The Kamateros family

The lack of attention given to this important text has a parallel in the lack of attention given to its author. Prosopographical and sigillographic studies from time to time have brought to light scattered information about Andronikos' life, ^[4] but only Anna Clara Palau in 1993, ^[5] has attempted to give a broader account of this author. Therefore, it is necessary to present here the fullest context possible for Andronikos' life, including information about his parents and his near relatives so as to understand and evaluate the importance of the Kamateroi during the reign of Manuel Komnenos, both in relation to Manuel's ecclesiastical policy and to the cultural and political environment of Constantinople in the second half of the twelfth century.

Between the eleventh and the thirteenth centuries, the Kamateroi were among the most powerful families in Constantinople; its members had occupied the highest political, military and religious positions until the Latin occupation in 1204.^[6] Andronikos' branch of the family was closely connected to the ruling house of the Komnenoi through Andronikos' mother, Irene Doukaina. Of the family connection with the Doukai there are clear proofs in the verses dedicated by the protokouropalates George Skylitzes to the composition of the Sacred Arsenal, where the double name Kamateros-Doukas is clearly indicated (Ἀνδρόνικος ἐκ μητρὸς Δούκας, ὁ πανσέβαστος Καματηρὸς πατρόθεν)^[7] and in the epigram composed by Theodore Prodromos for an icon possessed by Andronikos (σεβαστὸν Ἀνδρόνικον ἐκ μητρὸς Δούκαν καὶ Καματηρὸν ἐκ πατρὸς λογοθέτου).^[8] The same indication appears in the anonymous poems preserved in the manuscript Marcianus 524 edited by Lampros. ^[9] This close kinship with the imperial family guaranteed to the family of Gregory Kamateros, Andronikos' father, the dignity of sebastos; indeed Andronikos, his father, and all his brothers and children held the titles of sebastoi. Therefore, following Darrouzès' indication, we can use this title to distinguish those Kamateroi who are from Gregory's family branch from those who are not. ^[10]

The designation of sebastos^[11] (the Greek equivalent of the Latin augustus), which had been utilised until the mid eleventh century only to refer to the emperor, from the time of Constantine IX Monomachos (1042-55) onwards began to be used extensively for members of the imperial family. The 'Comnenian system'^[12] greatly exploited this title. Its emperors indeed tightened the bond between the imperial hierarchy and all the families connected by kinship to the ruling house, and, even more, they made the connected families into the true core of the administrative hierarchy in order to secure a stable form of government and guarantee the dynastic succession. Therefore, when we talk about Andronikos Kamateros and his relationship with Manuel Komnenos we have to keep in mind that Andronikos was not only a key figure in the political administration of the empire but also one of the emperor's trustworthy relatives, his second cousin. ^[13]

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