Alexios Axuch

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Alexios Axuch ( Middle Greek Ἀλέξιος Ἀξοῦχος ; † after 1167 on Mount Papikion ) was a Byzantine general under Emperor Manuel I.

Life

Alexios was the son of Megas Domestikos Johannes Axuch , the closest confidante of Emperor Johannes II and de facto regent at the beginning of the reign of Manuel I, who had ascended the throne in 1143. He was married to Maria Komnena , the daughter of Johannes II's eldest son and co-emperor Alexios († 1142).

As protostrator (army commander), Axuch took part in several campaigns under Manuel I, including the failed invasion of Norman Apulia in 1157/58 and probably also the war against the Kingdom of Hungary eight years later. For 1165, Axuch is documented as a strategos autocrator of a military expedition in Cilicia against the Zengids - Emir Nur ad-Din and the little Armenian prince Thoros II .

During his stay in Asia Minor , Axuch, who was of Turkish descent on his father's side, paid a visit to the Seljuk Sultan Kılıç Arslan II in Iconium . After his return to Constantinople , he was suspected of planning a revolt against Manuel I together with the Turks. When it became known in 1167 that Axuch had adorned one of his palaces with impressive images of the battles and victories of the Turkish sultan - and not, as usual, of the emperor - he was charged with insulting majesty . In addition, he was accused of using magical practices to prevent the Empress Maria-Xene from giving birth to an heir to the throne. Even among contemporary historians it was disputed whether the accusations against Axuch were justified. In any case, the emperor left him alive and banished him to a monastery on Mount Papikion (near Mosynopolis , now part of Komotini ) in the Rhodope Mountains , where he died some time later.

The son of Alexios Axuch and Maria Komnena, Johannes Komnenos , called "the fat one" (ὁ Παχύς) , was on July 31, 1200 (or 1201) for one day anti -emperor in Constantinople against Alexios III.

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literature

  • Jean-Claude Cheynet: Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963-1210) (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Series Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 9). Reimpression. Publications de la Sorbonne Center de Recherches d'Histoire et de Civilization Byzantines, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-168-5 , p. 109 No. 148.
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 239, 938-939.
  • Paul Magdalino: The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2002, ISBN 0-52-152653-1 , pp. 218-224 and passim .
  • Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study. (= Oxford Studies in Byzantium ). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , pp. 221-223, 301.
  • Paul Stephenson: Byzantium′s Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans 900-1204. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2000, ISBN 0-521-77017-3 , pp. 261-279 (passim) .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Alexios Axuch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἀλέξιος Ἀξοῦχος (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine general, conspirator against Emperor Manuel I.
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: after 1167
Place of death Mount Papikion