John Petraliphas


John Petraliphas was a Byzantine noble and governor of Thessaly and Macedonia in the late 12th/early 13th century with the rank of sebastokrator.

Biography

John was a member of the Petraliphas family, which was of Italo-Norman origin. According to the hagiography of his daughter, Theodora of Arta, John was married to a woman called Helena, from an unspecified noble house of Constantinople, and after being raised to the very high rank of sebastokrator, was dispatched by Byzantine emperor Isaac II Angelos to govern Thessaly and Macedonia. Nevertheless, in 1195, he was among the leading nobles who conspired and overthrew Isaac II and installed Alexios III Angelos in his place.
After 1204, when Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade, he supported the ruler of Epirus Theodore Komnenos Doukas, to whom his sister Maria was married. He died probably sometime between 1224 and 1230. Some authors have equated him with another John Petraliphas, who was a megas chartoularios in the employ of the Empire of Nicaea circa 1237, but this identification is most likely false.

Family

From his marriage, John had several children. The hagiography records several sons, but only one son and two daughters are known by name: