International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Maria Campagnolo-Pothitou
Musée d’art et d’histoire, Geneva, Switzerland; 
[e-mail] 
Pantelis Charalampakis
Heracleion, Greece; 
[e-mail]
The Radenos Family: Sigillographic and Literary Evidence
Over the last years, researchers focus more and more on Byzantine prosopography and 
administration, these two topics being very important for the understanding of Byzantine history in 
general and Byzantine social history in particular. Three major prosopographical dictionaries have 
recently come to light, aiming to cover – together with the older Prosopography of the Later Roman 
Empire (mid-3
rd
to the late 7
th
century) – all periods of Byzantine history: the Prosopographie der 
mittelbyzantinischen Zeit (641-1025), the online Prosopography of the Byzantine World (officially 
it covers the period of 1025-1150, but in fact from the very late 10
th
to the mid-13
th
century), and the 
Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (1261-1453). It has been made clear to scholars 
working on prosopography and administration that the traditional study of literary texts is now 
not sufficient. None of these topics can be properly investigated separately from sigillography that 
is the study of Byzantine seals made of gold, silver or – as in most cases – lead. Sigillography is very 
important to prosopographical studies, because each seal carries information about its owner that 
would otherwise remain unknown to us. It is thus inevitable that, together with prosopography, 
sigillography attracts the attention of the scholars.
The Radenos family originates from central Asia Minor. Clearly belonging to what scholars 
describe as “the civil aristocracy” in Byzantium and related to the famous and powerful Argyros 
family, the Radenoi managed to occupy several posts and be involved in every aspect of Byzantine 
administration and society for quite a long time. Sometimes we encounter them in imperial service 
in Constantinople, where they held high dignities in civil hierarchy; sometimes their presence is 
located in Asia Minor, where they served as provincial judges or landowners; sometimes they appear 
as high military officers, both as provincial (thematic) strategoi and commanders of the imperial 
fleet. Scholars have confirmed that individuals from the 11
th
and 12
th
century “civil aristocracy” 
could also occupy posts in military service and vice versa. It seems that the Radenoi had taken 
advantage of this and thanks to their connections but also their skills they achieved to ascend to the 
highest ranks. On the other hand, we also encounter them as simple priests or scribes. And not only 
male but also female members of the family are known, mostly through sigillographic evidence. 
Our topic is divided in two parts: an overview of the history of the Radenos family, from the 10
th
to the 15
th
century, with special references to the most prominent members as evidenced through 
both sigillographic and literary sources; the material sources, establishing a sigillographic corpus 
of the Radenoi and discussing some issues related to identification of specimens and individuals.
Presenting the Radenoi as a family group is an important contribution to the study of Byzantine 
history, society and prosopography, placing them next to those already studied such as the Argyros, 
the Doukas, the Melissenos, the Xeroi, the Palaeologos. 

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