Leo Monomachos, sebastos: A Byzantine aristocrat with a migrant backround?

Abstract

This article concerns the edition, dating, historical interpretation and contextualisation of a remarkable metrical inscription of a seal (ca. last third of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century). The owner of this seal, Leo, who bore the no longer prestigious title of sebastos, aims to highlight his elevated social standing by emphasizing his noble descent. He stresses that he is a descendant of the “ruler Monomachos”. This does not refer to the former Byzantine emperor Constantine IX (1042-1055), but probably to Vladimir II Monomakh (1113-1125), the ruler of Kievan Rus᾿, who adapted his Byzantine mother’s surname, thus placing the Monomachoi dynasty at the top of the social pyramid of the Rus᾿. The owner of the seal could have been a grandchild or a great-grandchild of Leo Diogenesevich († 1116) and Maria († 1146), a daughter of Vladimir II; Leo the sebastos probably emigrated to the Byzantine territory or established contacts and relationships with Byzantium.

Keywords

• byzantine sigillography
• byzantine prosopography
• monomachoi
• rus’
• mobility and migration
• byzantium and beyond
• byzantium and the rus’