Christodulus

Christodoulos ( Χριστοδοῦλος, Christ servant ', also Christophoros and Christofalus; * in Calabria; † after 1125, probably in Palermo) was a Greek court official and Ammiratus of King Roger II of Sicily.

Life and work

As Ammiratus ( Emir, Admiral ), it is the first time in 1107 certainly is, but he might have been still used by Roger I.. Exact knowledge of his area of ​​responsibility as Ammiratus we have not, however, in addition to the fleet command and the Presidency of the High Court is detectable. From campaigns aside, he is always there in the vicinity of the ruler. From foreign powers however, he was regarded as particularly influential. Therefore, the Byzantine Emperor Alexius I awarded him the honorary title of Protonobilissimus ( Πρωτονωβηλίσσιμος ) in April 1109. The aim was probably to hold Sicily from an active intervention in the Apulian -Byzantine conflict. With this title Christodoulos is designated in Greek documents from Calabria between 1111 and 1122, also in a Hofgerichtsurkunde of 1123. The archive of the Cappella Palatina kept Kodikellos, written on purple dyed parchment with gold ink, was from the older Sicilian diplomatics (Carlo Alberto Garufi ) mistakenly viewed as a work of Norman law firm.

He supported together with the Regent Adelasia the reform of the Greek monastery of S. Maria Hodogetria at Rossano by Bartholomew of Simeri. The alleged establishment of a Greek monastery in Marsala in 1098 based on a confusion with his successor George. A house in Messina from his possession fell after his death at the Royal Court, which in 1159 the Archbishop of Palermo Hugo left.

1123 failed by Christodoulos together with his colleague and eventual successor George of Antioch guided expedition against the Muslim North Africa. 1125 is the last time he mentioned, he soon expected to have died.