Alexios Komnenos Palaiologos

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alexios Komnenos Palaiologos ( Middle Greek Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός Παλαιολόγος ; † 1203 in Constantinople ) was son-in-law and designated heir to the throne of the Byzantine emperor Alexios III from 1199 until his death . Angelos .

Life

Alexios' origins are in the dark. The Palaiologos family were wealthy and were important civil and military officials under the Komnen emperors. His father was probably the Sebastos and Megas Hetaireiarches Georgios Palaiologos , a son (or grandson) of the loyal follower of the same name Alexios I. His mother's name is unknown. Alexios was related by blood to the Comnenes through his grandmother.

Around 1198 Alexios Palaiologos was chosen by Emperor Alexios III, who had no male heir, to be the husband of his widowed eldest daughter Irene ; he had to get a divorce from his first wife. The wedding was celebrated with great pomp in the summer of 1199. Alexios, who had held the title of Sebastokrator since 1195 , was elevated to a despot and thus designated heir to the throne. At the same time, Irene's younger sister Anna , who was also widowed, was married to Theodoros Laskaris , who later became the founder of the Nikaia Empire .

A short time later, the two imperial sons-in-law were sent to Thrace together with General Manuel Kamytzes against the Bulgarian rebel Ivanko . During this campaign, Alexios' father Georgios was killed during the siege of Krichim fortress . The Byzantine troops were eventually ambushed at Batkun , and Kamytzes was captured. This success strengthened Iwanko in his pursuit of the imperial crown.

In the spring of 1200, Alexios III signaled. Willing to negotiate and instructed Alexios Palaiologos to meet with the rebel. Palaiologos assured Iwanko safe conduct, but when he entered the imperial camp, he was captured and executed. In February of the same year, Alexios Palaiologos had a popular uprising in Constantinople against the overseer of the Praitorion , Johannes Lagos , brutally suppressed.

In July 1200 or 1201 Alexios Palaiologos was instrumental in the subjugation of the usurper Johannes Komnenos . After the insurgents had brought large parts of the Grand Palace and the hippodrome under their control, Alexios attacked the palace district with imperial troops and ships from the Golden Horn and, together with the palace guard, drove out the supporters of John, who was arrested and beheaded.

In February 1201 or 1202 Alexios was injured when the imperial tent collapsed in an earthquake . That same summer he led a successful campaign in the Rhodope Mountains against the rebellious governor Johannes Spyridonakes , whom he forced to flee to the court of the Bulgarian Tsar Kaloyan .

Alexios Palaiologos died in 1203 at a relatively young age, apparently of natural causes. He never lived to see the deposition and escape of his imperial father-in-law at the beginning of the Fourth Crusade . His daughter Theodora Palaiologina married the Megas Domestikos Andronikos Palaiologos ; From this marriage the future emperor Michael VIII , the founder of the palaeological dynasty , emerged.

swell

literature

  • Κωνσταντίνος Βαρζός: Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών. Τόμος Β ' (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. Τ. 20β , ISSN  1106-6180 ). Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1984 ( PDF file; 45.5 MB ), p. 743 No. 290.
  • Charles M. Brand: Byzantium confronts the West, 1180-1204. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1968, ISBN 0-81-431764-2 , pp. 119-123, 130-133, 139-140.
  • 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. 135-137, 443-445.
  • Jean-Claude Cheynet, Jean-François Vannier: Études prosopographiques (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Série Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 5). Publications de la Sorbonne Center de Recherches d'Histoire et de Civilization Byzantine, Paris 1986, ISBN 2-85944-110-7 , pp. 170–172 No. 29.
  • Божидар Ферјанчић: Деспоти у Византији и Јужнословенским земљама (= Посебна издања . Vol. 336; Византолошки институт Vol. 8.). Српска академија наука и уметности, Београд 1960, p. 32.
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 1557-1558.
  • Ruth Macrides: George Akropolites: The History - Introduction, Translation and Commentary. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-921067-1 , pp. 114, 116.
  • Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , pp. 309-310.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See ODB , p. 1557 f .; Cheynet / Vannier, Études , p. 149 f.
  2. ↑ See Brand, Byzantium , p. 119 f .; Cheynet, Pouvoir , pp. 443 f .; Macrides, George Akropolites , pp. 114, 116.
  3. ↑ See Brand, Byzantium , pp. 130 f .; Cheynet / Vannier, Études , pp. 166, 171.
  4. ↑ See Brand, Byzantium , p. 121 f .; Cheynet, Pouvoir , pp. 135 f., 445.
  5. ↑ See Brand, Byzantium , p. 122 f .; Cheynet, Pouvoir , pp. 136 f., 445.
  6. ↑ See Brand, Byzantium , pp. 132 f., 139 f .; Cheynet / Vannier, Études , p. 171.
  7. ↑ See Macrides, George Akropolites , pp. 114, 116; Cheynet / Vannier, Études , p. 171 f.
  8. ↑ See ODB, p. 1557 f .; Cheynet, Pouvoir , pp. 172, 176-178, 185.
personal data
SURNAME Alexios Komnenos Palaiologos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alexios Palaiologos; Alexios Palaiologos Dukas Komnenos (full name); Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός Παλαιολόγος (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine aristocrat, son-in-law and heir to the throne of Emperor Alexios III.
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH 1203
Place of death Constantinople