Alexios Doukas Philanthropenos (, died ) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

nobleman and distinguished admiral, with the rank of and later , during the reign of

Michael VIII Palaiologos Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1261 until his death in 1282, and previously as the co-emperor of the Empire of Nicaea from 1259 to 1261. Michael VIII was the founder of th ...

().

Biography

Alexios is the first important member of the Philanthropenos family mentioned in the sources. He first appears in

George Akropolites George Akropolites ( Latinized as Acropolites or Acropolita; , ''Georgios Akropolites''; 1217 or 1220 – 1282) was a Byzantine Greek historian and statesman born at Constantinople. Life In his sixteenth year he was sent by his father, the logo ...

's history in autumn 1255 as a military commander in the region of

Ohrid Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of ...

— perhaps as (governor) of the local (province) — during the wars of

Theodore II Laskaris Theodore II Laskaris or Ducas Lascaris (; November 1221/1222 – 16 August 1258) was Emperor of Nicaea from 1254 to 1258. He was the only child of Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes and Empress Irene Laskarina. His mother was the eldest da ...

() against the

Bulgarians Bulgarians (, ) are a nation and South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and its neighbouring region, who share a common Bulgarian ancestry, culture, history and language. They form the majority of the population in Bulgaria, ...

... Throughout the 1260s, Philanthropenos carried the high title of . Theoretically, he was subordinate to the Michael Laskaris, but the latter was old and infirm, and Philanthropenos exercised the ''de facto'' command of the

Byzantine navy The Byzantine navy was the Navy, naval force of the Byzantine Empire. Like the state it served, it was a direct continuation from its Roman navy, Roman predecessor, but played a far greater role in the defence and survival of the state than its ...

.. In 1262 or 1263, soon after the recapture of Constantinople from the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantin ...

, Emperor

sent him to raid the Latin possessions of the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...

. This was the first major expedition undertaken by Palaiologos' recently expanded and reorganized navy, and Philanthropenos' ships were manned by the new corps of the and the . The Byzantines raided and sacked the islands of

Paros Paros (; ; ) is a Greek island in the central Aegean Sea. Part of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos (island), Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Co ...

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

, and Keos, as well as the towns of Karystos and Oreoi on Negroponte (

Euboea Euboea ( ; , ), also known by its modern spelling Evia ( ; , ), is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete, and the sixth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by ...

), before sailing south to support the operations of an expeditionary force that landed at

Monemvasia Monemvasia (, or ) is a town and municipality in Laconia, Greece. The town is located in mainland Greece on a tied island off the east coast of the Peloponnese, surrounded by the Myrtoan Sea. Monemvasia is connected to the rest of the mainland by a ...

against the

Principality of Achaea The Principality of Achaea () or Principality of Morea was one of the vassal states of the Latin Empire, which replaced the Byzantine Empire after the capture of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. It became a vassal of the Kingdom of Thes ...

. In 1270, Philanthropenos was possibly the general who commanded the army that landed at Monemvasia, and for the next years operated in the

Morea Morea ( or ) was the name of the Peloponnese peninsula in southern Greece during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The name was used by the Principality of Achaea, the Byzantine province known as the Despotate of the Morea, by the O ...

against the Achaeans. Both sides in this conflict avoided a potentially disastrous direct confrontation, instead focusing on raids in order to plunder and devastate their opponent's territory.; . During the early 1270s, Philanthropenos led his fleet several times against the Latins, supporting

Licario Licario, called Ikarios () by the Greek chroniclers, was a Byzantine admiral of Italian origin in the 13th century. At odds with the Latin barons (the "triarchs") of his native Euboea, he entered the service of the Byzantine emperor Michael VIII ...

, an imperial vassal, in Negroponte, and participating in the great Byzantine naval victory at the Battle of Demetrias, during which he was heavily wounded. For this success, he was raised to the rank of , now vacant after Michael Laskaris's death. Philanthropenos died around 1275, and was succeeded as soon after by Licario.

Family

Alexios had one daughter, Maria, who married the Michael Tarchaneiotes. Their second son was the Alexios Philanthropenos the Younger, a prominent general who scored several successes against the Anatolian Turks, and who led an unsuccessful rebellion against

Andronikos II Palaiologos Andronikos II Palaiologos (; 25 March 1259 – 13 February 1332), Latinization of names, Latinized as Andronicus II Palaeologus, reigned as Byzantine emperor from 1282 to 1328. His reign marked the beginning of the recently restored em ...

() in 1295.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Philanthropenos, Alexios Doukas 13th-century births 1270s deaths Megaloi doukes Alexios 01 Protostratores 13th-century Byzantine military personnel