Leon Diabatenus
Leon Diabatenos (also Dawatanos or Tavadanos , Middle Greek Λέον Διαβατηνός ; † after 1078 or 1098) was a Byzantine Dux of Edessa and a rebel against Emperor Michael VII.
Life
The Dux (or Katepan , Magistros ) and Protovestes (or Vestarches ) Leon Diabatenos belonged to the Diabatenoi family, who was influential in the second half of the 11th century and possibly of Armenian origin. In 1071 he is mentioned as an envoy who informed Emperor Romanos IV about the (tactical) retreat of the Sultan Alp Arslan to Babylon before his planned campaign against the Seljuks .
After the devastating defeat of Romanos IV against Alp Arslan in the battle of Manzikert on August 26, 1071, the imperial government in Constantinople lost control of the territories in the southeast of the empire on the other side of the Taurus . The civil war, uprisings of the Bulgarians and Pechenegs and the attempt of Emperor Michael VII to wrest Sicily from the Normans bared the eastern provinces of the urgently needed troops. Largely left to their own devices, several regional and local rulers took the opportunity to make themselves independent from Byzantium. The most important empire formation of Philaretos Brachamios , who resided in Germanikeia , comprised the (former) theme Melitene as a core area from 1072 and at times extended over all of northern Syria and Mesopotamia .
In Edessa a Dux Leon Diabatenos, who is possibly identical with the Protovestes of 1071, was able to assert himself against the Seljuks. In 1077 he formally renounced Emperor Michael VII, but was expelled from the population after a few months when the general Basileios Apocapes advanced with a siege army on behalf of Philaretus and conquered the city. Philaretos placed them - at least nominally - under the sovereignty of the new emperor Nikephoros Botaneiates .
The last sign of life of a Leon Diabatenus dates from the year 1098, whereby the identity with the Dux of Edessa is unclear.
swell
literature
- Christopher MacEvitt: The Crusades and the Christian World of the East: Rough Tolerance. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia 2011, ISBN 978-0-81-220269-4 , p. 66.
- Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 2: Baanes-Eznik of Kolb . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , p. 284.
- Werner Seibt: Did the French Norman Hervé (Erbebios Phrangopolos) take command of the remaining Eastern Army after the Mantzikert disaster? In: Jean-Claude Cheynet, Claudia Sode (eds.): Studies in Byzantine Sigillography 10. De Gruyter, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-11-022704-8 , pp. 89-96.
Web links
Remarks
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leon Diabatenus |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Λέον Διαβατηνός (Middle Greek); Dawatanos, Tavadanos |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dux von Edessa and rebel against the Byzantine Emperor Michael VII. |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 10th century or 11th century |
| DATE OF DEATH | after 1098 |