Syrgiannes Palaiologos

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Syrgiannes Palaiologos Philanthropenos ( Middle Greek Συργιάννης Παλαιολόγος Φιλανθρωπηνός ; * around 1290; † 23 August 1334 near Thessaloniki ) was a Byzantine aristocrat and general of Cuman - Greek origin . In the civil war 1321-1328 he wavered between Andronikos III. Palaiologos and his grandfather Andronikos II ; In 1334 he ran over to the Serbian King Stefan IV Dušan .

Life

Syrgiannes Palaiologos was the son (or grandson) of the cuman Syrgiannes ( Sytzigan ), who had risen to Megas Domestikos under Andronikos II , and of Eugenia, a daughter of Pinkernes ( cupbearer ) Johannes Kantakuzenos and niece of Emperor Michael VIII. He was married to Maria Dukaina Palaiologina Syrgiannina , a cousin of Andronikos III .; with her he had the son Nikephoros Kantakuzenos and the daughter Theodora , since 1330/32 wife of Guidos von Lusignan .

In the Byzantine sources Syrgiannes first appears in 1315 as a military governor in Macedonia near the Serbian border. Regardless of existing treaties and against his instructions, he decided to invade Serbia and Epirus . In February 1315 he attacked Arta , in 1318 Ioannina surrendered to him , where he increased the property of the church. The usurpation suspected Syrgiannes was captured in 1319 and Konstantin Opel imprisoned, but pardoned shortly thereafter, for Pinkernes appointed and with a command in Thrace entrusted.

As Andronikos III. rebelled against his grandfather at Easter 1321 in Adrianople , Syrgiannes was one of his supporters along with Johannes Kantakuzenos , Alexios Apokaukos and Theodoros Synadenos . He marched towards the capital with a large army and forced the old emperor to enter into negotiations. The rule was divided: Andronikos III. received Thrace with the Adrianople residence as a quasi- appanage , while Andronikos II continued to rule in Constantinople as senior emperor.

Since Syrgiannes from Andronikos III. for his support in the struggle for the throne was not sufficiently appreciated and in favor of Kantakuzenos, he developed a sharp rivalry with him. In addition, chroniclers report an alleged attempt by the pretender to seduce Syrgiannes' wife. In December 1321 Syrgiannes changed sides and fled to Constantinople. Awarded the proud title of Megas Dux , he persuaded Andronikos II to resume the war against his grandson. But the two Andronikoi reached a new agreement in July 1322, which put Syrgiannes in a quandary. He saw the only way out in murdering the aged Andronikos II and usurping the throne. However, the plot was foiled and Syrgiannes was sentenced to life in prison.

In 1328 Andronikos III. eventually overthrow his grandfather and take sole power. Syrgiannes was set free and soon regained the favor of the new emperor. In 1329 he transferred the governorship of Thessaloniki, the second largest city in the empire, as well as of Western Macedonia and Albania . Syrgiannes was again suspected of conspiracy, this time together with the imperial mother Maria , who lived in Thessaloniki , who developed a weakness for him and finally adopted him . After Mary's death in 1333, the conspiracy plans were uncovered. Syrgiannes was arrested and taken to Constantinople to answer again for high treason . However, he was able to escape to Negroponte and flee via Thessaly to the court of the Serbian king Stefan Dušan.

Dušan placed Syrgiannes at the head of a large Serbian force that invaded Byzantine Macedonia in 1334, although it is disputed whether the defector was also pursuing his own usurpatory goals with this commitment. Thanks to his skills as a military leader, his inside knowledge of the Byzantine army and his good contacts with various local commanders, he was able to quickly capture several important cities, including Ohrid , Prilep , Strumica and Kastoria . The way to Thessaloniki was clear, but Syrgiannes' army met a Byzantine relief army in front of the city . On August 23, 1334 Syrgiannes was lured out of his camp on the Galykos River and murdered by Sphrantzes Palaiologos , a Byzantine general who had gone over to the Serbs a few days earlier. After losing their leader, the Serbs were able to negotiate a very advantageous peace with Byzantium, as they were allowed to keep almost all of the cities in northern Macedonia conquered by Syrgiannes.

rating

His ruthless ambition and notorious opportunism made Syrgiannes Palaiologos appear even to contemporaries as the darkest figure of her era; The chronicler Nikephoros Gregoras compared his flight to Serbia with that of Themistocles in the Achaemenid Empire . The modern historian Donald Nicol compares him with Alkibiades , Angeliki Laiou calls him "the worst phenomenon" of the civil war.

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literature

  • Dimiter Angelov: Imperial ideology and political thought in Byzantium, 1204-1330. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2007, ISBN 978-0-521-85703-1 , pp. 121, 335.
  • Mark C. Bartusis: The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society 1204-1453. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia PA 1997, ISBN 0-8122-1620-2 .
  • Ursula Victoria Bosch: Emperor Andronikos III. Palaiologos. Attempt to portray Byzantine history in the years 1321–1341. Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1965, pp. 26-29, 89-95.
  • John Van Antwerp Fine: The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor MI 1994, ISBN 0-472-08260-4 .
  • Alexander P. Kazhdan (Ed.): The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium . Oxford University Press, New York NY 1991, ISBN 0-19-504652-8 , p. 1997.
  • Angeliki E. Laiou: Constantinople and the Latins. The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II 1282-1328. Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA 1972, ISBN 0-674-16535-7 .
  • Ljubomir Maksimović: The Byzantine Provincial Administration under the Paloiologoi. Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1988, ISBN 90-256-0968-6 , pp. 92-93, 140-142.
  • Donald M. Nicol : The Despotate of Epiros 1267-1479. A contribution to the history of Greece in the middle ages. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1984, ISBN 0-521-26190-2 , pp. 77-92 and passim .
  • Donald M. Nicol: The Last Centuries of Byzantium, 1261-1453. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1993, ISBN 0-521-43991-4 .
  • Donald M. Nicol: The Reluctant Emperor: A Biography of John Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor and Monk, c. 1295-1383. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1996, ISBN 0-521-55256-7 .
  • Averkios Th. Papadopulos: Attempting a Genealogy of Palaiologists, 1259–1453. Pilger-Druckerei, Munich 1938 (reprinted by Adolf M. Hakkert, Amsterdam 1962), pp. 21-22 No. 34b.
  • Erich Trapp , Hans-Veit Beyer, Ioannes G. Leontiades, Sokrates Kaplaneres: Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit . 11. Fascicle: Σκαβαλέρος - Τιχόμηρος (= Publications of the Commission for Byzantine Studies . Vol. 1/11). Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna 1991, ISBN 3-7001-1878-3 , pp. 141–142 No. 27167 (with further sources and literature).
  • István Vásáry: Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185–1365. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-521-83756-1 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ See PLP 11, p. 141.
  2. ↑ See Laiou, Constantinople , p. 288; Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 19 f.
  3. ↑ See Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 155 f.
  4. ↑ See Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 157.
  5. ↑ See Vásáry, Cumans , p. 121.
  6. ↑ See Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 157 f.
  7. ↑ See Fine, Late Medieval Balkans , p. 287.
  8. ↑ See Nicol, Reluctant Emperor , p. 30 f.
  9. ↑ See Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 176 f.
  10. ↑ See Vásáry, Cumans , p. 121.
  11. ↑ See Fine, Late Medieval Balkans , pp. 288, 311.
  12. ↑ See Laiou, Constantinople , p. 288; Nicol, Last Centuries , p. 77.
personal data
SURNAME Syrgiannes Palaiologos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Syrgiannes Palaiologos Philanthropenos (full name); Συργιάννης Παλαιολόγος Φιλανθρωπηνός (Middle Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine aristocrat, general and defector
DATE OF BIRTH around 1290
DATE OF DEATH August 23, 1334
Place of death at Thessaloniki