John Kourkouas

Who was John Kourkouas?

John Kourkouas was the Byzantine catepan of Italy from 1008 to his death. He was of Armenian descent. He saw the first revolt of the Lombards in Greek Apulia. Formerly the strategos of Samos, Kourkouas arrived at Bari in May 1008 as a replacement for Alexios Xiphias, who had been killed in battle the previous year. Soon after, on May 9, 1009, a rebellion started in Bari led by Melus of Bari, and quickly spread to other cities. Kourkouas did not live long enough to see the final culmination of these minor insurrections: the Norman domination of the entire Mezzogiorno. Kourkouas was killed in battle with the rebels in either late 1009 or early 1010. In March of the latter year, his successor, Basil Mesardonites, arrived.