Andronikos Account Stephanos

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andronikos Kontostephanos Komnenos ( Middle Greek Ἀνδρόνικος Κοντοστέφανος Κομνηνός ; * around 1132/1133; † after summer 1183) was a Byzantine general and admiral under the emperors Manuel I and Alexios II.

Life

Andronikos was a son of Panhypersebastos Stephanos Kontostephanos , a member of the Kontostephanos family , who had been connected to the ruling dynasty of the Comnenes for several generations . His mother, Princess Anna , born in purple , was the eldest sister of Manuel I. He had two older brothers, Johannes and Alexios , and a sister, Irene .

Andronikos Kontostephanos was during the reign of his uncle Manuel I. as the outstanding figure in the Byzantine military hierarchy . Like his father, who died on Corfu in 1149 in the fight against the Normans , he was Megas Dux in command of the Byzantine fleet and was entrusted with the administration of the provinces of Hellas , Peloponnese and Crete . But he also took over important commands on land: As autocrator Strategos , he led the imperial army in 1167 in the battle of Sirmium to defeat the Hungarian King Stephan III.

In 1169, Andronikos Kontostephanos, in alliance with Amalrich I , King of Jerusalem , led a naval invasion of Fatimid Egypt , which ended in a disaster as a result of the failed siege of Damiette and marked a turning point in the history of the Crusades , as now the energetic Saladin access to Egypt was made possible. In 1172 Kontostephanos struck back a Venetian punitive expedition against Byzantium under the Doge Vitale Michiel II in the Aegean Sea . After the defeat of the Byzantines against the Seljuk Sultan Kılıç Arslan II in the battle of Myriokephalon in 1176, Kontostephanos preserved the imperial army from complete dissolution through his circumspection and ensured an orderly retreat. In 1177 another attempt to conquer Egypt failed due to the refusal of Philip of Flanders and the Jerusalem nobility to support the admiral with troops.

When Andronikos Komnenos was preparing to end the Latin-friendly reign of the widow Manuel I, Mary of Antioch , and the Protosebastus Alexios Komnenos in the spring of 1182 , Andronikos Kontostephanos and the general Andronikos made Angelos (the father of Isaac II and Alexios III ) possible . the pretender entering Constantinople . Andronikos I soon turned out to be a brutal arbitrary ruler who immediately devoted himself to the elimination of possible rivals after the seizure of power. The violent repression against the leading aristocratic families led to a series of uprisings by high-ranking military officials who had made a career under Manuel I. In the spring of 1183 Andronikos Kontostephanos and Andronikos Angelos started a conspiracy, but it was uncovered prematurely. While Angelos was able to escape, Kontostephanos and his four sons were blinded and then probably put in a monastery.

swell

literature

  • Michael Angold: The Byzantine Empire, 1025-1204. A Political History. Longman, London 1997, ISBN 0-58-229468-1 , pp. 192-193, 211-212.
  • 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. 249-293 no. 135 ( PDF; 45 MB) .
  • Charles M. Brand: The Byzantines and Saladin 1185-1192, opponents to the Third Crusade . In: Speculum 37 (1962) 167-181.
  • 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. 114.
  • Jan-Louis van Dieten: Niketas Choniates. Explanations of the speeches and letters together with a biography. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 1971, ISBN 978-3-11-002290-2 (= Supplementa Byzantina . Vol. 2), pp. 39, 173.
  • Jonathan Harris: Byzantium and the Crusades. Hambledon Continuum, London 2006, ISBN 1-85285-501-0 , p. 129.
  • Paul Magdalino: The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, ISBN 0-52-152653-1 , pp. 79-81.
  • Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study. (= Oxford Studies in Byzantium ). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , pp. 154, 209-210 and passim .
  • 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 , p. 262.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ On the dating of the revolt, cf. Brand, Byzantines , pp. 167-169.
personal data
SURNAME Andronikos Account Stephanos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἀνδρόνικος Κοντοστέφανος Κομνηνός (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine general and admiral, nephew of Emperor Manuel I.
DATE OF BIRTH around 1132
DATE OF DEATH after 1183