Johannes Kantakuzenos (Kaisar)

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Johannes Kantakuzenos ( Middle Greek Ἰωάννης ὁ Καντακουζηνός ; † after 1186/1209) was a Byzantine general under Emperor Isaac II , who possibly appeared as a separatist in the Peloponnese ( Morea ) at the beginning of the 13th century .


Life

Johannes Kantakuzenos was an early member of the Kantakuzenos family , which provided several emperors and despots in the 14th century . Before 1170 he married Irene Angelina , a sister of the future emperors Isaak II and Alexios III. The rebel Theodoros Kantakuzenos , a comrade of Isaac, who fell in the civil war against Andronikos I in Nikaia in 1184 , was possibly his brother.

In the summer of 1183 Johannes Kantakuzenos was one of the victims of the terror regime sparked by Andronikos I, which was directed in particular against the leading Byzantine aristocratic families. Because of an attack on a court eunuch who made the young co-emperor Alexios II responsible for the catastrophic situation in the empire, Andronikos I had him blinded and thrown into prison. Andronikos' I. successors Isaac II. Let his brother-in fall 1185 free and raised him along with the equally blinded son of the deposed emperor, Alexius Comnenus , the Kaisar .

After the dismissal of the Sebastokrator Johannes Angelos Dukas in 1186 Johannes Kantakuzenos took over the high command in the war against the rebellious Bulgarians and Cumans - despite his dazzling . The rebels retreated into the mountains and inflicted a serious defeat on the byzantines in a surprise attack on their inadequately fortified camp. The emperor had to hand over his official insignia to the Bulgarian leaders Theodor and Iwan Assen , which were then put on public display. As a consequence of this disgrace, Kantakuzenos was replaced as commander in chief by Alexios Branas , removed from his offices and retired.

When and under what circumstances Johannes Kantakuzenos died is unknown. Karl Hopf considered him to be identical with the anonymous archon of Methone , who helped the crusader Gottfried von Villehardouin to conquer Messinia and found the Principality of Achaia in 1204/05 . He was able to stay as a dynast in Methone until 1209 , although it is unclear whether he was formally dependent on the Crusaders. Thereafter, the south-western tip of the Peloponnese of Villehardouin was contractually left to the Venetians , who had already established themselves with their fleet in Methone and Korone three years earlier .

Johannes' (presumed) son Michael Kantakuzenos appeared in 1199 as a pretender to the throne against the sick Emperor Alexios III. on.

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literature

  • Charles M. Brand: Byzantium confronts the West. 1180-1204. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1968, pp. 47, 90, 273-274.
  • 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 , pp. 154-155 No. 220 (anonymous).
  • Jan-Louis van Dieten: Niketas Choniates. Explanations of the speeches and letters together with a biography (= Supplementa Byzantina. Vol. 2). Walter de Gruyter, Berlin et al. 1971, ISBN 3-11-002290-7 , pp. 67, 72-73, 79.
  • John VA Fine: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 1994, ISBN 0-472-08260-4 , p. 69.
  • Carl Hopf , History of Greece from the Beginning of the Middle Ages to our Time. Th. 1 (= General Encyclopedia of Sciences and Arts. Vol. 85). FA Brockhaus, Leipzig 1867 (reprinted by Franklin, New York NY 1960).
  • Aneta Ilieva: Frankish Morea, 1205-1262. Socio-cultural Interaction between the Franks and the Local Population . (= Historical Monographs . Vol. 9). SD Basilopoulos, Athens 1991, ISBN 978-960-7100-39-9 , pp. 73, 94, 127.
  • Donald M. Nicol : The Byzantine family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) approx. 1100-1460. A genealogical and prosopographical study (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies. Vol. 11). Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington DC 1968, pp. 5-7, No. 4.
  • Alexis GC Savvides: Internal Strife and Unrest in Later Byzantium, XIth – XIIIth Centuries (AD 1025–1261). The Case of Urban and Provincial Insurrections (Causes and Effects). In: Σύμμεικτα KBE / EΙE. Vol. 7, 1987, ISSN  1105-1639 , pp. 237-273.
  • Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study (= Oxford Studies in Byzantium. ). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , pp. 78, 98, 171, 212-213, 306.
  • Paul Stephenson: Byzantium's Balkan Frontier. A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900–1204. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge et al. 2000, ISBN 0-521-77017-3 , pp. 226, 241, 292, 295.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ The marriage was declared inadmissible by Emperor Manuel I and Patriarch Lukas Chrysoberges because of the seventh degree of kinship and was not sanctioned until 1186 by Niketas II. Muntanes .
  2. ↑ See Hopf, Geschichte 1, p. 212. This Peloponnesian magnate is also partially identified with Leon Chamaretos .
  3. ↑ See Savvides, Internal Strife , p. 273.
personal data
SURNAME Johannes Kantakuzenos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἰωάννης ὁ Καντακουζηνός (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine general and emperor, brother-in-law of Isaac II, possibly later a separatist in the Peloponnese during the Fourth Crusade
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH after 1186