Rakendytes

Rakendytes ( Middle Greek Ρακενδύτης ; † after 1191/1193) was a Byzantine usurper against Emperor Isaac II.

Life

Rakendytes is mentioned by the Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates as one of several usurpers who rose up against the incompetent Emperor Isaac II Angelus around 1191 . He was captured and blinded , the usual punishment in Byzantium for usurpation and high treason .

In Rakendytes (the "Ragged") is a nickname , usually monks was settled. The usurper's true identity is unknown. Choniates noted that he was with the dynasty of Komnenen been related. The historian Friedrich Rehm brought him close to Andronikos Bryennios Komnenos , who had (allegedly) conspired against Isaac II between 1186 and 1192 together with Alexios Komnenos , an illegitimate son of Emperor Manuel I. However, an identity of the two persons is unlikely, since Choniates himself does not establish a connection between them.

swell

• Niketas Choniates 423 (ed. Jan-Louis van Dieten, CFHB Ser. Berol. Vol. 11, 1975)

literature

• 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 , p. 126, No. 173.
• Friedrich Rehm : Outline of the history of the Middle Ages: textbook for lectures at universities and upper grammar school classes. Krieger, Kassel 1840, p. 686.