Pseudo-Alexios II (Phrygia)

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. Pseudo-Alexios II Komnenos ( medium Greek Ψευδο-Ἀλέξιος Β'Κομνηνός called Kausalones , "Felderverbrenner"; † probably in 1191 at Chonai ) was the best known of several Byzantine pretender , in the first term of Kaiser Isaac II. Angelo (1185-1195 ) appeared and claimed to be the Emperor Alexios II , who was murdered in 1183.

Life

Pseudo-Alexios II was a young man from Constantinople , whose resemblance to Alexios II and his father Manuel I convinced many of the legitimacy of his claims. This also included the Sultan of the Rum Seljuks , Kılıç Arslan II , whom the pretender visited in Iconium with a request for troop help . However, the Sultan refused to break the peace treaty with Isaac II in order not to risk the tribute payments paid by Byzantium.

The usurper gathered an 8,000-strong army in Phrygia , which marched through the Meander Valley . Several cities were looted, including the wealthy city of Chonai . Isaac II sent his brother, the Sebastocrator Alexios , to put a stop to the pretender, but the imperial troops achieved little success.

The rise of the false Alexios came to an abrupt end when a priest murdered him in the fortress of Pissa near Chonai out of anger over the devastation of the richest cities in Asia Minor and the desecration of the churches there by the Islamic Turks . The assassin brought the pretender's head to the sebastocrator Alexios. This is said to have been so amazed at the similarity of the facial features with those of Manuel I that he absolved the followers of the false Alexios of any guilt.

After the death of the pseudo-Alexios II, other pretenders appeared in Asia Minor under this identity.

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literature

  • Κωνσταντίνος Βαρζός: Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών. Τόμος Β ' (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. Τ. 20β , ISSN  1106-6180 ). Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1984 ( PDF file; 45.5 MB ), pp. 473–476 No. 155 II.
  • Charles M. Brand: Byzantium confronts the West, 1180-1204. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1968, ISBN 0-81-431764-2 , p. 86.
  • 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. 123-124 No. 169.
  • Jürgen Hoffmann: Rudiments of territorial states in the Byzantine Empire (1071-1210). Ars Una, Neuried 1974, ISBN 3-89391-396-3 , pp. 40-41.
  • Dimitri Korobeinikov: Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth Century. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2014, ISBN 978-0-19-870826-1 , p. 142.
  • 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, pp. 74-75.
  • 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. 271.
  • 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, chap. 3.
  • 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. 162.
  • Alicia Simpson: Niketas Choniates. A Historiographical Study. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2013, ISBN 978-0-19-967071-0 , p. 307.
  • Warren Treadgold : A History of the Byzantine State and Society. Stanford University Press, Stanford CA 1997, ISBN 0-8047-2630-2 , p. 658.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The dating of the usurpation is controversial. While Brand and after him Βαρζός have pleaded for 1192, Korobeinikov considers the year 1189 to be more likely; Savvides / Hendrickx advocate a late dating around 1195. Cheynet's argument for 1191 seems most plausible.
personal data
SURNAME Pseudo-Alexios II
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pseudo-Alexios II Comnenus (full name); Ψευδο-Ἀλέξιος Β΄ Κομνηνός (Middle Greek); Causalones (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine usurper against Emperor Isaac II in Phrygia
DATE OF BIRTH 12th Century
DATE OF DEATH unsure: 1191
Place of death Chonai