Johannes Komnenos the Fat

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John Komnenos (full name John Axuchos Komnenos ; medium Greek Ἰωάννης Ἀξοῦχος Κομνηνὸς ; * before 1167; † 1. August 1201 [or 1200 in] Konstantin Opel ), nicknamed the thickness ( medium Greek ὁ παχύς ), was a Byzantine aristocrat and usurper against Emperor Alexios III. Angelos .

Life

The Pansebastos sebastos Johannes Komnenos was the son of the protostrator Alexios Axuch , who had been accused of high treason by his brother-in-law Manuel I in 1167 and put in monk's robe. Through his mother Maria Komnena , a daughter of Johannes II's eldest son and co-emperor Alexios († 1142), he belonged to the ruling family of the Komnenen .

On July 31, 1201, Johannes, possibly at the instigation of the ambitious Alexios Dukas Murtzuphlos , rose against Alexios III with the support of the people of Constantinople. The pretender had himself crowned by a monk in Hagia Sophia , while his followers took control of the hippodrome and established themselves in the Great Palace ; allegedly the throne collapsed under John's enormous body weight.

From his residence in the Blachernen Palace , Alexios III sent. his son-in-law Alexios Palaiologos with a naval force across the Golden Horn against the palace district. The next morning, with the help of the Varangian Guard, the imperial troops subdued the supporters of John, who was arrested and beheaded ; his body was publicly thrown to the animals to eat.

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literature

  • Michael Angold: Byzantine politics vis-à-vis the Fourth Crusade. In: Angeliki E. Laiou (ed.): Urbs capta: the Fourth Crusade and its consequences (= Réalités Byzantines . Vol. 10, ISSN  1147-4963 ). Lethielleux, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-283-60464-8 , pp. 55–68, here: pp. 59–62.
  • Κωνσταντίνος Βαρζός: Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών. Τόμος Β ' (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. Τ. 20β , ISSN  1106-6180 ). Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1984 ( PDF file; 45.5 MB ), p. 883 No. 208.
  • Charles M. Brand: Byzantium confronts the West, 1180-1204. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1968, ISBN 0-81-431764-2 .
  • 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. 136-137 No. 195, pp. 443-445.
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 239.
  • 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, here: p. 272.
  • Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 1: Aaron - Azarethes . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2007, ISBN 978-2-503-52303-3 , pp. 470-471.
  • Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , pp. 199, 310.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ So the traditional chronology; some researchers date the usurpation a year earlier. See Brand, Byzantium , p. 348.
  2. ↑ See Brand, Byzantium , p. 122 f .; Cheynet, Pouvoir , pp. 136 f., 445.
personal data
SURNAME Johannes Komnenos the Fat
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johannes Komnenos; Johannes Axuchos Komnenos (full name); Ἰωάννης Ἀξοῦχος Κομνηνὸς (Middle Greek); Ἰωάννης Κομνηνὸς ὁ παχύς (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine usurper against Emperor Alexios III.
DATE OF BIRTH before 1167
DATE OF DEATH August 1, 1200 or August 1, 1201
Place of death Constantinople