Johannes Komnenos (nephew of Alexios I)

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Johannes Komnenos ( Middle Greek Ἰωάννης Κομνηνός ; * around 1074; † after 1106) was a Byzantine aristocrat from the Komnenen family , who officiated under Emperor Alexios I as governor ( Dux ) of the subject of Dyrrhachion .

Life

Johannes Komnenos was the eldest son of the Sebastokrator Isaak Komnenos and the Georgian princess Irene , a cousin of the Empress Maria von Alania , and thus a nephew of the Emperor Alexios I. He had three brothers Alexios, Konstantin and Adrianos (from 1143 Archbishop of Ohrid ) and five sisters ( Anna, Sophia, Eudokia, two others not known by name). Until the birth of Alexios I's son of the same name on September 13, 1087, Johannes was the presumptive heir to the throne - regardless of the rights of the co-emperor Konstantin Dukas Porphyrogennetos , who was about the same age .

At the beginning of 1091 Johannes Komnenus was appointed Dux of Dyrrhachion by Emperor Alexios . The strategically important port city played a key role in the defense of the Byzantine Empire against attacks from the west, as the invasion of the Normans in 1081 under Robert Guiskard had shown. Soon after taking office, John was accused by the Archbishop of Ohrid , Theophylact , of plotting a conspiracy against Alexios I. In order to defend himself, John sought the emperor in his field camp in Philippopel . It is unclear whether the usurpation charges against John were justified; in any case, the affair sparked an argument between Alexios and his brother (and Johannes' father) Isaac, who was also present at the family tribunal. Eventually Alexios decided in favor of his nephew and left him in office.

Despite his military inexperience, Johannes Komnenos was tasked with defending the province against the attack of the Serbian - Dalmatian Župan Vukan (Bolkan) of Raszien in the spring of 1094 . Johannes tried to gain time through negotiations, but was ultimately defeated by the Serbs in a battle near Lipenion . Then he had to justify himself to the emperor in Constantinople for the defeat, but this time too Alexios I refrained from removing his nephew from the post. In 1096 Johannes attacked the shipwrecked crusader Hugo von Vermandois , who had gotten into a heavy storm with his fleet while crossing from Bari before Dyrrhachion, and transferred him as a prisoner to Constantinople.

Johannes Komnenos may also have been Dux of Dyrrhachion in 1105/06 when he was defeated in a campaign against the Dalmatian Serbs. When a little later the danger of another Norman invasion under Bohemond became apparent, the emperor replaced Johannes with his younger brother Alexios. His further fate is unknown.

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literature

  • Michael Angold: The Byzantine Empire, 1025-1204. A Political History. 2nd edition. Longman, London et al. 1997, ISBN 0-582-29468-1 , pp. 129-131, 152-153.
  • Κωνσταντίνος Βαρζός: Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. Τ. 20α , ZDB ID 420491-8 ). Τόμος Α '. Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1984, pp. 134–144 No. 23, digitized version (PDF; 264 MB) .
  • 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. 96-97 No. 125.
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 1144-1145.
  • Basile Skoulatos: Les Personnages Byzantins de l'Alexiade. Analysis Prosopographique et Synthèse (= Recueil de Travaux d'Histoire et de Philologie. Sér. 6, Vol. 20, ZDB -ID 437846-5 ). Nauwelaerts, Louvain-la-Neuve 1980, p. 125, no. 87 (also: Louvain, Universität, Dissertation, 1978).
  • 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 , pp. 173, 178, 181, 185.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ Some authors postpone the episode to the year 1093/94, but the chronological connection in the Alexiad with the Battle of Levunion suggests a date to the year 1091; see. Skoulatos, Personnages, p. 136, FN 4.
personal data
SURNAME Johannes Komnenos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἰωάννης Κομνηνός (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine governor of Dyrrhachion, nephew of Emperor Alexios I.
DATE OF BIRTH around 1074
DATE OF DEATH after 1106