Wikipedia
Aspietes (, from aspet, "rider, knight"), feminine form Aspietina or Aspietissa , was the surname of a Byzantine noble family of Armenian origin active in the 12th–15th centuries.
Despite the mention of a "great and numerous lineage of the so-called Aspetianoi" by the 6th-century Byzantine historian Procopius of Caesarea, the later Aspietai seem to be entirely unrelated to them. The later Byzantine writers ascribed the Aspietai descent from the Arsacid royal dynasty, but Alexandra Wassiliou-Seibt points out that this was a common literary topos at the time, and that "almost all representatives of the senior Armenian nobility [..] were regarded as descendants of the Arsacids".
The first known member of the Aspietai family was a general of Alexios I Komnenos, active in the early 12th century. Beginning with the 17th-century scholar Du Cange, successive historians, including Ferdinand Chalandon, Steven Runciman, and Konstantinos Varzos, have identified him with Oshin of Lampron. In 1924, however, Joseph Laurent rejected this identification, and has been followed by some modern scholars since.
Most of the known members of the family served as military commanders: apart from the original Aspietes/Oshin, another member of the family fought and was killed at the Battle of Dyrrhachium in 1081, Michael Aspietes was a general under Manuel I Komnenos, Constantine Aspietes served under both Manuel I and Isaac II Angelos, Alexios Aspietes served as commander of Serres in 1195 and was proclaimed emperor in 1204, while a member of the family headed an embassy to Saladin in 1189.
The family is still extensively attested in the Palaiologan period, where it still belonged to the landed nobility and intermarried with other noble houses, but none of its members managed to rise to senior offices.
Aspietes was an Armenian nobleman who entered the service of the Byzantine Empire and served during much of the reign of Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118).
He was a member of the noble family of the Aspietai, which claimed descent from the Arsacid royal dynasty of Armenia. Aspietes is first attested alongside Alexios I during the 1081 campaign against the Normans that led to the disastrous Battle of Dyrrhachium, where Aspietes himself was gravely injured. The scene is graphically narrated by Alexios' daughter Anna Komnene in her Alexiad, highlighting Aspietes' valour.
The name "Aspietes" appears in two different portions of the Alexiad, and it is not entirely clear whether it refers to the same or different people. Most scholars identify the Aspietes of Dyrrhachium with the Aspietes who in 1105/6 was appointed governor of Tarsus by the Emperor. Shortly after, he succeeded Monastras as stratopedarches of the East, in charge of the campaign against the Principality of Antioch. In this capacity he failed to react effectively to Tancred of Antioch, who proceeded to recapture Mopsuestia and several other fortresses that Monastras had taken the previous year. Instead, Aspietes occupied himself with debauched revelries. More recently, Alexis Savvides argued that the two personages are usually treated as distinct people, and interpreted—erroneously, according to Alexandra Wassiliou-Seibt—the relevant passage in the Alexiad as indicating that the first Aspietes died of his wounds at Dyrrhachium.
Aspietes is not mentioned again after 1105/6. Nevertheless, beginning with the 17th-century scholar Du Cange, many historians, including Ferdinand Chalandon, Steven Runciman, and Alexis Savvides, have traditionally identified him with Oshin of Lampron (1073–1112), the lord of Cilician Armenia, who in turn is identified with the Ursinus of Western sources. It was only in 1924 that Joseph Laurent rejected this identification, and this view has been followed by several modern scholars since.