unknown Tornikes

Events 

Date of Birth: unknown.

Place of Birth: unknown.

Date of Death: unknown.

Place of Death: unknown.

His son Demetrios is called a native of Thebes.

Relationships

Father: unknown.

Adontz (1936, p. 32) states that all Byzantine Tornikes descended from Tornik, who lived several generations before the unknown Tornikes of this page. It is conceivable that evidence from seals could fill in the blanks, and confirm a descent from Tornik, but as far as I know, this is not true at present. There are several prominent Tornikes in the intervening years, but their relationships with one another are not established. As Stone and Owens note, the description of Demetrius Tornikes in his eulogy as of noble descent from the east makes a descent for Demetrius from Tornik very likely. Settipani (2021, p. 141) suggests a descent, given below in the Commentary section. 

Mother: unknown.

Spouse: a niece of Theophylaktos, archbishop of Ohrid.

Theophylaktos gives this relationship in his letters (529.12). She was living not far from Corinth in 1155 (PBW, 2016, citing Darrouzès 125.1-9). In a note on page 125, Darrouzès states that she was orginally from Euboea. Theophylaktos was born at Euripos in Euboea. His brothers included a Demetrios Hephaistos, who may well be the father of the spouse here. Georgios Tornikes in a letter (p. 128) states that his maternal uncle is a nephew of an old archbishop of Bulgaria.

Children: 

(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)

Georgios Tornikes (born between 1110 and 1120), metropolitan of Ephesus.

Demetrios Tornikes (about 1121 - about 1201) married a sister of Euthymios Malakes.

Leon Tornikes.

Evidence

Stone and Owens (p. 370) note that Demetrios’s son Euthymios in a funeral oration for him described the genos of Demetrios with the phrase “εὐγενὲς ὂν τῶν ἀφ ἠλίου ἀνατολῶν” (noble descent from the east). They also note that Michael Choniates praised the family of Demetrios for the way they had upheld the meritocratic ideal over several generations.

from Theophylaktos’s letters (no. 109):

…Εἰ μὲν οὖν ἀπολύσεις τῆς ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ διατριβῆς τὸν Τορνίκιον, ὃν ἔχω γαμβρὸν ἐπ' ἀδελφιδῇ...

Commentary

Settipani (2021, p. 141) suggests this ancestry for the unknown Tornikes of this page:

Father: Georgios Tornikes protospatharios in the late 1000s, attested 1050.

Grandfather: Leon Tornikes, the usurper, born about 1015, died after 1047.

Great-grandfather: Michael Tornikes, protospatharios, judge of the Hippodrome, born about 990, died after 1028.

Great-great grandfather: Leon Tornikes, katepano in Bari in 1017, born about 965, died after 1017.

Relationships are not attested between anyone in the line, although it seems plausible enough.

References

Adontz, N. “Les Taronites a Byzance” in Byzantion v. 9, no. 2 (1934) pp. 715-738, v. 10, no. 2 (1935) pp. 531-551; v. 11, no. 1 (1936), pp. 21-42.  

J. Darrouzès, George et Dèmètrios Tornikès: lettres et discours (Paris, 1970).

“Demetrios Hephaistos, brother of Theophylaktos of Ohrid” in M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World, 2016 (King’s College London, 2017).

“Demetrios Tornikes, sebastos and epi tou kanikleiou” in M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World, 2016 (King’s College London, 2017).

P. Gautier. Théophylacte d’Achrida, II. Lettres. Corpus fontium historiae Byzantinae v. 16.2, (Thessalonika, 1986) 

“Georgios Tornikes, man of letters and metropoltian of Ephesos” in M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World, 2016 (King’s College London, 2017).

“Leon Tornikes, brother of Georgios” in M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World, 2016 (King’s College London, 2017).

“mother of Georgios Tornikes” in M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World, 2016 (King’s College London, 2017).

Settipani, Christian. Les lien dynastiques entre Byzance et l’étranger à l’époque des Comnènes et des Paléologues. (Éditions de Boccard, 2021). 

Stone, D C and Charles R Owens. “[Eirene?], First Wife of Emperor Isaakios II Angelos, is a Probable Tornikina and Gateway to Antiquity” in Foundations (Jan. 2011).

“Theoplylaktos, archbishop of Ohrid” in M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World, 2016 (King’s College London, 2017).

“Tornikios, relative of Theophylaktos of Ohrid” in M. Jeffreys et al., Prosopography of the Byzantine World, 2016 (King’s College London, 2017).