Michael Kantakuzenos

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Kantakuzenos (* around 1264/65; † 1294 or 1316 in Mistra ) was the first epitropos (governor) of the Byzantine province of Morea and the father of John VI from 1286 to 1294 or, according to other sources, from 1308 to 1316 . Kantakuzenos , Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (1341–1354).

origin

Michael Kantakuzenos comes from the Byzantine aristocratic family Kantakuzenos , whose progenitor already exercised high command functions under the government of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118). In the Alexiade , the historical work of the daughter of Emperor Alexios I, Anna Komnene , it is recorded that this Kantakuzenos was already a Byzantine military leader in 1094 against the Pechenegs and in October 1107 against Bohemond I, Prince of Taranto and Prince of Antioch (1098– 1111) fought at Avlona near Durazzo .

In the next generation, the family was related by marriage to the imperial family of the Komnenen , and therefore moved up to the front row of the Byzantine aristocracy and provided a pretender to the throne as early as 1199. Under the rule of the palaeologists , the family acquired huge estates in Thrace and were considered the wealthiest aristocratic family in the empire in the mid-14th century.

Michael's father - whose first name is not known - was Kephale (captain) of the fortress Monemvasia and military leader on Morea in 1263/64 after the successful reconquest of parts of the Peloponnese peninsula by the Byzantine Empire . Et fell in the battle at Mesikli in March 1264. It is possible that he is identical to Manuel Kantakuzenos, Pinkernes (cupbearer) and Oikeios (truchess) of Emperor John III. Vatatzes Emperor of Byzantium in Nikaia.

Life

Thanks to insufficient primary sources, many of his biographical data are uncertain and are used by historians e.g. Sometimes interpreted differently. Georg Ostrogorsky records that Kantakuzenos actually had the first name Michael . However, this is uncertain after Detlev Schwennike and after Charles Cawley, who thinks that this first name contradicts traditional naming rules.

Kantakuzenos was closely connected to Emperor Andronikos II. Palaiologos of Byzantium, who decreed in a decree that the previously usual annual replacement of the post of governor of Morea, which had led to grievances, was to be replaced by a lifelong entrustment. Morea - originally the Latin name of the Peloponnese peninsula - included as Byzantine Despotate by Michael VIII Palaeologus. - since 1261 emperor of the Byzantine Empire to Constantinople Opel - by the poet and troubadour . William II of Villehardouin , Prince of Achaia , 1262 conquered territories, ie , primarily the Laconia landscape in the south of the peninsula.

Michael Kantakuzenos was the first governor of Morea to be appointed under this new regime, bearing the title "Captain of the land and fortresses in the Peloponnese". There are different opinions about the period of his function and the date of a death, as the period of function is given in the European family tables and by Charles Cawley as 1286 to 1294 (year of death), while other sources place the beginning to 1308 and the year of death to 1316. Among other things, Papadopulos.

In any case, this appointment turned out to be a blessing for the population, as it ended the practice of corrupt governors trying to enrich themselves during their short term in office. During his eight-year term in office he succeeded in strengthening the economy in the province so much that his son-in-law and successor Andronikos Asanes (son of Bulgarian Tsar Ivan Assen III, who fled to Constantinople ) even had the means to start a war of conquest. The capital - and thus the usual place of residence of Kanzakuzenos as governor - was the city of Mystras, which had developed around the crusader castle of the same name built by Wilhelm II von Villehardouin, Prince of Achaia (1246–1278) around 1249 northwest of Sparta on a hill . Both the castle and the much more comfortable palace in the city were available to him as his residence. Today there are only ruins of the city, the castle and the palace that are located next to the village of the same name.

Marriage and offspring

Michael married Theodora Angelina Palaiologina, mistress of Serrhai and Lemnos , around 1293 , who was captured by the rebel leader, Alexios Apokaukos , in the course of a revolt against her son, Emperor John VII. Kantakuzenos . January 1342 died.

Theodore's origin is also not clearly established. Averikios Th. Papadopulos calls her Theodora Palaiologina Kantakuzene and suspects that she was a daughter of Dux Chandrenos (who, as a Byzantine general, defeated the Catalan company at Thessaloniki and Varria in 1308) and the Theodote Glabaina Dukraina Tarchaneiotissa. The latter would have been a daughter of the protostrator Michael Tarchaneiotes Palaiologos Glabas (son of Nikephoros Tarchaeiotes Nikephoros Tarchaeiotes) and Maria Philantropene (daughter of Admiral Alexios Philantopenos). The European family tables only indicate that she was a granddaughter of Nikephoros Tarchaneiotes and Maria Palaiologina. Similarly, Charles Cawley notes that she was the granddaughter of a sister of Emperor Michael VIII, what with ESNF III. 1 plate 197 coincides, since Maria Palaiologina, a sister of this emperor, was married to Nikephoros Tarchaeiotes. There is therefore only agreement that Theodora was a granddaughter or great-granddaughter of Nikephoros Tarchaneiotes and Maria Palaiologina.

children

According to Papadopulos, the couple had three children, while other sources regularly only John VI. mention:

  • John VI Kantakuzenos, Emperor of the Byzantine Empire (1347–1354), (* c. 1295; † as monk Joasaph in Mistra (Peloponnese, Greece) June 10, 1383) ∞ v. 1290 Irene Asanina († as a nun in the monastery Kyra Martha 1369/79), daughter of the despot of Morea, Andronikos Asanes (son of the Bulgar Tsar Ivan Assen III. And Irene Palaiologina, a daughter of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII. Dukas Komnenos Palaiologos).
  • Nikephoros Kantakuzenos , Sebastokrator
  • Ne Kantakuzene ∞ Konstantinos Akropolites, son of Georgios Akropolites

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Kantakuzenos , Notes 419 and 420.
  2. ↑ a b c d e Detlev Schwennike: European family tables new series. Verlag JA Stargardt, Volume III.1, Plate 197.
  3. ↑ Georg Ostrogorsky: Byzantine History 324 - 1453. 2nd edition. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-406-39759-2 , p. 427.
  4. ^ A b Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Kantakuzenos
  5. ↑ Averikios Th. Papadopulos: Attempt at a genealogy of the palaeologists . Verlag Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1962, p. 17, who in note 120 refers to the autobiography of Emperor John VI. (Kanzakuzenos) called by Byzantium .
  6. ↑ Averikios Th. Papadopulos: Attempt at a genealogy of the palaeologists . Verlag Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam, 1962, p. 17.
  7. ^ Foundation for Medieval Genealogy: Kantakuzenos note 177
  8. ↑ Averikios Th. Papadopulos: Attempting a Genealogy of Palaiologists 1259-1453. Verlag Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1962 p. 17.

literature

  • 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. 27-30 No. 20.
  • John J. Norwich : Rise and Fall of an Empire. 4th edition. List (Ullstein) Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-548-60620-0 .
  • Georg Ostrogorsky : Byzantine History. 324-1453. 2nd Edition. Unchanged reprint of the special edition first published in 1965. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-39759-X ( Beck's historical library ).
  • Averikios Th. Papadopulos: Attempt at a genealogy of the palaeologists . 1259-1453. Pilger-Druckerei, Speyer 1938 (reprint: Verlag Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1962), (also: Munich, Univ., Phil. Diss., 1938).

Web links

predecessor Office successor
- Governor of Morea
1308-1316 		Andronikos Asanes
personal data
SURNAME Michael Kantakuzenos
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine governor of Morea
DATE OF BIRTH around 1264
DATE OF DEATH 1294 or 1316
Place of death Mistra