Theodore Styppeiotes or Stypeiotes (Greek: Θεόδωρος Στυπ[π]ειώτης, romanized: Theodōros Styp[p]eiōtēs) was a high-ranking bureaucrat of the Byzantine Empire and a member of the court of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180).
The sources provide different reasons, from Styppeiotes conspiring to deprive the Emperor of power to the machinations of his rival, John Kamateros, and scholars still dispute the true background of this event.
[1] His relation to the earlier Sty[p]peiotai of the 10th and 11th centuries is unclear, but he may be related—possibly a grandson, according to Konstantinos Varzos—to the military commander Michael Stypeiotes, who served under Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118).
[12] According to the near-contemporary official and historian, Niketas Choniates, thenceforth Styppeiotes "administered public affairs as he wished, profoundly wise, prudent, pleasant in manner, and soaring in political judgment.
[14] His power is eloquently evoked in the poems addressed to him by Prodromos, and in a flattering letter sent in 1155 by the Metropolitan of Ephesus, George Tornikes, seeking his support.
[18][19] The German chronicler Rahewin, on the other hand, reports that the kanikleios had hired three men to assassinate Manuel, but that the empress discovered the plot and informed the emperor.
[18] Choniates gives a rather different account, which according to the historian Paul Magdalino may represent the "unofficial" version of the affair, but the details of which were proven to be mostly fictitious by the Byzantinist Otto Kresten.