John Angelos or Angelus ( gr, Ἰωάννης Ἄγγελος, hu, Angelos János; c. 1193 – 1253), also known as Good John ( gr, Καλοϊωάννης / ''Kaloiōannēs'', hu, Kaloján), was a
Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
prince who migrated to
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...
, and served as governor of various southern regions, including
Syrmia, from 1227 until 1253, during the reign of Hungarian kings
Andrew II and
Béla IV
Béla may refer to:
* Béla (crater), an elongated lunar crater
* Béla (given name), a common Hungarian male given name
See also
* Bela (disambiguation)
* Belá (disambiguation)
* Bělá (disambiguation) Bělá, derived from ''bílá'' (''wh ...
, who were his maternal relatives.
Life
John Angelos was the son of
Isaac II Angelos
Isaac II Angelos or Angelus ( grc-gre, Ἰσαάκιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος, ; September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.
His father Andronikos Doukas Angelos was a ...
, the Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204; and
Margaret of Hungary
Margaret of Hungary (''Margit'' in Hungarian; born 1175, living 1223) was a Byzantine Empress by marriage to Isaac II Angelos and Queen of Thessalonica by marriage to Boniface of Montferrat. She was regent of Thessalonica during the minority of he ...
, the daughter of King
Béla III (r. 1172–1196) and sister of King
Emeric (r. 1196–1204). John had three older half-siblings from his father's first marriage:
Anna-Euphrosyne,
Irene Angelina
Irene Angelina ( el, ; c. 1181 – 27 August 1208) was a Byzantine princess and member of the Angelos dynasty and by her two marriages Queen of Sicily in 1193 and Queen of Germany from 1198 to 1208.
Life
Irene was born in Constantinople, the ...
and
Alexios IV Angelos
Alexios IV Angelos or Alexius IV Angelus ( el, Ἀλέξιος Ἄγγελος) (c. 1182 – February 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from August 1203 to January 1204. He was the son of Emperor Isaac II Angelos and his first wife, an unknown Palaio ...
, while he had a younger full brother, Manuel Angelos (b. after 1195 – d. 1212).
The family found refuge in the Hungarian court in 1222.
King
Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II ( hu, II. András, hr, Andrija II., sk, Ondrej II., uk, Андрій II; 117721 September 1235), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1205 and 1235. He ruled the Principality of Halych from 11 ...
(r. 1205–1235), his uncle, gave him "Syrmia and beyond", i.e. south of the
Sava river
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...
, including
Belgrade and
Macsó, which he ruled until 1253.
In 1221,
Pope Honorius III
Pope Honorius III (c. 1150 – 18 March 1227), born Cencio Savelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 18 July 1216 to his death. A canon at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, he came to hold a number of impor ...
demanded that the "heretics" (
Bogomils
Bogomilism ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", bogumilstvo, богумилство) was a Christian neo-Gnostic or dualist sect founded in the First Bulgarian Empire by the priest Bogomil during the reign of Tsar P ...
) be exterminated in Bosnia. His chaplain Aconcio was unable to gain any followers in Ragusa, and died while in Bosnia.
Ugrin Csák
Ugrin (III) from the kindred Csák ( hu, Csák nembeli (III.) Ugrin, hr, Ugrin Čak, sr, Угрин Чак; died in 1311) was a prominent Hungarian baron and oligarch in the early 14th century. He was born into an ancient Hungarian clan. He ac ...
, the
Archbishop of Kalocsa
In Christian denominations, an archbishop is a bishop of higher rank or office. In most cases, such as the Catholic Church, there are many archbishops who either have jurisdiction over an ecclesiastical province in addition to their own archdioc ...
, proposed to
Andrew II of Hungary
Andrew II ( hu, II. András, hr, Andrija II., sk, Ondrej II., uk, Андрій II; 117721 September 1235), also known as Andrew of Jerusalem, was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1205 and 1235. He ruled the Principality of Halych from 11 ...
that he would lead the
Bosnian Crusade
The Bosnian Crusade was fought against unspecified heretics from 1235 until 1241. It was, essentially, a Hungarian war of conquest against the Banate of Bosnia sanctioned as a crusade. Led by the Hungarian prince Coloman, the crusaders succeede ...
, and the king and pope promised him all lands that he would clear of heretics. Ugrin overrated himself, and instead gave 200 silver marks to John Angelos, the ruler of Syrmia, to perform the task. John took the money but never acted against the Bogomils, despite being reminded of his obligation by Pope Honorius III in 1227.
King Béla IV appointed John Angelos as the governor of Syrmia, and
Rostislav Mikhailovich
Rostislav Mikhailovich ( hu, Rosztyiszláv, Bulgarian and Russian: Ростислав Михайлович) (after 1210 / c. 1225 – 1262) was a Rus' prince (a member of the Rurik dynasty), and a dignitary in the Kingdom of Hungary.
He was p ...
as the governor of Slavonia, securing his southern boundaries while heading towards the Adriatic.
Another source claims that he ruled Syrmia and
Bačka
Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hunga ...
from ca. 1230.
He died by 1253, since documents related to marriage of his daughter Maria mention him as deceased.
Issue
John was married to
Matilda of Vianden (ca. 1216–), daughter of
Henry I, Count of Vianden and
Margaret Courtenay, Matilda's mother Margaret was daughter of
Peter Courtenay
Peter Courtenay ( – 23 September 1492) was Bishop of Exeter (1478–87) and Bishop of Winchester (1487-92), and also had a successful political career during the tumultuous years of the Wars of the Roses.
Origins
Courtenay was the third so ...
, Latin emperor of Constantinople, and thus sister of Latin emperors
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
and
Baldwin II.
Their daughter Maria was married to "''Anselm of Keu''". Their marriage licenses were issued in 1253 and 1254, by the papal chancellery. The first document mentions the marriage "''inter Anselmum de Keu ac Mariam, natam Matildis dominae de Posaga, natae comitissae Viennensis''", while the second document mentions "''Maria, nate quondam Calojohanni''" and also mentions Maria's maternal uncle as "''imperatore Constantinopolitano, eiusdem Matildis avunculo''". Those data allowed Gordon McDaniel to identify Maria's father as John Angelos, lord of Syrmia, and Maria's mother as Matilda, daughter of
Henry I, Count of Vianden and
Margaret Courtenay (sister of the Latin emperors
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
and
Baldwin II).
Identity of Maria's husband was a subject of several genealogical and historical studies, that tried to resolve complex questions related to attribution of sources on at least two persons (father and son) who had the same name:
Anseau de Cayeux Anseau de Cayeux or Anselm de Cayeux ( gr, Ασέλ δε Kάε) was a French knight from Picardy, who participated in the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204) and later became one of the leading nobles of the Latin Empire, serving as regent in Constantinop ...
.
Gordon McDaniel proposed that Maria, daughter of John Angelos, is the same person as Maria, who is mentioned in several sources from the 1270s and 1280s as widow of Anseau de Cayeux, and also as sister of queen
Jelena of Serbia. Based on that assumption, he concluded that Jelena's father was John Angelos of Syrmia.
In the summer of 1280, king
Charles I of Sicily
Charles I (early 1226/12277 January 1285), commonly called Charles of Anjou, was a member of the royal Capetian dynasty and the founder of the second House of Anjou. He was Count of Provence (1246–85) and Forcalquier (1246–48, 1256–85) i ...
issued a document, allowing lady Maria to travel from
Apulia to Serbia, to visit her sister, the queen of Serbia ( la, Quia nobilis mulier domina Maria de Chaurs cum filio suo et familia eiusdem domine intendit transfretare ad presens ad partes Servie visura dominam reginam Servie sororem suam). In later documents, issued in 1281, Maria was mentioned by king Charles as his cousin ( la, nobilis mulier Maria domina Chau consanguinea nostra carissima), and widow of Anselm "''de Chau''" ( la, nobilem mulierem Mariam relictam quondam nobilis viri Anselmi de Chau).
If those assumptions are correct, John Angelos would be maternal grandfather of Serbian kings
Stefan Dragutin
Stefan Dragutin ( sr-cyr, Стефан Драгутин, hu, Dragutin István; 1244 – 12 March 1316) was King of Serbia from 1276 to 1282. From 1282, he ruled a separate kingdom which included northern Serbia, and (from 1284) the neigh ...
and
Stefan Milutin.
Ancestors
References
Sources
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{{DEFAULTSORT:John Angelos of Syrmia
Dukes of Macsó
Angelid dynasty
Greek expatriates in Hungary
13th-century Byzantine people
13th-century Hungarian people
13th-century rulers in Europe
13th century in Serbia
1193 births
1259 deaths
Year of birth uncertain
History of Syrmia
Medieval history of Vojvodina
Sons of Byzantine emperors