Alexios Philanthropenos

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Alexios Dukas Philanthropenos ( Middle Greek Ἀλέξιος Δούκας Φιλανθρωπηνός ; * around 1270; † after 1337 probably on Lesbos ) was a Byzantine aristocrat, governor and general. In 1295 he revolted against Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos in Asia Minor .

Life

Alexios Philanthropenos was the second son of Protovestiarios and Megas Domestikos Michael Tarchaneiotes and Maria Philanthropina , daughter of Protostrator and Megas Dux Alexios Dukas Philanthropenos . His paternal grandmother Martha Palaiologina was a sister of Emperor Michael VIII. With his wife Theodora Akropolitissa , a granddaughter of the chronicler Georgios Akropolites , he had the son Michael Philanthropenos (* 1296), who also became a general.

In the war against the Turkish Karamanids , Philanthropenus was appointed commander ( Dux ) of Thrakesion by Emperor Andronikos II in 1293 ; at the same time he was awarded the high court dignity of Pinkernes ( cupbearer ). With the help of the settlement of Cretan refugees as Akriten , the general was able to stabilize the Byzantine position in Lydia and in the following two years achieved some of the last military successes in Asia Minor. He defeated the Turks in Mysia near Achyraous and forced them to recognize Byzantine suzerainty. From Nymphaion he penetrated through the Meander Valley into the Beylik of Mentesche , conquered Melanudion and Hieron and released Miletus from the Turkish tribute obligation . He sold some of the defeated Turks into slavery .

This track record made Alexios Philanthropenus, whom his contemporaries compared to Belisarius , so popular in Asia Minor that his troops proclaimed him emperor in the autumn of 1295. The exact background of the rebellion is unclear, but it was supported by the local population, who suffered from high demands for tribute from the emperor, and also by the monasteries, which saw themselves not adequately defended against the Turks by the central government. According to Pachymeres , in their prayers the monks “no longer remembered the name of the emperor, but only the philanthropist”. In Ephesus Philanthropenus captured the emperor's brother, Theodoros Palaiologos , but was still reluctant to accept the emperor's dignity that had been proposed to him. His hesitation led the leader of the Cretans, Chortatzes , to betray him to General Libadarios . Alexios was captured at Nymphaion and blinded at Christmas 1295 , the usual punishment in Byzantium for usurpation and high treason . Andronikos II, who had learned of the uprising on New Year 1296, wanted to appease the rebel by awarding the emperor title, but apparently it did not come to that. The Byzantine high command in Asia Minor took over Johannes Tarchaneiotes .

Alexios Philanthropenos did not appear again until 1323, when he was pardoned by Andronikos II on the intercession of the patriarch Isaiah and sent again against the Turks. Together with his son Michael, he went via Lesbos to Philadelphia , which he allegedly freed from the Turkish siege by simply appearing. Alexios remained in the exclave as governor until Andronikos II transferred him to Lesbos as governor in 1326 (or 1327). After Andronikos III came to power. In 1328 he was removed from this post. When the strategically important island was taken in 1335 by a Latin troop under the Genoese lord of Phokaia , Domenico Cattaneo , Andronikos III. a landing company with 83 ships. The force led by Philanthropenos quickly brought the entire island back under Byzantine control; the occupation of the capital Mytilene only surrendered in November 1336. In the following year he prevented a renewed attack by the Turks on the island by paying money. Philanthropenos stayed as governor on Lesbos, where he probably died in the 1340s.

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literature

  • Hélène Ahrweiler : L'Histoire et la Géographie de la région de Smyrne entre les two occupations turques (1081-1317) (= Travaux et mémoires . Vol. 1). Center de recherche d'Histoire et Civilization de Byzance, Paris 1965, p. 151.
  • Dimiter Angelov: Imperial ideology and political thought in Byzantium, 1204-1330. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-85703-1 , p. 121.
  • Mark C. Bartusis: The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204-1453. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA 1997, ISBN 0-8122-1620-2 .
  • Hans-Veit Beyer: The chronology of the letters of Maximos Planudes to Alexios Dukas Philanthropenos and its surroundings. In: Revue des études byzantines. Vol. 51, 1993, ISSN  0766-5598 , pp. 111-137.
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 1649.
  • Angeliki E. Laiou: Some Observations on Alexios Philanthropenos and Maximos Planoudes. In Byzantine And Modern Greek Studies. Vol. 4, 1978, ISSN  0307-0131 , pp. 89-99.
  • Angeliki E. Laiou: The Byzantine Aristocracy in the Palaeologan Period: A Story of Arrested Development. In: Viator: Medieval and Renaissance Studies. Vol. 4, 1973, ISSN  0083-5897 , pp. 131-151, here: p. 136.
  • Donald M. Nicol : The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 0-521-43991-4 .
  • Demetrios I. Polemis: The Doukai. A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography (= University of London Historical Studies. Vol. 22, ISSN  0076-0692 ). Athlone Press, London 1968, p. 169.
  • Peter Schreiner : On the history of Philadelphia in the 14th century. In: Orientalia Christiana Periodica. Vol. 35, 1969, ISSN  0030-5375 , pp. 375-431, here: pp. 376-384 and passim .
  • Erich Trapp , Hans-Veit Beyer, Ioannes G. Leontiades, Sokrates Kaplaneres: Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit . 12. Fascicle: Τοβλάταν - Ωράνιος (= Publications of the Commission for Byzantine Studies . Vol. 1/12). Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1994, ISBN 3-7001-2072-9 , pp. 91-92 No. 29751 (with further sources and literature).

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See PLP 12, p. 91.
  2. ↑ See Bartusis, Late Byzantine Army , p. 349.
  3. ↑ See Bartusis, Late Byzantine Army , p. 74; Nicol, Last Centuries , pp. 123-124.
  4. ↑ See PLP 12, p. 91.
  5. ↑ See Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 124.
  6. ↑ See Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 132.
  7. ↑ See Bartusis, Late Byzantine Army , p. 75.
  8. ↑ See PLP 12, p. 92.
  9. ↑ See PLP 12, p. 92.
personal data
SURNAME Alexios Philanthropenos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alexios Dukas Philanthropenos (full name); Ἀλέξιος Δούκας Φιλανθρωπηνός (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine aristocrat, governor and general
DATE OF BIRTH around 1270
DATE OF DEATH after 1337
Place of death unsure: on Lesbos