Georg Muzalon

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Georg Muzalon ( Middle Greek Γεώργιος Μουζάλων ; * around 1220 in Adramyttion ; † August 25, 1258 at Nymphaion ) was the most important advisor to the Byzantine exiled emperor Theodor II Laskaris .

Life

Georg belonged to the non-aristocratic Muzalon family, which first appears in the sources in the 11th century; its most prominent member was the Patriarch Nicholas IV (1147-1151). After the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in April 1204, the family emigrated to Asia Minor, where the Laskarids founded the Nikaia Empire as the successor state to the Byzantine Empire.

Although the Muzalones did not belong to the leading aristocracy, Georg and his brothers Theodor and Andronikos came to the court of Emperor John III. in the immediate vicinity of Crown Prince Theodor; possibly they were brought up together with the heir to the throne by the scholar Nikephoros Blemmydes . After Theodor's coronation as emperor in Nymphaion in 1254, Georg Muzalon took over command of the Nicean armed forces as Megas Domestikos ; his brothers advanced to Protovestiarios or Protokynegos . He became the young emperor's chief adviser; when he led a campaign in 1255, he left the business of government to George. After his return, Theodore II also appointed his confidante Protosebastus and Protovestiarios and bestowed on him the newly created dignity of Megas Stratopedarch ; Andronikos Muzalon replaced his brother as Megas Domestikos .

The rise of the Muzalones aroused the displeasure of the established noble families, especially since Theodor II also found aristocratic wives for his favorites: Georg Muzalon was married in 1256 to Theodora Kantakuzene , a niece of the ambitious Michael Palaiologos . On his deathbed, Theodor II appointed him in August 1258 as the guardian of the eight-year-old Crown Prince John IV , possibly together with the Patriarch Arsenios Autoreianos - a decision that further enraged the nobility against the upstart .

After the death of the emperor, Georg Muzalon found himself in a precarious position as regent, as he not only had the aristocracy against him, but also significant parts of the clergy and the discontented Latin mercenaries who were commanded by Michael Palaiologos. With this awareness, he convened a meeting of leading aristocrats, civil and military officials and offered to resign, but was then persuaded to remain in office by their oaths of loyalty. At the same time, however, a conspiracy had already formed with the aim of removing Muzalon as regent, with Palaiologos obviously pulling the strings in the background. During a memorial service for the deceased emperor on August 25, 1258 in the Sosandra monastery near Nymphaion, he was killed by a mob of mercenaries, as well as his brother Andronikos, his secretary Theophylaktos and a brother-in-law unknown by name.

Muzalon's murder was followed by a wave of purges , which killed a number of other protégés of the late Theodor II, including the protostrator Johannes Angelos ; Georgios Akropolites survived because he was imprisoned in the despotate of Epirus . In the period that followed, Michael Palaiologos expanded his position of power in Nikaia: in the spring of 1259, he ousted the young John IV from the imperial throne and, after the reconquest of Constantinople in 1261, founded the palaeological dynasty .

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literature

  • Dimiter Angelov: Imperial ideology and political thought in Byzantium, 1204-1330. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-85703-1 , pp. 231-233 and passim .
  • Michael Angold: A Byzantine Government in Exile. Government and Society under the Laskarids of Nicaea, 1204-1261 . Oxford University Press, London 1975, ISBN 0-19-821854-0 , pp. 76-85 passim .
  • Deno John Geanakoplos: Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West 1258-1282. A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1959, pp. 27-46 passim .
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 1421.
  • Ruth Macrides: George Akropolites: The History - Introduction, Translation and Commentary. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-921067-1 , pp. 21-27, 75, 340-349 passim .
  • Donald M. Nicol : The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 0-521-43991-4 , pp. 29-31.
  • Demetrios I. Polemis: The Doukai. A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography (= University of London Historical Studies. Vol. 22, ISSN  0076-0692 ). Athlone Press, London 1968, pp. 148-150.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See Macrides, Akropolites , pp. 294, 343; ODB , p. 1421.
  2. ↑ See ODB, p. 1421.
  3. ↑ Cf. Geanakoplos, Emperor , pp. 27, 34.
  4. ↑ See Nicol, Last Centuries , pp. 30 f.
  5. ↑ See Geanakoplos, Emperor , pp. 38-41.
personal data
SURNAME Georg Muzalon
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Γεώργιος Μουζάλων (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine Megas Domestikos, regent for Emperor John IV.
DATE OF BIRTH around 1220
PLACE OF BIRTH Adramyttion
DATE OF DEATH August 25, 1258
Place of death at Nymphaion