[1][2] The earliest member of the family recorded was Alexios Petraliphas, according to John Kinnamos a general in charge of a military force sent by Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–80) to his ally Kilij Arslan II, Sultan of Rûm.
[citation needed] During the reign of Manuel I Komnenos, alongside Alexios, a Nikephoros Petraliphas is recorded as a distinguished general.
[citation needed] The family became prominent in the late 12th and the first half of the 13th century: the sebastokrator John Petraliphas was governor of Thessaly and Macedonia, and played a leading role in the deposition of Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185–1195 and 1203–1204) in 1195.
[4] A marriage to Alexios the Slav, a vassal of the Latin emperor Henry of Flanders (r. 1206–1216) by an unidentified Petraliphaina, possibly John's other daughter Maria, is also reported by George Akropolites.
[5] A different branch of the family is attested in the Empire of Nicaea, where another John was megas chartoularios and military commander in the late 1230s.