Basil's Vatatzes

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Seal of Basilius l Vatatzes

Basileios Vatatzes (also called Basileios Batatzes or Basileios Dukas Batatzes , Greek : Βασίλειος Βατάτζης; † 1194 ) was a Byzantine nobleman and general, the Domestikos ton scholon , d. i.e., commander-in-chief of the Byzantine troops in the east of the empire and Dux (governor) of the subject (province) of Thrace . Through his son John III. Dukas Vatatzes , who ruled as emperor of the Byzantine Empire in exile in Nikaia (in Bithynia , in western Asia Minor ) from 1222 to 1254 , became the progenitor of the second house of the imperial dynasty of the Laskarids .

origin

Basil's Vatatzes came from a Byzantine aristocratic family who owned extensive land in and around Adrianople - the subject of Macedonia . The family was first mentioned around the year 1000, when "Vatatzes and his whole family" is named as one of the prominent citizens of Adrianople who fled Adrianople to Samuel , Tsar of Bulgaria (997-1014) because of their friendly attitude towards Bulgaria . In 1047 a Johannes Vatatzes took part in the revolt of Leon Tornikios against the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX. Monomachus (1042-1055).

The father of Basil's Vatatz is not mentioned in a document. Since he named his eldest son Isaac, this could also be the first name of the father of Basilios. He was therefore possibly a son of Isaakios Vatatzes, and thus a grandson of Theodoros Vatatzes , who was married around 1130 to Eudokia Komnene, a daughter of Emperor John II Komnenos. He would therefore have been a nephew of Johannes Komnenos Batatzes (* 1132, † 1182), who was Megas Domestikos (commander in chief of the Byzantine armed forces) and - like Basileios later - was governor of the important subject of Thrace .

Life

Military career

Basil's Vatatzes followed the military tradition of his family and entered the imperial military service, went through the rapid career of a member of the military aristocracy and was finally made Domestikos ton scholon in the east by Isaac II Angelos (Emperor 1185–1195 and 1203–1204) - d. H. appointed commander in chief of the Byzantine armed forces in the east of the Byzantine Empire and at the same time appointed Dux (governor) of the Thrace theme . It is unclear whether he was also appointed Megas Domestikos, that is, commander in chief of the entire armed forces.

Fight against Theodoros Mankaphas

Histamenon (the standard Byzantine gold coin) minted for Theodoros Mankaphas

One of the important tasks that Basileios Vatatzes was entrusted as commander in chief in the east of the empire was to put down the revolt of the counter-emperor Theodoros Mankaphas ( Greek  Θεόδωρος Μαγκαφᾶς ).

Theodoros Mankaphas was a Byzantine nobleman from Philadelphia (today Alaşehir, the capital of the district of the same name in the Turkish province of Manisa in western Anatolia) who, due to his domestic power, had made himself the de facto ruler of his hometown. He determinedly secured the support of the people of Philadelphia as well as the goodwill of the people in the neighboring areas of Lydia and even sought the help of the Armenian people in the Troas , the landscape southeast of the Dardanelles . After he was sure of this support, in 1188, in opposition to the reigning Emperor Isaac II, he was proclaimed anti-emperor and coins with his image were minted. He took advantage of the threatened situation of the empire, which was under pressure from the outside through the ongoing war against the Bulgarians - where the Second Bulgarian Empire was founded in 1186 - who were supported by the Serbs under Stephan Nemanja, as well as through the advance of the Sultan Saladin in Palestine, where he defeated the army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem by the horns of Hattin, captured King Guido of Lusignan and conquered Jerusalem on October 2, 1187 .

Relieved by a temporary peace with Bulgaria, Emperor Isaac II decided to overthrow the usurper through a campaign. This task was entrusted to the proven general Basileios Vatatzes. He marched with his troops to Philadelphia, defeated the troops sent against him in several skirmishes and then began the siege of the center of the uprising, the city of Philadelphia.

Imminent crusade of Emperor Friedrich I.

However, alarming news from the West disrupted this military action. In response to the news of the fall of Jerusalem in May 1189, an army of crusaders under the command of Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa set out there . This was a threat to the Byzantine Empire that should not be underestimated, because the advancing army was by far the largest crusader army that had ever broken out. During the invasion of Byzantine territory, there were a number of misunderstandings, frictions and attacks that destroyed mutual trust. In the absence of cooperation from Byzantium, the Crusaders had conquered the city of Philippople , the Byzantine sanctions (prohibition of further advance on Byzantine territory) were ignored and as a result the city of Adrianople was conquered by the Crusaders. A provisional peace was finally concluded through fragile agreements.

In order to avoid a two-front war, Emperor Isaak II decided to make a temporary compromise with Theodoros Mankaphas: lifting the siege and pardoning in the event of formal submission, renouncing imperial symbols and surrendering the prisoners. Theodoros Mankaphas, glad to avoid the siege, accepted these conditions for the time being, was therefore again accepted and confirmed as governor of Philadelphia. Basil's Vatatzes therefore withdrew his troops from Philadelphia, led them near the capital and, as one of the leading generals of Byzantium, took part in the preparation of the defense against a possible attack by the Crusaders on Constantinople. The news of the death of Emperor Friedrich I on June 10, 1190 in the Saleph River at the foot of the Taurus Mountains and the subsequent largely disbanding of the great crusader army was therefore received with great relief in Constantinople.

Expulsion of the anti-emperor Theodoros Mankaphas

This development allowed Emperor Isaac II to devote himself again to the internal problem, the counter-emperor Theodoros Mankaphas. Basil's Vatatzes was therefore commissioned to finally settle this question. He gathered his troops, marched to Philadelphia, there put down the simmering revolt and drove the usurper from his hometown. In recognition of his many achievements, Basil's Vatatzes was granted the privilege of marrying into the Angeloi dynasty that ruled Byzantium. He married a cousin of Emperor Isaac II around 1190. The problem with Theodoros was not over, however, as he fled to the court of the Sultan of the Rum Seljuks in Iconium. There Kai Chosrau I , who ruled as Sultan from 1192 to 1196 and from 1205 to 1211, welcomed him in a friendly manner and allowed him to recruit troops in his lands in order to unsettle the border regions of the Byzantine Empire.

Fight against the Bulgarians

On the other hand, Basil's Vatatzes, who was appointed Domestikos ton scholon (Supreme Commander) in the west with his seat in Adrianople , had another somewhat more difficult task. The Bulgarians had after their victory at Tarnovo started in 1190, the Byzantine themes Thrace and Macedonia attack to conquer all Bulgarian settlements. Since the Byzantines were unable to cope with the extremely flexible Bulgarian cavalry, Ivan Assen I , Tsar of Bulgaria (1190–1195), was able to conquer Sofia and Niš in 1191, as well as the valley on the upper reaches of the Struma River .

Emperor Isaac II decided on a massive counter-attack by mobilizing all available troops for an attack on the Bulgarians - both those who commanded Basil's Vatatzes as Domesticos of the West, and those who were under the command of the Domesticos of the East, Alexios Gidos , were subject. At Arcadiopolis in eastern Thrace there was a great battle in 1194, in which the Byzantine troops were defeated and almost entirely wiped out. While the general Alexios Gidos was able to escape with a few troops, Basil Vatatzes fell in battle.

Marriage and offspring

Basileios Vatatzes had married Ne Angelina, a cousin of the emperor Isaac II Angelos, around 1190. Her brother, Konstantinos Angelos , was 1185-1192 Dux (governor) of Crete, 1192 Strategos (military governor) of Philippopel and was then proclaimed the counter-emperor, whereupon he was blinded by the order of his cousin, Emperor Isaac II to prevent renewed claims to power.

The father-in-law of Basil was Isaakios Dukas Angelos, around 1170 strategist on the subject of Cilicia . He was a younger brother of the Byzantine general and diplomat Andronikos Dukas Angelos († after December 12, 1185), the father of the two emperors Isaak II Angelos and Alexios III. Angelos (1195-1203). The wife of Basil's Vatatzes was also related to the emperors of Byzantium from the houses of the Komnenes and the Dukas through her grandmother Theodora Komnene (a daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Dukaina ) . Through this marriage, Basil's Vatatzes had created the basis for the further rise of his house, since his descendants now saw themselves as entitled to the throne.

progeny

Gold Hyperpyron of Emperor John III. Vatatzes
  1. Isaakios Dukas Vatatzes , received the title Pansebastos (Sebastos: the venerable) in 1261, in 1253 Sebastokrator (venerable regent), previously Parakoimomenos (close confidante of the emperor, literally who sleeps next to (the emperor's room)) † 1261 in Genoa, ⚭ No
    1. Johannes Dukas Vatatzes (* 1215, † around 1240), ⚭ Eudokia Angelina († c. 1256 - 1261), daughter of Johannes Komnenos Angelos, Dux (governor) of the Thrace theme 1235–1237, 1255/59 protostrator (marshal) of the Occident .
      1. Theodora Dukaina Komnene Palaiologina Vatatzaina (* around 1240, † March 4, 1303), ⚭ 1253 Emperor Michael VIII. Palaiologos (1259–1282) († 1282)
      2. Maria Dukaina Komnene Palaiologina Branaina Vatatzaina, † as nun Martha, & Michael Dukas Glabas Tarchaneiotes, Kuropalates (highest court title after Caesar), 1292 Strategos (military governor) of Thrace, general against the Bulgarians, † as monk Makarios 1215
    2. Ne Dukaina Vatatzaina (daughter), ⚭ Konstantin Strategopulos
  2. N Dukas Vatatzes (son), ⚭ Ne
    1. Ne Dukaina Vatatzaina (daughter) & Alexios Raul, 1242–1256 Protovestiarios, 1253 hegemon in Thessaloniki, was deposed in 1256 by his wife's uncle - Theodor II. Dukas Laskaris (Vatatzes), Byzantine emperor in exile in Nicaea (1254–1258), † 1258
  3. John III Dukas Vatatzes, emperor of Byzantium in Nikaia (1224-1258), one of the most important rulers in Byzantine history ⚭ I. around 1212 Eirene Dukaina Komnene Laskarina († as a nun Eugenia in the summer of 1239), daughter of Theodor I. Komnenos Laskaris, emperor of Byzantium to Nikaia, ⚭ II. 1244 Konstanze von Hohenstaufen , (* around 1233/34, † as a nun in Valencia ( Spain ) in 1307 ), daughter of Emperor Friedrich II. And Bianca Lancia (descendants)

See also

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literature

Individual evidence

  1. Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . New York and Oxford, Oxford University Press 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 , pp. 2154 f.
  2. ^ Christian Settipani: Continuité des élites à Byzance durant les siècles obscurs. Les princes caucasiens et l'Empire du VIe au IXe siècle. De Boccard, Paris 2006, p. 361.
  3. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky, Byzantine History , p. 346.
  4. Alexander Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. New York and Oxford 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6 , p. 1286.
  5. According to European Family Tables , New Series, Volume 2, 1984, Plate 182.
  6. European Family Tables , New Series, Volume II. Plate 179 (1984).
  7. ^ Georg Ostrogorsky, Byzantine History 324-1453. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-39759-X , p. 372.