A Gregory Kamateros is mentioned in the official acts of Patmos.^[1] He is the son of the μάγιστρος καὶ κριτὴς τοῦ βήλου Basil (I),^[2] who in April 1088 signed the official document of the donation of the island of Patmos to Saint Christodoulos in the name of his son Gregory, who at that time was λογαριαστὴς τοῦ σεκρέτου τοῦ γενικοῦ.^[3]
Anna Komnene gives us a second piece of information. In the passage of the Alexias about the confession of Nikephoros Diogenes who was accused of having made an attempt on the life of the emperor, she mentions a Gregory Kamateros who, around June 1094, was appointed hypogrammateuon (ὑπογραμματεύων), secretary of Alexios. ^[4]
A later source, Niketas Choniates, writes a quite extensive portrait of a Gregory Kamateros, a man who after having been an eminent figure in Alexios' administration was entrusted by John Komnenos with the administration of public affairs together with the protovestiarios Gregory Taronites, the latter a cousin of the emperor. ^[5] Choniates describes him in these terms,

Kamateros was a learned man, and although he was not descended from a very distinguished or noble family, his services were enlisted by emperor Alexios. Enrolled among the under secretaries, he made the rounds of the provinces, where he amassed a great wealth derived from taxes he assessed. He longed to be connected to the emperor by marriage, and when he wedded one of his kinswomen, he was promoted logothete of the sekreta.^[6]

The last piece of evidence is a seal from the Numismatic Museum of Athens, 94, 94d (D.O. 58. 106. 4605). Scholars have given two different readings of this seal: one in Nesbitt-Oikonomides,^[7]

Μήτηρ Θεοῦ / Θεοτόκε βοήθει Γρηγορίῳ πρωτοπρέτωρι Πελοποννήσσου κὲ Ἑλλάδος τῷ Καματηρῷ,

and a second one in Stavrakos^[8] who adds to the title of propraetor that of kouropalates,

Μήτηρ Θεοῦ / Θεοτόκε βοήθει Γρηγορίῳ κουροπαλατῃ καὶ πρέτωρι Πελοποννήσσου κὲ Ἑλλάδος τῷ Καματηρῷ.

Other simpler seals of Gregory have survived, which unfortunately do not mention any of his titles (Θεοτόκε βοήθει Γρηγορίῳ Καματηρῷ).^[9]

The details on Gregory extracted from historians and official documents can be enriched by other literary sources.
Nicholas Kallikles, a distinguished member of the highest imperial circle, doctor and poet, ^[10] completes the information we have from Choniates in some verses, where he tells us the name of Gregory's wife, Irene Doukaina. We can place her floruit between 1093 and 1123. Scholars hold varying opinions over Irene's identity. Darrouzès considers Irene to be niece or cousin^[11] of the empress Irene Doukaina, Polemis ^[12] and Varzos^[13] in their analyses of the Doukas family are more precise on the genealogical tree and define Irene as a niece of the empress Irene Doukaina, wife of Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118), suggesting she was the daughter of Michael Doukas (1061-1108/18), brother of the empress. About Gregory, Kallikles tells us that he had the title of sebastos and the office of logothetes. The Kamateros-Doukas couple had several children but Kallikles unfortunately mentioned by name only one of them, Michael Doukas Kamateros, who died before his parents. From the same source, we learn also that Gregory and Irene eventually embraced the monastic life. ^[14]

Theodore Prodromos dedicated to the memory of Gregory a monody ^[15] in which he is described as wise and well-educated man, an excellent jurist, who held the titles of sebastos and the office of logothetes. Prodromos briefly mentions the fact that Gregory held an office in Crete, Cyclades and Cyprus. ^[16] Gregory's wife was from the Doukas branch of the imperial family and had the title of sebaste. They had more than one child and Gregory had some brothers. It is from Prodromos that we learn that Gregory died on the day of the apparition of a comet, before the death of the empress Irene, wife of Alexios. The date of the death of the empress Irene is uncertain, probably 19 February 1133.^[17]

Five, possibly eight, letters^[18] by Theophylact of Ochrid had Gregory as recipient. One letter, number 127,^[19] is particularly interesting as it adds further piece of information about Andronikos' father. At a certain point in his career, Gregory was entitled nobelissimos and appointed protasekretis.
The nephew of Theophylact, George Tornikes, correspondent of John (I) Kamateros and Andronikos, witnesses the friendship between Theophylact and Gregory: ὃν [Theophylact] ὁ σεβάσμιος τῷ ὄντι πατήρ σου πλέον ἢ τὸν ἀέρα προσέπνεε, πατέρα τοῦ παρ᾿ αὐτῷ λόγου αὐχῶν ἐκεῖνον καὶ οἰκειούμενος.^[20] Furthermore, Polemis^[21] cites letter 53 by Theophylact as a proof of the fact that Gregory became a monk.

Gautier suggests that Gregory was the recipient of a letter by Michael Italikos datable between 1118 and 1132. The text of the letter does not state clearly the recipient; nevertheless, Gautier thinks it is possible to identify Gregory, because Italikos uses the title of sebastos and the office of logothetes.^[22]



It is not generally agreed that all the sources just mentioned refer to the same Gregory Kamateros. Laurent^[23] identifies three different Gregories:
1) a propraetor of Peloponnesus and Hellas known through his sigillographic record;
2) the son of Basil known through the imperial acts of 1088 and λογαριαστὴς τοῦ σεκρέτου τοῦ γενικοῦ;
3) the secretary of Alexios who became wealthy, married a kinswoman the emperor and then was promoted to λογοθέτης τῶν σεκρέτων. This third Gregory would be, in his interpretation, the father of Andronikos and the friend of Theophylact of Ochrid.

Different opinions are put forward by Béès, ^[24] who considers the three to be the same person, and Chalandon,^[25] who considers that only the propraetor and the secretary of Alexios were the same person. Gautier, who investigated the life of Gregory Kamateros and thoroughly analyzed his correspondence with Theophylact of Ochrid, states that all sources mentioned above are dealing with the same Gregory Kamateros, the son of Basil and father of Andronikos.^[26] Moreover, trying to reconstruct the chronology of Gregory's curriculum vitae, Gautier^[27] supposes that it is possible to identify the title of hypogrammateuon with that of protasekretis, as Theophylact defines the protasekretis as the hypogrammateuon of the emperors, καὶ τὸ τοῦ πρωτοασηκρῆτις ὀφφίκιον τοῦ ἀεὶ τοῖς αὐτοκράτορσιν ὑπογραμματεύοντος (letter 127, p. 571, line 7). Following this identification, it would be possible to say that Gregory was appointed protasekretis in 1094, the year of the trial against Nikephoros Diogenes.

Although it is not possible to reach a definite conclusion concerning the curriculum vitae of Gregory Kamateros, father of Andronikos, nevertheless, analysing in general terms all the hints given by the documentation referred to above, we can certainly draw a broad conclusion. We can say that the father of Andronikos lived under the reign of Alexios Komnenos (1081-1118) and was λογαριαστὴς τοῦ σεκρέτου τοῦ γενικοῦ around 1088. He then certainly worked in the imperial chancery, probably not as a simple hypogrammateuon, but, as in the interpretation given by Theophylact of Ochrid, with the role of protasekretis. This explanation would perhaps match better with the passage from Anna Komnene, because, as Gautier pointed out,^[28] given the relevance of the trial of Nikephoros Diogenes, who was accused of having made an attempt on the life of the emperor, Alexios probably did not turn to a simple scribe, but to the chief of the chancery to redact the confession. Later on, Gregory was a tax collector in the provinces, as Choniates tells us, and we can link this information with the title of propraetor of Peloponnesus and Hellas that we obtain from the seal. Once he had achieved a certain status and wealth, Gregory achieves a marriage connection with the imperial family and obtains the highly coveted title of sebastos. This reconstruction seems to be clear enough to be reliable, and was also proposed by Polemis in his history of the Doukai.^[29] There is only one point that does not fit in this framework that attempts to combine all the different surviving information, and that is the description by Niketas Choniates. Why did Choniates say, ὁ δ᾿ ἀνὴρ οὗτος λόγιος μέν, τὸ δὲ γένος οὐκ ἀριπρεπὴς οὐδ᾿ ἐπίπαν εὐπάρυφος, ^[30] although Gregory was son of the μάγιστρος καὶ κριτὴς τοῦ βήλου Basil (I)? ^[31]

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