Stephen Hagiochristophorites

Stephen Hagiochristophorites (Greek: Στέφανος Ἁγιοχριστοφορίτης, Stephanos Hagiochristophorites; ca. 1130 – 11 September 1185) was the most powerful member of the court of Byzantine emperor Andronikos I Komnenos (ruled 1182–85), and was killed by Isaac II Angelos, who the next day deposed and replaced Andronikos, while trying to arrest him.

Stephen Hagiochristophorites was of humble origin. The archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonica records that his father was a tax-collector. In the second half of the reign of Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180), Hagiochristophorites tried to attach himself to the imperial court, but was confronted by the ridicule and hostility of the aristocracy. Indeed, according to Eustathius, when he attempted to seduce an aristocratic lady and take her to wife to advance his own position, he was publicly flogged and had his nose cut off. Nevertheless, his determination was rewarded, and he was able to climb the administrative hierarchy, finally culminating in the office of epi tou stratou (administrator of the army), which he apparently received by Manuel I himself and held during the short reign of his son, Alexios II Komnenos (r. 1180–1182).

Hagiochristophorites continued in this post when the rebellion of Andronikos I Komnenos brought him to the throne, an event that marked a radical change in his fortunes. Within a very short time, Hagiochristophorites established himself as the new emperor's most trusted and powerful minister. Along with Constantine Tripsychos and Theodore Dadibrenos, Hagiochristophorites strangled Alexios II Komnenos with a bowstring in September/October 1183, leaving Andronikos as the sole emperor, a feat for which he was rewarded with the rank of pansebastos sebastos and the post of logothetes tou dromou.

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