Sgouros family

The Sgouros, also known as Sgouropoulos, Sgouromallaios, Sgouranos, Sgouris, Sgourismenos, Sgouritzis, and Sgourogiannis, was a Byzantine Greek noble family – composed of multiple branches – that originated from Nafplio.

Name

The name of the family derives from the Greek adjective, which is indicative of wavy hair. According to linguist and philologist Georgios Babiniotis, the adjective derives either from Ancient Greek 'curved, round' with the introduction of the prefix σ-, or from the noun, which might have been detached from .

History

The Sgouros family was a rich and powerful family, which first appeared in the middle of the 11th c. in Nafplio. From the very beginning right until the 15th c., it was part of the Byzantine provincial middle class. Members of the family appear to hold both political and ecclesiastical positions, and they were also distinguished as scholars, scribes, orators, etc. The Byzantinist Alexander Kazhdan, who was a notable scholar of mid-Byzantine and late Byzantine society, identified twelve representatives of the family during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos. With the appearance of the most prominent Sgouroi at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, the family arranged marriages with the noble family of Angeloi.
Although many Sgouroi were distinguished in public administrative positions from the time of Alexios I Komnenos, they never seem to have been members of the aristocratic court in Constantinople. Some of the most important positions held by the recorded members – mainly from 1086/1088 AD and thereafter – were those of the protospatharios, sebastos, chartoularios, proedros, domestikos, protostrator, logothetis, megas hetaireiarches, protonotarios, prokathimenos, protallagator, and sebastohypertatos.

Members

There have been about 90 recorded members of the family and its branches between the 11th and 15th centuries. Of those, only four were women. Furthermore, 37 belonged to the branch of ', 16 to ', 14 to ', four to ', two ', and one ', ', and ' respectively. The following table lists them chronologically.

Names	Dates	Notes
	11th c.	protospatharios
	1086	proedros and accountant
	1088	chartoularios tou sekretou
	1192, 1197	grammarian
		notable grammarian and notary
	1193	scribe
	1180/1189 –	father of Leon Sgouros and archon of Nafplio
		despot of Argolid and Corinthia, sebastohypertatos
		wife of Leon Sgouros
		brother of Leon Sgouros and garrison commander of Nafplio
	before 1264	reader or lector, husband of
	1279	from Constantinople
Loscuro	1277	prison guard in Licolourafo
		follower of bishop from New Heraclea
		clergyman of the diocese of Varavlonia
	1283	priest in Smyrna
		employee of Gregory II of Constantinople
		treasurer of Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
		domestikos of eastern themata, landowner of Lembiotissa Monastery, slave of Andronikos II Palaiologos, pansebastos sebastos
		protostrator, protallagator of Morea
	1297 –	imperial envoy
	1298 and after	landowner
	13th c.	hymnographer
	beginning of 14th c.	wheat trader in Constantinople
		paroikos in Vrasta, Chalkidiki
		paroikos in Selas, Chalkidiki
	1304	paroikos in Lemnos
		correspondence with Michael Gabras
		deacon and lector in Mamouderta, Bithynia
	1314	priest in the suburb of Mina, Constantinople
	1314	cleric in Thessalonica
	1315	dignitary
		sebastos in Laconia
		paroikos in Rodolivos, Serres
	before 1318	landowner in Psalida, Chalkidiki
	before 1319	founder of St George's Monastery in Artaki
	1319	paroikos in Malouka, Strymon
	1320	paroikos in Melitziani, Strymon
	before 1321	resident in Pteleon, Chalkidiki
	1320/1321	witness of sale deed by Archistratigos' Monastery of Zichni
	1321	paroikos in Lorotos, Chalkidiki
	1321	sebastos, primate of Ioannina
	1322	from Thessalonica
		clerk of Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
	1327	archon of Thessalonica
	1330	brother-in-law of Ioannis Laskaris and Georgios Padiatis
	1331/1332	donor of the Theotokos' Monastery in Kakodiki, Chania
	1331/1332	donoress of the Theotokos' Monastery in Kakodiki, Chania
	1331/1332	donor of the Theotokos' Monastery in Kakodiki, Chania
	1334	landowner in Katroula, Constantinople
	before 1338	sebastos
	1341/1342	servant of John VI Kantakouzenos
		broker in Constantinople, landowner of Great Lavra's Monastery, Mount Athos
	first half of 14th c.	correspondent
		merchant in Constantinople, originating from Piges, Mysia
	1357	priest in Constantinople
	1357	priest in Constantinople
	1357	priest and taboularios in Constantinople
	1357	priest in Constantinople
Damiano Sgurothoma		cowherd in Nafplio
	1361–1364	judge
	and prior	scribe
	1362, 1377 and prior	judge of military camp in Rafalion, Chalkidiki
	1364	donor of Kolyva, Constantinople; could be the same individual as
	1373–1376	cleric and editor of documents in Thessalonica
		interpreter in Constantinople
		soldier
	1387	priest and lawyer in Chrysoupoli, Strymon
		deacon of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople
		cleric and owner of house in Constantinople
	second half of 14th c.	scribe
	second half of 14th c. – beginning of 15th c.	protonotarios at the court of Komnenoi in Trebizond, lyricist
	1400	landowner in Constantinople
	1400	employee of Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
	1409	paroikos in Pinsona, Chalkidiki
	1415	worker in the salt pans of Thessalonica
	1415	worker in the salt pans of Thessalonica
	1419	cleric, chartoularios of Hagios Demetrios' Monastery in Thessalonica
	1422	landowner in Meteora
	1426	native of Sparta, Peloponnese
	1430	domestikos and composer
	, or later	scribe of Bessarion
	1446	from Chios
	first half of 15th c.	archon of the churches, deacon, composer, domestikos of Hagia Sophia, Constantinople
Petrus Sguro		military captain in Heraklion, Crete
		archon of Karytaina
	15th c.	orator and writer
	middle of 15th c.	reader or lector