Constantine Aspietes

Konstantin Komnenos Aspietes ( Middle Greek Κωνσταντῖνος Κομνηνός ὀ Ἀσπιέτης ; † after 1216) was a Byzantine general of Armenian origin under the emperors Manuel I and Isaac II.

Life

The Sebastos Konstantin Aspietes was probably a close relative of General Michael Aspietes , who died in 1176 in the war against the Seljuks . Like this he was involved in 1167 as a young troop leader in the battle of Sirmium , in which the army of Manuel I defeated the Hungarian King Stephan III. defeated.

Around 1191 Konstantin Aspietes took over as Dux von Skopje a command in the war against the rebellious Bulgarians and Cumans under Theodor-Peter and Iwan Assen . According to the historian Niketas Choniates , Aspietes had the annual pay paid out early in order to raise the morale of his troops . Emperor Isaac II, however, interpreted this as an attempt at bribery in preparation for usurpation , had the general arrested and blinded .

Most recently, Archbishop Demetrios Chomatianos mentioned Konstantin Aspietes as Sebastos in a list of dignitaries at the court of Theodor I of Epirus . His relative Alexios Aspietes had himself proclaimed emperor in Philippopel against the Bulgarian Tsar Kalojan in 1205 .

swell

Demetrios Chomatianos , Synoptikon (ed. Jean-Baptiste Pitra , Analecta sacra et classica , vol. 6, 785 ff.)
Niketas Choniates 428 (ed. Jan-Louis van Dieten, CFHB Vol. 11, 1975)
Johannes Kinnamos 271 (ed.August Meineke )

literature

Jean-Claude Cheynet: Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963-1210). Publications de la Sorbonne, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-168-9 , pp. 127-128 No. 177.
Deno John Geanakoplos (Ed.): Byzantium: Church, Society, and Civilization Seen Through Contemporary Eyes. University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1984, ISBN 978-0-22-628460-6 , pp. 54-55, no. 32.
Ion Grumeza: The Roots of Balkanization: Eastern Europe CE 500-1500. University Press of America, Lanham 2010, ISBN 978-0-76-185134-9 , p. 89.
Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , pp. 211-212.
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: Symmeikta 7, 1987, pp. 237-273, p. 271 there.
Alexis GC Savvides: Notes on the Armeno-Byzantine family of Aspietes, late 11th – early 13th centuries. In: Byzantinoslavica 52, 1991, ISSN 0007-7712 , pp. 70-79.
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 , p. 425.
Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study (= Oxford Studies in Byzantium.). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , p. 307.

Web links

Konstantinos Aspietes in the Prosopography of the Byzantine World

Remarks

↑ See Simpson, Niketas , p. 307; Savvides, Internal Strife , p. 271 dates the attempted rebellion as early as 1185/86; Cheynet, Pouvoir , p. 127 f. the episode starts much later, as Aspietes is still recorded as Dux in 1193 .

personal data
SURNAME	Constantine Aspietes
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Konstantin Komnenos Aspietes (full name); Κωνσταντῖνος Κομνηνός ὀ Ἀσπιέτης (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Byzantine general, conspirator against Emperor Isaac II.
DATE OF BIRTH	12th Century
DATE OF DEATH	after 1216

[1] See Simpson, Niketas , p. 307; Savvides, Internal Strife , p. 271 dates the attempted rebellion as early as 1185/86; Cheynet, Pouvoir , p. 127 f. the episode starts much later, as Aspietes is still recorded as Dux in 1193 .