Theodor I (Montferrat)

Theodor I. Palaiologos (full name: Theodoros Komnenos Dukas Angelos Palaiologos , Italian: Teodoro Paleologo ; * 1291 ; † April 21, 1338 ) was a Byzantine prince from the ruling dynasty of the Palaiologists and a margrave of Montferrat . He was a younger son of the emperor Andronikos II. Palaiologos from his second marriage to Yolande (Irene) of Montferrat .

Theodor spent his childhood around his mother, that is from 1303 in Thessaloniki , after the mother had fallen out with his father. In 1305 he traveled to Italy on a Genoese ship to the court of his maternal uncle, Margrave Johann I von Montferrat . The uncle died that same year without children of his own. Theodor inherited him as Margrave of Montferrat and thus founded the Italian branch of the Byzantine imperial family of paleologists. To do this, he accepted the Roman Catholic denomination and married Argentina Spinola, a daughter of the captain of Genoa, Obizzo Spinola.

Theodor was involved in the union policy between the Roman Catholic Western Church and the Greek Orthodox Eastern Church. To this end, he traveled twice to his homeland in Constantinople in the years 1317 to 1319 and 1325 to 1327. During his second stay, he tried in the civil war between his father Andronikos II and his nephew Andronikos III. to convey. Among other things, he accused the great logothete Theodoros Metochites of corruption. Theodor even hoped his father would appoint him as a successor in the empire.

After his return, Theodor worked as the author of a textbook on the art of government and war, which he wrote in Greek and immediately translated into Latin. Both versions are lost today, but Jean de Vignay soon made it for King Philip VI. France submitted a translation into French ( Les Enseignements ou ordenances pour un seigneur qui a guerres et grans gouvernemens à faire ), which has been preserved.

His marriage to Argentina Spinola had two children:

• Johann II († March 20, 1372), Margrave of Montferrat
• Violanta († December 24, 1342), ⚭ 1330 with Count Aymon of Savoy (* 1273; † 1343)

literature

• Julia Bastin : Le traité de Théodore Paléologue dans la traduction de Jean de Vignay. In: Études romanes dédiées à Mario Roques par ses amis, collègues et élèves de France (= Société de publications romanes et françaises. Vol. 25, ZDB -ID 130465-3 ). Droz, Paris 1946, pp. 78-88.
• Christine Knowles: Les enseignements de Théodore Paléologue (= Modern Humanities Research Association. Texts and Dissertations. Vol. 19). Modern Humanities Research Association, London 1983, ISBN 0-900547-86-3 .
• Angeliki E. Laiou: A Byzantine Prince Latinized: Theodore Palaeologus, Marquis of Montferrat. In: Byzantion. Vol. 38, 1968, ISSN  0378-2506 , pp. 386-410.

predecessor	Office	successor
Johann I.	Margrave of Montferrat 1305–1338	Johann II.