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