Other lordship · The Byzantine Empire (the Empire of the Romans) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Nea Moni

Nea Moni, in the hills of Chios, is an imperial foundation of Constantine IX Monomachos.

A chrysobull of July 1049 gave it the head tax of all the Jews of Chios and placed it outside the authority of any churchman or official above it; later emperors added land and tax exemptions. In 1200 it is one of the great landlords of the island, with its own dependent peasants. The size of its estates that year is not pinned (by about 1300 they covered about a third of the island: later, not to be back-projected).

Who he is

Name
Not pinned for 1 January 1200
Title
Abbot (hegoumenos) of the imperial monastery of the Mother of God (Nea Moni)
Since
not pinned
Born
not pinned
Family
Founded by Constantine IX Monomachos (building begun about 1042, church inaugurated 1049, finished 1055).
Confidence
medium

Wikipedia (Nea Moni of Chios).

Overlord

The emperor (an imperial monastery outside any bishop's or official's authority under its chrysobull of 1049)

What it holds

  • The monastery and its lands on Chios with their peasants (extent in 1200 not pinned)
  • The head tax of the Jews of Chios (granted 1049; whether still collected in 1200 not pinned)
  • Tax exemptions under imperial chrysobulls

How it was acquired

Imperial foundation and grants from 1049 onwards.

Allies and rivals

The emperor's protection; the island's tax officials and the metropolitan of Chios are natural rivals over its exemptions (not pinned for 1200).

How things stand that morning

Holds its estates under imperial privilege; abbot not pinned.

Wealth

Land, mastic and olive groves of Chios (detail not pinned), its share of the Jewish head tax.

Military

None beyond its walls.

Threats

  • Pirates
  • Tax officials

Places of note

  • Nea Moni: Imperial monastery

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: Foundation and the 1049 chrysobull are certain; its state in 1200 is not described in the sources used.

On the map: Token only.

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.

Sources and studies

  1. Nea Moni of Chios (Wikipedia)

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.