Monomachos (Byzantine family)

Monomachos (Greek: Μονομάχος, lit. 'single-fighter'), feminine form Monomachina (Μονομαχίνα), was the name of a Byzantine aristocratic family active in the 11th–15th centuries and even possibly before that. It produced several officials and military commanders, as well as one emperor, Constantine IX Monomachos (r. 1042–1055).

Emperor Constantine IX Monomachos

The first occurrences of the name are unclear, and may refer to sobriquets rather to members of the family. An iconoclast bishop of Nicomedia with the name is alluded to in the 9th-century hagiography of St. Joannicius, whereas a fervently anti-iconoclast official was Niketas Monomachos during the early 9th century, who was later declared a saint.[1] An obscure functionary named Monomachos is attested in c. 921, but the family did not really come to the fore until the 11th century, when Constantine IX became emperor. The contemporary family members, including Constantine's own father Theodosios, were chiefly judges active in the imperial capital of Constantinople. The sole exception was George Monomachos, doux of Dyrrhachium under Nikephoros III Botaneiates (r. 1078–1081), but dismissed by Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118).[1] A female relative of Constantine IX married Vsevolod of Kiev. Their son Vladimir II Monomakh adopted his mother's surname.[1]

The family fell into obscurity during the Komnenian period, and only reappears at the end of the 12th century. From the turn of the 13th century and until the loss of the region to the Turks in the early 14th century, family members are also recorded in Asia Minor, e.g. John Monomachos (fl. 1304–1324), a friend of the statesman Nikephoros Choumnos, and the general Alexios Philanthropenos.[1] His contemporaries, the brothers George Atouemes Monomachos and Michael Senachereim Monomachos, became senior officials and generals.[1] Among the last attested members of the family was the architect George Monomachos in Thessalonica in c. 1421.[1]