The Petraliphas or Petraleiphas , feminine form Petraliphaina (Πετραλίφαινα), were a Byzantine

Byzantine

Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...

 aristocratic family of Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 descent.

The family's ancestor was Peter, a Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 from Alifa, who first came to the Empire under Robert Guiscard

Robert Guiscard

Robert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...

, but later entered the service of Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

 (r. 1081–1118). During the reign of Manuel I Komnenos

Manuel I Komnenos

Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine Emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean....

 (r. 1148–1180), Alexios and Nikephoros Petraliphas, were distinguished generals. Although the relation between them is unknown, perhaps they were among the four Petraliphas brothers from Didymoteichon recorded by Niketas Choniates.

The family became prominent in the late 12th and the first half of the 13th century: the sebastokrator

Sebastokrator

Sebastokratōr was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used by other rulers whose states bordered the Empire or were within its sphere of influence. The word is a compound of "sebastos" Sebastokratōr was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used...

John Petraliphas

John Petraliphas

John Petraliphas was a Byzantine noble and governor of Thessaly and Macedonia in the late 12th/early 13th century with the rank of sebastokrator.- Life :John was a member of the Petraliphas family, which was originally of Italian origin...

 of Thessaly

Thessaly

Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....

 and Macedonia

Macedonia (region)

Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

, and played a leading role in the deposition of Isaac II Angelos

Isaac II Angelos

Isaac II Angelos was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204....

 (r. 1185–1195 and 1203–1204) in 1195. Another sebastokrator Nikephoros Komnenos Petraliphas is also attested ca. 1200. The sebastokrator John's sister Maria Petraliphaina

Maria Petraliphaina

Maria Petraliphaina was the wife of Theodore Komnenos Doukas. She is the earliest consort of the Despotate of Epiros known by name...

 married the ruler of Epirus

Despotate of Epirus

The Despotate or Principality of Epirus was one of the Byzantine Greek successor states of the Byzantine Empire that emerged in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade in 1204. It claimed to be the legitimate successor of the Byzantine Empire, along with the Empire of Nicaea, and the Empire of Trebizond...

 and Thessalonica Theodore Komnenos Doukas

Theodore Komnenos Doukas

Theodore Komnenos Doukas was ruler of Epirus from 1215 to 1230 and of Thessalonica from 1224 to 1230.-Life:...

 (r. 1215–1230), while John's daughter Theodora Petraliphaina married Michael II Komnenos Doukas

Michael II Komnenos Doukas

Michael II Komnenos Doukas or Comnenus Ducas , often called Michael Angelos in narrative sources, was the ruler of Epirus from 1230 until his death in 1266/68.-Life:...

 (r. 1231–1266/68). John's son Theodore was married to a daughter of Demetrios Tornikes, one of the leading ministers of John III Vatatzes (r. 1221–1254), and played a prominent role in the Nicaean-Epirote conflicts of the 1250s, first defecting to Nicaea and then back to his brother-in-law. A marriage to Alexios the Slav, a vassal of the Latin emperor Henry of Flanders

Henry of Flanders

Henry was the second emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. He was a younger son of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut , and Margaret I of Flanders, sister of Philip of Alsace, count of Flanders....

 (r. 1206–1216) by an unidentified Petraliphaina, possibly John's other daughter Maria, is also reported by George Akropolites. A different branch of the family is attested in the Empire of Nicaea

Empire of Nicaea

The Empire of Nicaea was the largest of the three Byzantine Greek successor states founded by the aristocracy of the Byzantine Empire that fled after Constantinople was occupied by Western European and Venetian forces during the Fourth Crusade...

, where another John was megas chartoularios and military commander in the late 1230s.