[1] The union led to the emergence of the Doukas–Kamateros bureaucratic dynasty,[2] which would reach the peak of its fortunes with John and his brother, Andronikos Doukas Kamateros, who occupied the highest offices in the state.
[7] Choniates gives an account of Kamateros' rivalry with the epi tou kanikleiou (keeper of the imperial inkstand), Theodore Styppeiotes, who was deposed and blinded at Manuel's orders in 1158/9.
According to Choniates, Kamateros resented the fact that, although formally less powerful than himself, who was logothetes tou dromou, Styppeiotes' office allowed him immediate access to and therefore influence on the emperor.
Other authors give different reasons for Styppeiotes' downfall, and the details of Choniates' version have been proven to be inaccurate, at least in their chronology, by the historian Otto Kresten.
[10] As a prominent member of the court, John was also active in the intellectual circles of the time, apparently having himself composed at least two poems in political verse, and corresponding with scholars like Michael Glykas and George Tornikes.