Theodoros Branas

Theodoros Branas Komnenos ( Middle Greek Θεόδωρος Βρανάς Κομνηνός , also Theodosios Branas ) was a Byzantine nobleman who was of crucial importance for the rule of Constantinople on the Fourth Crusade . He is called li Vernas by the historian Gottfried von Villehardouin .

Life

Theodoros was a son of the general Alexios Branas , who had rebelled against Emperor Isaac II in 1186/87 . In 1193 he became a lover of Agnes of France , daughter of King Louis VII and sister of King Philip II. Agnes was empress twice due to her marriages with the Byzantine emperors Alexios II († 1183) and Andronikos I († 1185) . 1195 was Theodoros of Alexios III. Elevated to emperor because he had supported him in the usurpation against his brother Isaac II.

Theodoros married Agnes in 1204. They were an invaluable help to the Crusaders (" Latins ") of the Fourth Crusade, after they had conquered Constantinople in 1204 and established the Latin Empire . Theodoros was one of the first Greeks to support the Latins and acted as the ambassador of Henry of Flanders when the Greeks from Adrianople and Demotica wanted to break their alliance with Tsar Kaloyan of Bulgaria and place their cities under the protection of the Latins.

Theodoros became lord of Arpos (which the Latins called Naples) and Adrianople .

swell

• Niketas Choniates 409; 627-642 (ed. Jan-Louis van Dieten, CFHB Vol. 11, 1975)
• Gottfried von Villehardouin 2, 237 and 255 (ed. Edmond Faral , 1973) and 64 (ed. Frank T. Marzials, 1908; online on Internet Medieval Sourcebook )

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. 152 no.216.
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 2: Baanes-Eznik of Kolb . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , pp. 148-149.