Manuel Kantakuzenos (Despot)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Manuel Kantakuzenos ( Middle Greek Μανουήλ Καντακουζηνός , with full name Manuel Palaiologos (Asanes) Kantakuzenos , * approx. 1326 ; † April 10, 1380 in Mistra ), was the Byzantine despot of Morea from October 25, 1349 to 1380.

Life

Manuel Kantakuzenos was the second son of Emperor John VI. Kantakuzenos and Irene Asanina, a granddaughter of the Bulgarian Tsar Iwan Assen III. Through this line he was connected with the Bulgarian Tsar dynasty of the Asanes . From 1343 to 1347 he was Kephale (Governor) of Berrhoia and 1348/1349 Eparch of Constantinople . In May 1347 Manuel was appointed despot of the Morea by his father. He was the first in a line of despots to serve for life. In 1349 Manuel Kantakuzenos arrived in his province, which has since been considered a largely autonomous despotate.

By smashing the local opposition from large landowners and high military dignitaries ( archons ), he consolidated his rule in the Morea . When Johannes Kantakuzenos was forced to abdicate by his son-in-law Johannes V. Palaiologos in December 1354 , Manuel succeeded in repelling Johannes V's attempts to replace him as a despot by his cousins Michael Asanes and Andreas Asanes . In 1355 he was recognized by the new government as despot of Morea.

After securing his rule, Manuel maintained peaceful relations with his Latin neighbors in the Principality of Achaia . The Greco-Latin collaboration included an alliance against the raids of the Ottoman Sultan Murad I , who repeatedly invaded the Morea in the 1360s.

Manuel promoted the settlement of the Albanians from Epirus and Thessaly , who were in demand in the depopulated province as farmers as well as mercenaries ( Stratiotes ). The capital Mistra advanced to an intellectual and religious center of the Greco-Byzantine culture. The refugees from other parts of the Byzantine Empire, who increasingly poured into the Morea, also contributed to the initiation of a long period of economic revival and prosperity. Numerous churches and chapels were built and monasteries founded in Mistra. The Despot's Palace of Mistra, which was expanded under Manuel Kantakuzenos, was the largest Byzantine representative building outside of Constantinople .

Manuel Kantakouzenos was married to Maria Anna Oliver, the daughter of the Serbian despot Jovan Oliver , from 1342 to 1347 . After February 26, 1349 he married Zampea von Lusignan, a daughter of the Armenian king of Cilicia , Guido von Lusignan (Constantine IV.). He left no male offspring. When he died in 1380, his older brother, the former co-emperor of his father Johannes Kantakuzenos, Matthaios Kantakuzenos , followed him as despot of Morea. Manuel Kantakuzenos was buried in Mistra. His burial chapel, the Church of Agía Sophia, is located north of the Despot's Palace.

literature

  • Franz Babinger : Mehmed the Conqueror. World striker at a turning point (= Piper series. 621). License issue. Piper, Munich 1987, ISBN 3-492-10621-8 , p. 130, p. 168.
  • Божидар Ферјанчић: Деспоти у Византији и Јужнословенским земљама (= Посебна издашња , vol. 336; Византитото . Српска академија наука и уметности, Београд 1960, pp. 105–109, 128–129.
  • Donald M. Nicol : The Byzantine family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) approx. 1100-1460. A genealogical and prosopographical study (= Dumbarton Oaks Studies. Vol. 11). Dumbarton Oaks Center for Byzantine Studies, Washington DC 1968, pp. 122–129, no. 25.
  • Andreas Thiele: Narrative genealogical family tables on European history. Volume 3: European Imperial, Royal and Princely Houses, supplementary volume . Supplementary volume. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1994, ISBN 3-89501-129-0 , plate 214.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Miroslav Marek: genealogy.euweb.cz, Royal genealogy index page, Kantakuzenos family (English)
  2. ↑ Miroslav Marek: The house of Asenids
  3. ^ John VA Fine jr: The Early Medieval Balkans. A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor MI 1994 p. 328.
  4. ↑ Innocenzo Mazziotti: Immigrazioni albanesi in Calabria nel secolo XV e la colonia di San Demetrio Corone (1471-1815) . Il Coscile Editore, Castrovillari 2004, ISBN 88-87482-61-6 , p. 20 (Italian).
  5. ↑ also called Isabelle or Maria
predecessor Office successor
Andronikos Asanes Despot of Morea
1348-1380 		Matthaios Asanes Kantakuzenos
personal data
SURNAME Kantakuzenos, Manuel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Despot of Morea
DATE OF BIRTH 1326
DATE OF DEATH April 10, 1380
Place of death Mystras