphilinos family hailed from Trebizond in the Pontos. The first reference to its members dates from the eleventh century and the
family flourished until the twelfth century. Members of this family were honored with high-ranking titles and offices, for the most part
ecclesiastic and administrative, while they were active mainly in Thessaloniki and Constantinople. The last reference to a scion of the
family in Byzantine times occurs in a document of 1421 which mentions the builder Argyros Xiphilinos. 1 After that, we lose track of
the family. Members of the Xiphilinoi appear once more in the nineteenth century. Specifically, there is the priest Eleutherios
Xiphilinos, vicar of the parish of Christos in Trebizond, and Daniel Xiphilinos, who in 1881 published the weekly magazine Euxeinos
Pontos. Further evidence for the family’s later course is lacking.

2. Family members

In the eleventh century Niketas Xiphilinos, who in 1081 participated in the trial of the scholar John Italos, bore the title of
protovestiarios, while in the twelfth century Donatos Xiphilinos held the office of krites. Other family members served as droungarioi
tes viglas, like Constantine Xiphilinos, while they also took on positions of financial responsibilities, like Niketas Xiphilinos, who
appears as anagrapheus of Voleron. The Xiphilinoi, however, were not honored with military offices, with the exception of Bardas, a
person linked to the rise of Romanos IV Diogenes to the throne in 10682 In an eleventh-century seal Bardas Xiphilinos is referred to
as patrikios and strategos of Thessaly (probably Thessaloniki).

Members of the family also distinguished themselves in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. The family featured two patriarchs of
Constantinople, John VIII and George II (1192-1199), while some of its members were also among the learned of the time.
Specifically, patriarch John VIII and his nephew, John Xiphilinos the Younger, left behind a significant literary production. Among the
former’s works one may distinguish the Narration of miracles of Saint Eugenius and two canons for that same saint’s feast, while
the latter, prompted by emperor Michael VII Doukas (1071-1078), compiled an abridged version of Books 36-80 of Dio Cassius’
Roman History. Not much is known about the family’s fate after the fall of Constantinople in 1204. However, its members seem to
have continued to be active mainly in matters of the Church, received high-ranking offices. Theodore Xiphilinos is mentioned first as
megas chartophylax of the Great Church and then as megas oikonomos, while Manuel Xiphilinos as “archon of the churches”.
Michael Xiphilinos distinguished himself in 1275 as secretary in the service of emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. The assumption that
in 1390 the megas domestikos Constantine Xiphilinos Ypsilantis3 married the daughter of an emperor of Trebizond, namely Manuel
III Grand Komnenos, is not valid: it is an erroneous notion created in the eighteenth century.4

Created on 24/3/2017 Page 1/3

 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Authoring : Vougiouklaki Penelope
Translation : Μακρυπούλιας Χρήστος
For citation : Vougiouklaki Penelope , "Xiphilinos family", Encyclopaedia of the
Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=8609>

1. Kazhdan, A., “Xiphilinos”, in: Kazhdan, A. (ed.), Τhe Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 3 (New York – Oxford 1991), p. 2211.

2. On Bardasʹs role in the ascend of Romanos IV Diogenes (1068‑ 1071) to the throne, see Μπόνης, Κ., Ιωάννης ο Ξιφιλίνος. Ο νομοφύλαξ, 
ο μοναχός, ο πατριάρχης και η εποχή αυτού(Texte und Forschungen zur Byzantinisch‑ Neugriechischen Philologie, no. 24, Αθήνα 1937), 
p. 110, n. 3; Κουγέα, Σ. Β., ʺΓράμμα του αυτοκράτορος του Βυζάντιου Ρωμανού Διογένους άγνωστον και ανέκδοτοςʺ, in Εις μνήμην 
Σπυρίδωνος Λάμπρου (Εν Αθηναις 1935), p. 579.

3. On the supposition that the Xiphilinoi are connected to the Ypsilanti family, see Σκοπετέας, Σ., «Οι Υψηλάνται», Αρχείον Πόντου 20 (1955), pp.
169ff., and Dölger, F., “Skopeteas, St., «Οι Υψηλάνται Α': Η τραπεζουντιακή καταγωγή τους», Αρχείον Πόντου 20 (1955)”, Byzantinische Zeitschrift 49
(1956), p. 199.

4. See Kazhdan, A., “Xiphilinos”, in Kazhdan, A. (ed.), Τhe Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 3 (New York - Oxford 1991), p. 2211.

Bibliography :
Χρύσανθος Φιλιππίδης, μητροπολίτης Τραπεζούντος, "Η Εκκλησία Τραπεζούντος", Αρχείον Πόντου,
4/5, 1933, 1-1070

Μιχαήλ Ατταλειάτης, Ιστορία, Bekker, I. (ed.), Michaelis Attaliotae Historia, Corpus Scriptorum Historiae
Byzantinae, Bonn 1853

Janssens E., Trébizonde en Colchide, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Bruxelles 1969, Travaux de la Faculté de
Philosophie et Lettres XL

Ευαγγελίδης Τ., Ιστορία της ποντιακής Τραπεζούντας από τα αρχαιότατα χρόνια μέχρι σήμερα (756 π.Χ.-

1897), Φωτιάδης, Κ. (επιμ.), Κεσόπουλος, Α. (μτφρ.), Θεσσαλονίκη 1994

Trapp E. (ed.), Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit 1-12, Wien 1976-1995

Wolska-Conus W., "L'École de droit et l'enseignement du droit à Byzance au XIe siècle: Xiphilin et Psellos",
Travaux et Mémoires, 7, 1979, 1-109

Wolska-Conus W., "Les écoles de Psellos et de Xiphilin sous Constantin IX Monomaque", Travaux et
Mémoires, 6, 1976, 223-243

Γεωργιάδης Θ., Εγκυκλοπαίδεια του Ποντιακού Ελληνισμού. Πόντος. Ιστορία, Λαογραφία και Πολιτισμός,

Θεσσαλονίκη 1991

Σκοπετέας Σ., "Οι Υψηλάνται", Αρχείον Πόντου, 20, 1955, 150-240

Kazhdan A., "Xiphilinos", Kazhdan, A. (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium 3, New York – Oxford
1991, 2210-2211

Webliography :
Ioannes VIII Xiphilinos
http://www.pbw.kcl.ac.uk/apps/person.jsp?personKey=107262
Niketas Xiphilinos
http://linnet.cch.kcl.ac.uk:8080/seals/seals_boulloterion.jsp?bKey=68

Created on 24/3/2017 Page 2/3

 IΔΡΥΜA ΜΕΙΖΟΝΟΣ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΣΜΟΥ
Authoring : Vougiouklaki Penelope
Translation : Μακρυπούλιας Χρήστος
For citation : Vougiouklaki Penelope , "Xiphilinos family", Encyclopaedia of the
Hellenic World, Asia Minor
URL: <http://www.ehw.gr/l.aspx?id=8609>

Glossary :
anagrapheus
A Byzantine fiscal official, whose main function was the revision of the cadaster.
chartophylax
An ecclesiastical office attested from the 6th century and usually accorded to deacons. Chartophylax was responsible for the archives of the Church
of Constantinople or other great provincial Churches, conservating the canonical records from both Oecumenical and local councils. By the 10th
century, chartophylax had become head of the sekreton of chartophylakeion and a principal assistant to the Patriarch with increased functions, such
as the examination of candidates to the priesthood and the right to represent the Patriarch in his absence even in the synod. Some monasteries also
had a chartophylax, a monk with archival duties. In the years of Andronikos I, megas was added to the title which therefore became megas
chartophylax.
droungarios tes viglas
Commander of the tagma of the vigla (military corps in the Constantinople). The title is mentioned from the 9o C and existed until the 15o
C. "Droungarios tes viglas" was responsible for guarding the emperor in the palace and on expeditions.
krites
Byzantine judicial office.
megas domestikos
Supreme military commander of the imperial army. High-ranking title which was generally given to close relatives of the emperor.
megas oikonomos
High-ranking official of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the 11th century the epithet megas was attached to the title of oikonomos,
who was responsible for managing the economics of the Great Church of Constantinople.
patrikios
(from lat. patricius) Higher title of honour, placed, according to the "Tactika" of the 9th and the 10th centuries, between anthypatos and
protospatharios. It was given to the most important governors and generals. Gradually, however, it fell into disuse and from the 12th
century did not exist any more.
protovestiarios
(and protovestiarites) Honorific title given to high-ranking officials and future emperors during this period. The protovestiarios was
originally responsible for the imperial wardrobe, but in the 9th-11th centuries the holders of the title could command an army or conduct
negotiations with foreign states.
strategos ("general")
During the Roman period his duties were mainly political. Οffice of the Byzantine state´s provincial administration. At first the title was given to the
military and political administrator of the themes, namely of the big geographic and administrative unities of the Byzantine empire. Gradually the title
lost its power and, already in the 11th century, strategoi were turned to simple commanders of military units, responsible for the defence of a region.

Sources
Bekker I. (ed.), Michaelis Attaliotae Historia (Bonn 1853), pp. 92.14‑93.4.

Quotations
The 11th c. historian Michael Attaleiates depicts the career of the patriarch John Xiphilinos:

ἦν γὰρ τῆς συνόδου προεξάρχων καὶ τὴν πατριαρχίαν κοσμῶν Ἰωάννης ὁ ἐπικεκλημένος Ξιφιλῖνος, ἐκ Τραπεζοῦντος μὲν 
ὡρμημένος, ἀνὴρ δὲ σοφὸς καὶ παιδεύσεως εἰς ἄκρον ἐληλακὼς κἀν τοῖς πολιτικοῖς περίβλεπτος γεγονὼς καὶ ἀρετῆς εὐφρόνως 
ἐπιμελούμενος, ὥστε τοῖς βασιλείοις ἔτι ἐμφιλοχωρῶν καὶ πρῶτα φέρων παρὰ τῷ βασιλεῖ τὴν μοναχικὴν πολιτείαν ἐν ἀκμῇ τῆς 
εὐημερίας καὶ τῆς ἡλικίας ἀσπάσασθαι. καὶ τὸν ἀναχωρητικὸν βίον περὶ τὸ Ὀλύμπιον ὄρος ἑλόμενος, χρόνον ἐπὶ συχνὸν ἦν 
διαλάμπων ἐπ’ ἀρετῇ καὶ φόβῳ θεοῦ. καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῦ πατριάρχου θανόντος καὶ πολλῶν ἀνευρεθέντων οὐδεὶς ἄξιος πλὴν 
αὐτοῦ πρὸς τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐλογίσθη βαθμόν. καὶ ἀπαναινόμενος ἐδιώχθη πρὸς τῆς τιμῆς, καὶ λαμπτὴρ τῆς μεγάλης ἐκκλησίας καὶ 
πατριάρχης οἰκουμενικὸς ἐχρημάτισε.

Bekker, I. (ed.), Michaelis Attaliotae Historia (Bonn 1853), pp. 92.14‑93.4.

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