Johannes Axuch
Johannes Axuch ( Middle Greek Ἰωάννης Ἀξοῦχος ; * around 1087 in Nikaia ?; † around 1150) was the highest-ranking Byzantine general under the emperors John II and Manuel I.
Life
Johannes, a member of the Seljuk Axuch family , was captured as a child byzantine captivity at the beginning of the First Crusade during the siege of Nikaia in 1097 . The boy grew up at the court of Emperor Alexios I as a companion to the young Crown Prince Johannes. When he ascended the throne in Constantinople in 1118 , he gave Axuch the title of Sebastos and appointed him Megas Domestikos , d. H. to commander in chief of the Byzantine army. Axuch was the only person who enjoyed the absolute trust of the new emperor. After the failed conspiracy of Anna Komnena , who wanted to bring her husband Nikephoros Bryennios to the throne, he turned down the emperor's offer to take over their confiscated property.
Johannes Axuch supported the offensive foreign policy of John II on the Balkan Peninsula , in Asia Minor and Syria . During the reconquest of Laodikeia on Lykos in 1119, he commanded the siege troops until the arrival of the emperor, who was able to achieve a quick victory over the Rum Seljuks . During the campaign against the Pechenegs in 1122 he was wounded in the battle of Beroia , and again in the battles from 1137 to 1138 in Cilicia and northern Syria.
When John II died on April 8, 1143 after a hunting accident in the Taurus Mountains , Johannes Axuch hurried back to Constantinople to secure rule for the designated heir to the throne, Manuel. He had - against his personal conviction - his older brother Isaac and her uncle of the same name arrested as potential pretenders until Manuel was enthroned in the Pantocrator monastery and also had the emperor Johannes Roger Dalassenos , who was also intent on usurping , arrested. Under the impression of this confusion of the throne, Axuch expanded the coronation ceremony in Hagia Sophia to include an oath of allegiance to be taken by the entourage - a practice that was maintained until the fall of the empire.
Manuel I confirmed Johannes Axuch in the powerful position of Megas Domestikos , which, in view of the young emperor's inexperience, made him the virtual regent of the Byzantine Empire, especially since he was granted the right to wear the imperial seal ring . When, at a meeting of the Komnenen family in 1146 in Metabole in Bithynia , a bloody quarrel broke out between the younger Isaac Komnenus and his cousin Andronikos , Axuch sided with the former - much to the displeasure of Manuel, who then gave him the imperial seal (and with it the regent position) withdrew.
As commander-in-chief of a military expedition, Axuch drove the Normans from the island of Corfu in 1149 , but failed in the beginning with a counterattack on Ancona . Not long afterwards, at the latest in 1151, he must have died. He left behind the son Alexios Axuch , who was married to Maria , the daughter of the co-emperor Alexios who died in 1142 , as well as the daughters Irene and Eudokia .
swell
- Niketas Choniates , Chronike diegesis 9; 12-15; 48-49; 77; 83
- Chronica Byzantina breviora 58, 3
- Michael Italikos 83; 222; 229-230
- Johannes Kinnamos 5–8; 47; 102; 127; 227
- Theodoros Prodromos , Historical Poems 3, 33–34; 4, 271-272; 5, 23-25
- William of Tire 15, 23
literature
- Michael Angold: The Byzantine Empire, 1025-1204. A Political History. 2nd edition. Longman, New York NY et al. 1997, ISBN 0-582-29468-1 , pp. 152, 190.
- Charles M. Brand: The Turkish Element in Byzantium, Eleventh-Twelfth Centuries. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers . Vol. 43, 1989, pp. 1-25, PDF 5.0 MB .
- Rodolphe Guilland: Recherches sur les institutions byzantines (= Berlin Byzantine works. Vol. 35, 1, ISSN 0067-6055 ). Volume 1. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1967, pp. 407-408.
- Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 239.
- Paul Magdalino: The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2002, ISBN 0-52-152653-1 , pp. 192-195.
- Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study . Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 .
- Warren Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 , pp. 638-639.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Johannes Axuch |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Ἰωάννης Ἀξοῦχος (Middle Greek) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Byzantine general under the emperors John II and Manuel I. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | uncertain: 1087 |
| DATE OF DEATH | uncertain: 1150 |