Alexios Komnenos (Sebastokrator)

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Alexios Komnenos ( medium Greek Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός * to 1153; † after 1192 on the mountain Papikion ) was a Byzantine prince of the dynasty of Comnenus .

Life

Alexios Komnenos was an illegitimate son of Emperor Manuel I from an incestuous relationship with his niece Theodora Batatzina Komnena , daughter of Theodoros Batatzes and Manuel's sister Eudokia Komnena . Since summer 1183 he was married to Irene Komnena (* 1168), the illegitimate daughter of Andronikos I and Theodora Komnena . Presumably on the occasion of this scandalous wedding, Alexios was elevated to sebastocrator by his father-in-law , shortly before his half-brother, the legitimate Emperor Alexios II , was murdered. Although Andronikos I had two adult sons, Alexios was the presumptive heir to the throne.

In 1184 Alexios Komnenos instigated a conspiracy against Andronikos I in Constantinople with the support of the two Sebastianos brothers, who had made himself hated as a brutal arbitrary ruler. The plot, however, was exposed prematurely; Alexios was blinded and imprisoned in Chele Castle. His accomplices were hanged, one of his servants named Mamalos died at the Hippodrome the fiery death . Her marriage to Irene was dissolved and she herself went into exile.

Under Andronikos' I successor Isaac II Angelos , Alexios Komnenos was rehabilitated in 1185 and, possibly together with the also blinded Johannes Kantakuzenos , was appointed emperor . At a time that cannot be precisely dated between 1186 and 1192, he was again under suspicion of planning a coup against the emperor this time together with the Dux of Thessalonike , Andronikos Komnenos (a grandson of Nikephoros Bryennios and Anna Komnena ). Alexios was arrested in Drama and - at his own request - exiled to a monastery on Mount Papikion (near Mosynopolis , now part of Komotini ) in the Rhodope Mountains , where he died as a monk Athanasios at an unknown time after 1192.

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literature

  • Κωνσταντίνος Βαρζός: Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. T. 20β, ZDB -ID 420491-8 ). Τόμος Β '. Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1984, pp. 481–496 No. 156, digital version (PDF; 45 MB) .
  • 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 , pp. 117-118, No. 160.
  • Божидар Ферјанчић: Севастократори у Византији . In: Зборник радова Византолошког института 11, 1968, ISSN  0584-9888 , pp. 141-192, here: p. 161, digitized .
  • Harry J. Magoulias: Andronikos I Komnenos: A Greek Tragedy . In: Byzantina Symmeikta 21, 2011, ISSN  1791-4884 , pp. 101-136 ( online ).
  • Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , pp. 162, 305 and passim .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Alexios Komnenos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός (Middle Greek); Athanasios (religious name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine Sebastocrator and Kaisar, illegitimate son of Emperor Manuel I.
DATE OF BIRTH unsure: 1153
DATE OF DEATH after 1191
Place of death Mount Papikion