Ioannis Kanabes -14th century

8:23 μ.μ. βυζαντιο , θρησκεια , ιωαννης , english , pesron 0 Comments

Ioannis Kanabes (14th century) lived at the Monastery of the Theotokos Zoodochos Pege under the monastic name Hilarion. Typically members of the Byzantine elite would retire to a monastery later in life, assuming a name in religion that began with the same letter as their secular name. It is also likely that Kanabes was the ktetor or founder of the church of Saint Demetrios tou Kanabe, a foundation that still exists in modem Istanbul . The current structure is an eighteenth-century, timber-roofed basilica that replaced a pre-conquest domed edifice. The interior of the church was graced with a mosaic program, evidence of which was still present in the cupola before its destruction in an earthquake in circa 1719. The church is located near the Blachemae Quarter of Constantinople, which was an aristocratic residential center of the City during the Late Byzantine period.

In Byzantine times Saint Demtrios tou Kanabe would have been located near the Pammakaristos monastic complex and the Emperor’s palace, the important monastery of the Chora and the palace of its founder Theodore Metochites. The placement of Kanabes’ foundation and the fact that he was able to commission an important poet to create two epigrams for him proves his possession of disposable wealth and access to the right aristocratic circles. Kanabes’ wealth is in fact alluded to in the second poem that he commissioned from Philes. In this epigram Ioannis/Hilarion goes so far as to compare himself with the rich man that went to hell, while Lazarus was placed in the bosom of Abraham: “For I am struck by the <example of the>rich man who suffers greatly from thirst and is broiled il <hellfire>.” From the sum of this evidence one can propose that Ioannis Kanabes was well established in the aristocratic framework surrounding the Emperor’s court, although his exact status is in unknown

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Interestingly, there is a tangential connection between the Kanabes family and this Emperor as it is recorded that the father-in-law of a Nikephoros Kanabes, Demetrios Kassandrenos, accompanied the Emperor John Kantakuzenos by ship when he visited the city of Mistra in 1361.

The lack of evidence of any other example in micromosaic representing this complex subject and the specific feasts included, all add credibility to the hypothesis that this was in fact Kanabes’ icon, which made its way to Italy given to a loyal courtier of Kantakuzenos’s during the coup d’état that dethroned him in 1357. Although a member of the court, Kanabes was certainly not of the highest stratum of this aristocratic society; he does not claim any of the most illustrious surnames prominent at this time such as Palaiologos, Komnenos, Kantakuzenos or Rhaoul.

The custom of Palaiologan nomenclature allowed an individual to chose names from either maternal or paternal lines, with individuals typically selecting the name of the more illustrious side of the family. Kanabes’ social level is difficult to accurately gauge since he only uses one last name, it is likely that he belonged to the middle to low aristocracy. This factor consequently broadens the potential scope of patrons for micromosaic icons, and modifies what earlier scholars had believed, namely that these were possessions of only the highest echelons of the Byzantine Society. Members of the elite may generally have had access to these works of art both as patrons and as recipients of these as gifts.