Leon Gabalas

Leon Gabalas ( medium Greek Λέων Γαβαλᾶς ; † 1240) was a Byzantine Magnat that after dismantling of the Byzantine Empire in the Fourth Crusade as Kaisar about Rhodes prevailed.

Life

Leon Gabalas belonged to an old aristocratic family that can be traced back to the early 10th century, when an Anna Gabala with Stephen Lekapenos , son and co-emperor I. Romanus was married. The family was of little importance in the following years, but in the 11th and 12th centuries also produced a number of higher civil and church officials.

Between July 1203 and April 1204 Gabalas used the power vacuum in the Byzantine Empire created by the siege and conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders to bring Rhodes and the neighboring Cyclades under his control. It is unclear how he achieved rule over Rhodes, since when he had the title of Kaisar and by which emperor this title was bestowed on him. However, Nikephoros Blemmydes claims that Leon legitimately inherited this title, which could indicate a predecessor that was already de facto independent of Byzantium .

At the end of 1225 or beginning of 1226 Leon Gabalas was forced to recognize the formal sovereignty of the Nikaia Empire as the most important Byzantine successor state in Asia Minor . He submitted to John III. who left him his influential position on Rhodes. At the latest from this point on, Gabalas officially held the title Kaisar legally. He had his own aniconical copper coins with the inscription ΚΑΙϹΑΡ Ο ΓΑΒΑΛΑϹ ("the Kaisar Gabalas") on the obverse and Ο ΔΟΥΛΟϹ ΤΟΥ ΒΑϹΙΛΕ [ΩϹ] ("servant of the emperor") on the lapel .

It is clear from the Georgios Akropolites report that Leon Gabalas continued to pursue an independent policy. This was what Emperor John III wanted. not tolerate in the long run, which is why he sent a punitive expedition to Rhodes at the end of 1233 under the command of Megas Domestikos Andronikos Palaiologos , in which Blemmydes also took part. The island was sacked, but Gabalas was able to hold onto power in the capital. In August 1234 he entered into a feudal relationship with the Republic of Venice . Gabalas recognized the Doge Jacopo Tiepolo as overlord and concluded a military alliance with him in the event of a renewed attack by Nikaia on their territories, especially on Crete, which was annexed by Venice . The following year Gabalas changed sides again when he met John III. Provided arms assistance in the siege of Constantinople ; According to several Western sources, he is said to have even fought against the Venetian fleet.

Leon Gabalas probably died around 1240, but was dead by 1248 at the latest, when his brother and successor Johannes Gabalas had to call in Nicean troops against an attack by the Genoese . When Rhodes became a regular province of the Nikaia Empire in 1250, the rule of the Gabalas family was formally over.

swell

• Acta et diplomata monasteriorum et ecclesiarum Orientis 1, 254-255 (ed. Franz von Miklosich / Joseph Müller , ADGMA vol. 4, 1871, reprint 1996)
• Georgios Akropolites 27-28; 48 (ed. Peter Wirth , transl. Wilhelm Blum, BGL Vol. 28, 1989)
• Nikephoros Blemmydes , Curriculum vitae et Carmina 36; 61–62 (ed. August Heisenberg , BSGRT , 1896)
• Niketas Choniates 638-639 (ed. Jan-Louis van Dieten, CFHB Ser. Berol. Vol. 11, 1975)
• Andrea Dandolo , Ducis Venetiarum Chronica 295 (ed. Ester Pastorello , RIS vol. 12,1, Bologna 1938)
• Martino da Canale 362-364 (ed. Alberto Limentani, Florence 1972).
• Venetiarum Historia 156–157 (ed. Roberto Cessi / Fanny Bennato, Venice 1964)

literature

• Michael Angold: A Byzantine Government in Exile. Government and Society under the Laskarids of Nicaea, 1204-1261 . Oxford University Press, London 1975, ISBN 0-19-821854-0 , p. 114.
• 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. 150–151 No. 214.
• Michael F. Hendy: Catalog of the Byzantine coins in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection and in the Whittemore Collection . Vol. 4: Alexius I to Michael VIII, 1081-1261 , Part 2: The Emperors of Nicaea and Their Contemporaries (1204-1261) . Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, Washington DC 1999, ISBN 0-88402-233-1 , pp. 648-651.
• Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 811.
• Anthony T. Luttrell: The Latins and Life on the Smaller Aegean Islands: 1204-1453. In: Benjamin Arbel, Bernard Hamilton, David Jacoby (Eds.): Latins and Greeks in the Eastern Mediterranean After 1204. Vol. 1: Byzantine Civilization 1204-1453. Frank Cass, London 1989, ISBN 0-7146-3372-0 , pp. 146-157.
• Ruth Juliana Macrides: A Translation and Historical Commentary of George Akropolites' History. Phil. Diss. King's College London 1978, pp. 283-286.
• Ruth Macrides: George Akropolites: The History - Introduction, Translation and Commentary. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2007, ISBN 978-0-19-921067-1 .
• Alexis GC Savvides: Byzantium in the Near East: Its Relations with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum in Asia Minor, the Armenians of Cilicia and the Mongols, AD c. 1192-1237 (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. T. 17, ISSN  1106-6180 ). Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1981, p. 61.
• 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 ΚΒΕ / ΕΙΕ. Vol. 7, 1987, ISSN  1105-1639 , pp. 237-273, here: p. 273.
• Αλέξης Γ. Κ. Σαββίδης: Βυζαντινά στασιαστικά και αυτονομιστικά κινήματα στα Δωδεκάνησα και τη Μικρά Ασία , 1189-1240 μ.Χ .: Συμβολή στη μελέτη της υστεροβυζαντινής προσωπογραφίας και τοπογραφίας την εποχή των Αγγέλων , των Λασκαρίδων της Νίκαιας και των Μεγαλοκομνηνών του Πόντου . Δόμος, Αθήνα 1987, pp. 301-341.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 3: Faber Felix - Juwayni, Al- . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2012, ISBN 978-2-503-53243-1 , pp. 34-35.
• Kenneth Meyer Setton: The Papacy and the Levant, 1204-1571. Vol. 1: The Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries. American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia PA 1976, ISBN 0-87169-114-0 .

Remarks

1. ↑ See Cheynet, Pouvoir , p. 150 f.
2. ↑ See Cheynet, Pouvoir , p. 151.
3. ↑ See Hendy, Catalog , p. 648 f .; Macrides, Translation , p. 285 assumes that Leon Gabalas did not take the title from John III. but this was granted to him (or his father, who is not known by name) at an earlier point in time, possibly by an emperor of the Angeloi dynasty or a Latin emperor .
4. ↑ See Hendy, Catalog , p. 649 f.
5. ↑ See Setton, Papacy , p. 52.
6. ↑ Cf. Macrides, Akropolites , p. 188, which, however, is based on confusion with Megas Drungarios Gabalas of the same name .