Kourkouas
The Kourkouas family or Curcuas (Medieval Greek: Κουρκούας, from Armenian: Գուրգեն, Gurgen) was, allegedly, one of the many nakharar families from Armenia that migrated to the Byzantine Empire during the period of Arab rule over Armenia (7th–9th centuries) although the latter is mostly speculative.[1] They rose to prominence as part of the Anatolian military aristocracy in the 10th century, providing several high-ranking generals and an emperor. They intermarried extensively with the aristocratic families of Phokas and Skleros. In the 11th and 12th centuries, they shifted to the civilian bureaucracy.
Famous members
[edit]- John Kourkouas (9th c.), Domestic of the Hikanatoi regiment and conspirator against Basil I
- John Kourkouas (10th c.), alongside Theophilos, grandsons of the above; Domestic of the Schools of the East and famous general under Romanos I Lekapenos
- Romanos Kourkouas, son of John Kourkouas, was Domestic of the Schools of the West
- John Kourkouas, son of Romanos, Domestic of the Schools of the East, killed in the Siege of Dorostolon
- Theophilos Kourkouas, other grandson, strategos of Chaldia and later Domestic of the Schools
- John I Tzimiskes (c. 925–976), grandson of Theophilos Kourkouas, Byzantine Emperor in 969–976; apparently died childless
- Later generations
- John Kourkouas (11th c.), Catepan of Italy in 1008–1010
- Gregory Kourkouas, doux of Philippopolis in 1089–1091
- Michael II Kourkouas, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in 1143–1146.
References
[edit]- ↑ Preiser-Kapeller, Johannes (2020-04-23). "Aristocrats, Mercenaries, Clergymen and Refugees: Deliberate and Forced Mobility of Armenians in the Early Medieval Mediterranean (6th to 11th Century a.d.)". Migration Histories of the Medieval Afroeurasian Transition Zone. BRILL. pp. 327–384. doi:10.1163/9789004425613_013. ISBN 978-90-04-38249-7.
Sources
[edit]- Andriollo, Lisa (2012), "Les Kourkouas (IXe-XIe siècle)", in Cheynet, Jean-Claude; Sode, Claudia (eds.), Studies in Byzantine Sigillography (in French), vol. 11, Berlin: De Gruyter, pp. 57–88, ISBN 978-3-11-026668-9
- Cheynet, Jean-Claude (1996), Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963–1210) (in French), Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, ISBN 978-2-85944-168-5
- Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 1156–1157, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
- Stouraitis, Ioannis (2003), "Kourkouas Family", Encyclopaedia of the Hellenic World, Asia Minor, Athens: Foundation of the Hellenic World