Nikephoros Choumnos
| Nikephoros Choumnos | |
|---|---|
| Mesazōn of the Byzantine Empire | |
|
In office 1294–1305 |
|
| Monarch | Andronikos II Palaiologos |
| Preceded by | Theodore Mouzalon |
| Succeeded by | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1250–1255 |
| Died | 16 January 1327 |
Nikephoros Choumnos (Greek: Νικηφόρος Χοῦμνος, c. 1250/55 – 1327) was a Byzantine scholar and official of the early Palaiologan period, one of the most important figures in the flowering of arts and letters of the so-called "Palaiologan Renaissance". He is notable for his eleven-year tenure as chief minister of emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos, his intense intellectual rivalry with fellow scholar and official , and for building the monastery of the Theotokos Gorgoepēkoos (Θεοτόκος Γοργοεπήκοος) in Constantinople.
Choumnos was born between 1250 and 1255. He came from an already distinguished family, which since the 11th century had provided several high-ranking officials. Nikephoros studied rhetoric and philosophy under the future Patriarch of Constantinople Gregory of Cyprus, and upon conclusion of his studies entered the imperial bureaucracy. He makes his first appearance in history in ca. 1275, with the lowly rank of quaestor, as head of an embassy to the Mongol Ilkhanid ruler of Persia, Abaqa Khan. Although under Michael VIII Choumnos too had embraced the Union of the Churches, under his successor, the staunchly Orthodox and pious Andronikos II Palaiologos, he recanted. In ca. 1285, he composed a panegyric in honour of the emperor, duly emphasizing not only his virtues and martial accomplishments, but also his opposition to the Union. Henceforth, his rise in the hierarchy was rapid: in early 1294, following the death of Theodore Mouzalon, Andronikos II named him mystikos (privy councillor) and mesazōn (in effect, chief minister), while in 1295 he also received the office of epi tou kanikleiou, becoming head of the imperial chancellery. As George Pachymeres reports, the emperor increasingly took absence from his administrative duties in order to devote himself to prayer and fasting, leaving Choumnos to effectively handle the governance of the state. Choumnos' growing influence also led to a clash with the deposed patriarch Athanasios I, in whose dismissal in 1293 he may have had a role. Their enmity, which was likely founded on Choumnos' centralizing tendencies and on his classicizing and humanist education, ran deep and was marked by the exchange of mutual accusations of corruption.
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