John Doukas (general under Manuel I)

John Doukas Kamateros (Greek: Ἰωάννης Δούκας Καματηρός), in contemporary sources usually simply John Doukas, was a Byzantine aristocrat active in the second half of the 12th century and one of the most distinguished officials and military leaders of his time.

John was the son of Gregory Kamateros, a man of humble origin but well educated, who held several senior government posts under emperors Alexios I Komnenos and John II Komnenos and advanced to the high rank of sebastos, and of Irene Doukaina, probably a daughter of the protostrator Michael Doukas, whose sister Irene was wed to Alexios I. The union led to the emergence of the Doukas-Kamateros bureaucratic dynasty, which would reach the peak of its fortunes with John and his brother, Andronikos Doukas Kamateros, who occupied the highest offices in the state for much of the 12th century. It is possible that John is the unnamed logothetes whose daughter was the wife of Alexios Kontostephanos.

John's career spanned almost the entire second half of the century, and led him to occupy, according to the historian Demetrios Polemis, "perhaps the most outstanding place among officials of his time". A cousin of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–80), John is referred to with the titles of sebastos and protosebastos, as well as the designation oikeios, member of the imperial household. John also enjoyed imperial favour as Manuel's drinking companion; according to the near contemporary historian Niketas Choniates, John drank wine by the barrel and was able to outdrink any foreign envoy or ruler, while he was a famous glutton as well, eating as if he was starving and able to eradicate entire fields of green peas by himself. He eventually held the positions of megas hetaireiarches, Eparch of Constantinople, and finally logothetes tou dromou; some modern scholars have attributed him the posts of epi ton deeseon and the judicial post of krites tou velou, but both are unlikely.

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