Sgouros family

The name of the family derives from the Greek adjective sgourós (σγουρός), which is indicative of wavy hair.^[1][2] According to linguist and philologist Georgios Babiniotis, the adjective sgourós derives either from Ancient Greek gurós (γυρός) 'curved, round' with the introduction of the prefix σ-, or from the noun svoúros (σβούρος), which might have been detached from svouró-mallos (σβουρό-μαλλος).^[3]

The Sgouros family was a rich and powerful family, which first appeared in the middle of the 11th c. in Nafplio. From the very beginning right until the 15th c., it was part of the Byzantine provincial middle class. Members of the family appear to hold both political and ecclesiastical positions, and they were also distinguished as scholars, scribes, orators, etc.^[1] The Byzantinist Alexander Kazhdan, who was a notable scholar of mid-Byzantine and late Byzantine society, identified twelve representatives of the family during the reign of Alexios I Komnenos (1081-1118). With the appearance of the most prominent Sgouroi at the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries (Theodoros and Leon), the family arranged marriages with the noble family of Angeloi.^[4]

Although many Sgouroi were distinguished in public administrative positions from the time of Alexios I Komnenos, they never seem to have been members of the aristocratic court in Constantinople. Some of the most important positions held by the recorded members – mainly from 1086/1088 AD and thereafter – were those of the protospatharios, sebastos, chartoularios, proedros, domestikos, protostrator, logothetis, megas hetaireiarches, protonotarios, prokathimenos, protallagator, and sebastohypertatos (by Leon Sgouros).^[5]