Maurophoros Michael

Mentioned in the sources between 1327 and 1356. He appears between 1327 and 1335 as οἰκεῖος of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos and in 1348 as οἰκεῖος of the Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan. He held the position of the κριτὴς τοῦ φοσσάτου (military judge), before 1348. He is attested as a military judge in Serres between 1327 and 1335. He was a Ioannes VI. Kantakuzenos supporter in the civil war. He possessed а 300 modioi large land near Neboliane called Harmenon. The Byzantine Emperor Ioannes V Palaiologos confiscated his land in November 1344 for the sake of treachery and gave it to the stratopedarches Ioannes Chumnos (καὶ τὴν Νεβόλιανιν τὴν καλουμένην Ἅρμενον, ἅπερ προκατεῖχεν ὁ ἄπιστος Μαυροφόρος). The Serbian Emperor Stefan Uroš IV Dušan granted in April 1348 the endowment of Michael Maurophoros to the Batopedi Monastery. It consisted of his wife’s dowry, his hereditary land and of bought estates. Michael Maurophoros donated along these lands also houses in Zichna, vineyards, fields outside the town, summer residence in Gradistion with garden and houses, which he became from the Byzantine Emperor Ioannes V Palaiologos, to the Batopedi Monastery (ὁμοίως καὶ ὅσα ἀφιέρωσεν ὁ οἰκεῖος τῆ βασιλεία μου κριτὴς τοῦ φοσσάτου ὁ Μαυροφόρος ἀπὸ τε προικὸς αὐτοῦ καὶ γονικότητος καὶ ἐξ ἀγορασίας, τά τε ἐντὸς τοῦ κάστρου ὀσπήτια καὶ ἐκτός, ἀμπέλια καὶ χωράφια, μετὰ παντὸς τοῦ εἰς τὸ Γραδίστον καθίσματος, τοῦ περιβολίου καὶ τῶν οἰκημάτων καὶ πάσης τῆς νομῆς καὶ περιοχῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ τὰ χωράφια ἅπερ εἶχε διὰ χρυσοβούλλου). The chrysobull charter of the Byzantine Emperor Ioannes V Palaiologos from September 1356 gives account that Michael Maurophoros bestowed more property on the Batopedi Monastery. He granted the Metochion of Saint Nicholas near Zichna (Χωρίον Ἁγίου Νικολάου τοῦ θαυματουργοῦ, ὅπερ δέδωκεν ὁ Μαυροφόρος), a zeugelateion (Τὸ ἐκεῖσε ζευγηλατεῖον τὸ ἀφιερωθὲν παρὰ τοῦ Μαυροφόρου καὶ καλούμενον) and a landed property near Drymon called Konchista (τὸ χωρίον τοῦ Μαυροφόρου ῃ Κογχίστα λεγόμενον) to the Batopedi Monastery.