Daimonoioannes

Who he is

Name

A member of the Daimonoioannes (Eudaimonoioannes) family; the head on 1 January 1200 is not pinned

Title

Lords of Kythera, an archon family of Monemvasia

Since

perhaps the 1180s (local tradition makes a Daimonoioannes, dated about the 1180s, the first of the family to rule Kythera)

Born

not pinned

Family

Daimonoioannes, later Eudaimonoioannes: one of the three archon families of Monemvasia (with the Mamonas and the Sophianos) named for the eve of the conquest.

Confidence

low

Wikipedia (Eudaimonoioannes): ruled Kythera 'perhaps as early as the 12th century, until 1238'; Greek Wikipedia (Monemvasia): Kythera was run by Monemvasiot officials, first Georgios Pachys, then the Eudaimonoioannes.

Overlord

The emperor, through Monemvasia and the province

What it holds

• Kythera (if already theirs: not pinned)
• Standing and property at Monemvasia

How it was acquired

Not pinned: the Monemvasiot connection is described, not dated.

Allies and rivals

Fellow archons of Monemvasia; not pinned.

How things stand that morning

Kythera is Byzantine and tied to Monemvasia; the family's hold is likely but not pinned.

Wealth

The island's farms and its anchorage on the sea road from the Adriatic to the Aegean and Crete.

Military

A tower attributed by tradition to the first lord; no figures.

Threats

• Pirates on the Cape Malea route

Where the sources disagree

• English Wikipedia says the family ruled Kythera until 1238; Greek Wikipedia's Monemvasia article says until 1204. Neither dates the start firmly.

Evidence: Late and traditional evidence; first secure mention of the family in the 1220s.

On the map: The island is drawn whole; the family's tenure in January 1200 is likely, not proven.

Primary sources for Byzantium

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
• The Capture of Constantinople, Gunther of Pairis (about 1205 to 1210). Written at the Cistercian abbey of Pairis in Alsace from the account of its abbot Martin, who preached the crusade at Basel in 1200 (Gunther gives the sermon) and led a contingent from the Upper Rhine. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online
• The Palace Revolution of John Komnenos (31 July 1200), Nicholas Mesarites (1200 or soon after). An eyewitness narrative of the one-day coup of John Komnenos the Fat at Constantinople on 31 July 1200: the crowning of the usurper in Hagia Sophia, the mob's plunder of the Great Palace, the stand of the palace clergy and the guard at the church of the Virgin of the Pharos, where Mesarites was skeuophylax, and the recovery of the palace by Alexios III's men that night. Read online
• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
• The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The Balkans and Byzantium.