The House of Angelos (; gr, Ἄγγελος), feminine form Angelina (), plural Angeloi (), was a
Byzantine Greek noble lineage which rose to prominence through the marriage of its founder,
Constantine Angelos
Constantine Angelos ( gr, Κωνσταντῖνος Ἄγγελος; – after 1166) was a Byzantine aristocrat who married into the Komnenian dynasty and served as a military commander under Manuel I Komnenos, serving in the western and north ...
, with
Theodora Komnene, the youngest daughter of Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
. As imperial relatives, the Angeloi held various high titles and military commands under Emperor
Manuel I Komnenos. In 1185, following a revolt against
Andronikos I Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos ( gr, Ἀνδρόνικος Κομνηνός; – 12 September 1185), Latinized as Andronicus I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1183 to 1185. He was the son of Isaac Komnenos and the grandson of the emperor Al ...
,
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 ...
rose to the throne, the first of three Angeloi emperors who ruled until 1204. The period was marked by the decline and fragmentation of the Byzantine Empire, culminating in its dissolution by the
Fourth Crusade in 1204.
After the Fourth Crusade, another branch of the family managed to establish an
independent state
Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...
in
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
. The members of this branch largely eschewed the use of the 'Angelos' surname in favour of the more prestigious '
Doukas
The House of Doukas, Latinized as Ducas ( el, Δούκας; feminine: Doukaina/Ducaena, Δούκαινα; plural: Doukai/Ducae, Δοῦκαι), from the Latin title '' dux'' ("leader", "general", Hellenized as 'ðouks'', is the name of a Byzan ...
' and '
Komnenos
Komnenos ( gr, Κομνηνός; Latinized Comnenus; plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, )) was a Byzantine Greek noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνην ...
', and are collectively known as the Komnenodoukai (). From Epirus, they quickly expanded to rule
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
and
Macedonia. In ,
Theodore Komnenos Doukas
Theodore Komnenos Doukas ( el, Θεόδωρος Κομνηνὸς Δούκας, ''Theodōros Komnēnos Doukas'', Latinized as Theodore Comnenus Ducas, died 1253) was ruler of Epirus and Thessaly from 1215 to 1230 and of Thessalonica and most ...
conquered
Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
, and founded the
Empire of Thessalonica
The Empire of Thessalonica is a historiographic term used by some modern scholarse.g. ,, , . to refer to the short-lived Byzantine Greek state centred on the city of Thessalonica between 1224 and 1246 (''sensu stricto'' until 1242) and ruled by t ...
, claiming the Byzantine imperial title in rivalry to the
Empire of Nicaea. His empire quickly collapsed after the
Battle of Klokotnitsa
The Battle of Klokotnitsa ( bg, Битката при Клокотница, ''Bitkata pri Klokotnitsa'') occurred on 9 March 1230 near the village of Klokotnitsa (today in Haskovo Province, Bulgaria) between Second Bulgarian Empire and Emp ...
in 1230. Thessalonica was lost to Nicaea in 1246, and the prospects of recovering Constantinople were dashed at the
Battle of Pelagonia in 1259, followed by the re-establishment of the
Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty in 1261. Often in rivalry to the new Byzantine regime, the Komnenodoukai nevertheless secured recognition and titles from Constantinople, and retained their control over Thessaly (ruled by a cadet line) and Epirus until 1318.
Overview
Early members
The lineage was founded by
Constantine Angelos
Constantine Angelos ( gr, Κωνσταντῖνος Ἄγγελος; – after 1166) was a Byzantine aristocrat who married into the Komnenian dynasty and served as a military commander under Manuel I Komnenos, serving in the western and north ...
, a minor noble from
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
(
Asia Minor
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
). According to the 12th-century historian
John Zonaras
Joannes or John Zonaras ( grc-gre, Ἰωάννης Ζωναρᾶς ; 1070 – 1140) was a Byzantine Greek historian, chronicler and theologian who lived in Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul, Turkey). Under Emperor Alexios I Komnenos he held th ...
, Constantine was brave, skilled and very handsome, but of lowly origin. The family's surname is commonly held to have derived from the Greek word for 'angel', but such an origin is rarely attested in Byzantine times. Another theory suggests that their name instead derives from A
Amida_in_Upper_Mesopotamia.html" ;"title="Amida_(Mesopotamia).html" ;"title="gel, a district near Amida (Mesopotamia)">Amida in Upper Mesopotamia">Amida_(Mesopotamia).html" ;"title="gel, a district near Amida (Mesopotamia)">Amida in Upper Mesopotamia. The historian Suzanne Wittek-de Jongh suggested that Constantine was the son of a certain ''patrikios'' Manuel Angelos, whose possessions near Serres were confirmed by a chrysobull of Emperor Nikephoros III (), but this is considered unlikely by other scholars.
Despite his lowly origin, Constantine managed to win the heart of
Theodora Komnene (born 1097), the fourth daughter of Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos ( grc-gre, Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, 1057 – 15 August 1118; Latinized Alexius I Comnenus) was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during ...
() and
Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina or Ducaena ( el, , ''Eirēnē Doukaina''; – 19 February 1138) was a Byzantine Greek empress by marriage to the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos. She was the mother of Emperor John II Komnenos and the historian Anna Komn ...
. Their marriage took place in , after the death of Alexios I. As an Imperial in-law, Constantine received the title of ''
sebastohypertatos
( gr, σεβαστοϋπέρτατος, , the supreme venerable one) was a Byzantine honorific title. The title formed the basis for a further compound title, ( gr, πρωτοσεβαστοϋπέρτατος, , the first supreme venerable one) ...
'', but Theodora's mother, Empress-dowager Irene, appears to have disapproved of the match. Constantine and Theodora had seven children, three sons and four daughters. Through his sons, Constantine was the progenitor of the Angelos dynasty, which produced three Byzantine emperors in 1185–1204, as well as the Komnenos Doukas dynasty that ruled over
Epirus
sq, Epiri rup, Epiru
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = Historical region
, image_map = Epirus antiquus tabula.jpg
, map_alt =
, map_caption = Map of ancient Epirus by Heinri ...
and
Thessalonica
Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...
in the 13th–14th centuries.
Imperial Angelos dynasty
Constantine's third son
Andronikos Doukas Angelos
Andronikos Doukas Angelos ( el, Ἀνδρόνικος Δούκας Ἄγγελος, – before 1185) was a Byzantine aristocrat related to the ruling Komnenos dynasty. During the reign of his cousin, Manuel I Komnenos, he served without ...
, was the progenitor of the imperial Angelos dynasty. In 1185, Andronikos' son
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 ...
deposed
Andronikos I Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos ( gr, Ἀνδρόνικος Κομνηνός; – 12 September 1185), Latinized as Andronicus I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1183 to 1185. He was the son of Isaac Komnenos and the grandson of the emperor Al ...
and was proclaimed Byzantine Emperor.
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 ...
, a daughter of Isaac II Angelos, married
Philip of Swabia,
King of the Germans. Their daughters married into a number of western European royal and princely families. Many of the extant aristocratic families of Europe are, therefore, descendants of the Angeloi. Isaac was deposed by his brother
Alexios III Angelos, who was in turn overthrown by
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 ...
with the aid of the
Fourth Crusade. Under the corrupt and dissolute reign of the Angelos dynasty, the Byzantine empire deteriorated and soon fell prey to Latin crusaders and Venetians in the Fourth Crusade.
Komnenodoukai of Epirus and Thessalonica
The Angelos line was continued by the descendants of Constantine's eldest son, the ''sebastokrator''
John Doukas. Like John, most of his descendants eschewed the surname "Angelos" and used either "Doukas" or "Komnenos Doukas", after which they are known in modern scholarship as the Komnenodoukai (Κομνηνοδούκαι).
After the fall of Constantinople and the establishment of 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 Byzant ...
in 1204, John Doukas' illegitimate son,
Michael I Komnenos Doukas, founded the
Despotate of Epirus, choosing the city of
Arta as its capital. In 1224, Michael's half-brother
Theodore
Theodore may refer to:
Places
* Theodore, Alabama, United States
* Theodore, Australian Capital Territory
* Theodore, Queensland, a town in the Shire of Banana, Australia
* Theodore, Saskatchewan, Canada
* Theodore Reservoir, a lake in Sask ...
captured the
Kingdom of Thessalonica
The Kingdom of Thessalonica () was a short-lived Crusader State founded after the Fourth Crusade over conquered Byzantine lands in Macedonia and Thessaly.
History
Background
After the fall of Constantinople to the crusaders in 1204, Bonif ...
from the crusaders and proclaimed himself as the legitimate Byzantine emperor (''
basileus'') in Thessalonica. However, Theodore was defeated and captured by
John II Asen in the
Battle of Klokotnitsa
The Battle of Klokotnitsa ( bg, Битката при Клокотница, ''Bitkata pri Klokotnitsa'') occurred on 9 March 1230 near the village of Klokotnitsa (today in Haskovo Province, Bulgaria) between Second Bulgarian Empire and Emp ...
in 1230, and the
Empire of Thessalonica
The Empire of Thessalonica is a historiographic term used by some modern scholarse.g. ,, , . to refer to the short-lived Byzantine Greek state centred on the city of Thessalonica between 1224 and 1246 (''sensu stricto'' until 1242) and ruled by t ...
quickly declined. During Theodore's captivity, his brother
Manuel ruled over Thessalonica, succeeded by Theodore's sons
John
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Secon ...
and
Demetrios
Demetrius is the Latinized form of the Ancient Greek male given name ''Dēmḗtrios'' (), meaning “Demetris” - "devoted to goddess Demeter".
Alternate forms include Demetrios, Dimitrios, Dimitris, Dmytro, Dimitri, Dimitrie, Dimitar, Dumi ...
. Eventually, the city was lost to the
Nicaean emperor
The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...
John III Doukas Vatatzes
John III Doukas Vatatzes, Latinized as Ducas Vatatzes ( el, Ιωάννης Δούκας Βατάτζης, ''Iōannēs Doukas Vatatzēs'', c. 1192 – 3 November 1254), was Emperor of Nicaea from 1221 to 1254. He was succeeded by his son, known ...
in 1246, marking the end of the rule of the Angeloi in Thessalonica.
In 1230, Theodore's nephew
Michael II, son of Michael I, established himself as ruler of Epirus and
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
. After the death of Michael II in 1271, Epirus was ruled by his legitimate son
Nikephoros I, while Thessaly was given to his illegitimate son
John I Doukas
John I Doukas ( gr, Ἰωάννης Δούκας, Iōánnēs Doúkas), Latinized as Ducas, was an illegitimate son of Michael II Komnenos Doukas, Despot of Epirus in –1268. After his father's death, he became ruler of Thessaly from to his own ...
. In 1318,
Nicholas Orsini murdered Nikephoros' son
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the A ...
, ending the rule of the family in Epirus. In Thessaly, John I Doukas was succeeded by his son
Constantine
Constantine most often refers to:
* Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I
*Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria
Constantine may also refer to:
People
* Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...
, followed by
John II John II may refer to:
People
* John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg (1455–1499)
* John II Casimir Vasa of Poland (1609–1672)
* John II Comyn, Lord of Badenoch (died 1302)
* John II Doukas of Thessaly (1303–1318)
* John II Komnenos (1087–1 ...
, who ruled from 1302/03 until his death in 1318. In the same year, the south of Thessaly was seized by the
Catalan Grand Company and annexed to the
Duchy of Athens
The Duchy of Athens (Greek: Δουκᾶτον Ἀθηνῶν, ''Doukaton Athinon''; Catalan: ''Ducat d'Atenes'') was one of the Crusader states set up in Greece after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire during the Fourth Crusade as part of th ...
, while the north passed to a series of autonomous magnates.
Having re-established Byzantine control over Epirou and Thessaly in 1340, emperor
Andronikos III Palaiologos appointed the ''
pinkernes ''Pinkernes'' ( grc, πιγκέρνης, pinkernēs), sometimes also ''epinkernes'' (, ''epinkernēs''), was a high Byzantine court position.
The term derives from the Greek verb (''epikeránnymi'', "to mix ine), and was used to denote the cup- ...
'' (cup-bearer)
John Angelos, a nephew of ''
megas domestikos
The title of grand domestic ( grc-gre, μέγας δομέστικος, ''mégas doméstikos'') was given in the 11th–15th centuries to the commander-in-chief of the Byzantine army, directly below the Byzantine Emperor. It evolved from the earl ...
''
John Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene ( el, , ''Iōánnēs Ángelos Palaiológos Kantakouzēnós''; la, Johannes Cantacuzenus; – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under And ...
, to the governorship of Epirus. John extended his rule to Thessaly in 1342, but died from the plague in 1348. Epirus and Thessaly were conquered by the Serbian ruler
Stefan Dušan
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan ( sr-Cyrl, Стефан Урош IV Душан, ), known as Dušan the Mighty ( sr, / ; circa 1308 – 20 December 1355), was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Tsar (or Emperor) and autocrat of the Serbs, Gre ...
soon afterwards.
Descendants of John Angelos continued to govern Thessaly under
Simeon Uroš
Simeon Uroš ( sr-cyr, Симеон Урош, gr, Συμεών Ούρεσης; 1326–1370), nicknamed Siniša (Синиша), was a self-proclaimed Emperor of Serbs and Greeks, from 1356 to 1370. He was son of Serbian King Stephen Uroš III a ...
and
John Uroš
Jovan Uroš Nemanjić ( sr, Јован Урош Немањић / ''Jovan Uroš Nemanjić'') or John Ouresis Doukas Palaiologos or Joasaph of Meteora ( gr, Ιωάννης Ούρεσης Δούκας Παλαιολόγος, ''Iōannēs Ouresēs Doú ...
. John Uroš, the last
Nemanjić, abdicated in favour of
Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos ( el, ) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman who ruled Thessaly from 1373 until c. 1390 (from c. 1382 as a Byzantine vassal) with the title of ''Caesar''.
Biography
The Angeloi of Thessaly rose to prominence during the r ...
, the ''
kaisar'' of
Thessaly
Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...
. Alexios' brother
Manuel Angelos Philanthropenos Manuel Angelos Philanthropenos ( el, ) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman who ruled Thessaly from c. 1390 until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1393, as a Byzantine vassal with the title of ''Caesar''.
Biography
Manuel was either the son or t ...
was the last Byzantine Greek ruler of Thessaly.
After the
Ottoman conquest of Thessaly in 1394, the Angeloi Philanthropenoi took refuge in
Serbia
Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...
. A grandson of either Alexios or Manuel,
Mihailo Anđelović
Mihailo ( sr-cyr, Михаило) or Mihajlo () is a Serbian masculine given name, a variant of the Hebrew name '' Michael''. Common as a given name among Serbs, it is an uncommon surname. It may refer to:
* Mihailo Vojislavljević ( fl. 1050 ...
, served as an official at the court of
Đurađ
Đurađ ( sr-Cyrl, Ђурађ, ; ) is a Serbian masculine given name, derived from the Greek ''Georgios''. It is also transliterated as Djuradj.
It is, along with the variant '' Đorđe'', the equivalent of the English '' George''. It was widespr ...
and
Lazar Branković
Lazar Branković ( sr-cyr, Лазар Бранковић; c. 1421 – 20 February 1458) was a Serbian despot, prince of Rascia from 1456 to 1458. He was the third son of Đurađ Branković and his wife Eirene Kantakouzene. He was succeeded by hi ...
. Mihailo's brother
Mahmud
Mahmud is a transliteration of the male Arabic given name (), common in most parts of the Islamic world. It comes from the Arabic triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D, meaning ''praise'', along with ''Muhammad''.
Siam Mahmud
*Mahmood (singer) (born 1 ...
, captured in his infancy by Ottoman soldiers, was brought to
Adrianople, where he converted to Islam. He later rose to the highest ranks of the Ottoman Empire, becoming
beylerbey of
Rumelia in 1451 and
Grand Vizier in 1455. Thus, in the negotiations between Serb despot Lazar Branković and
Mehmed II in 1457, the two sides were represented by the brothers Mihailo and Mahmud Anđelović.
Family tree for the Imperial House of Angelos
See also
*
History of the Byzantine Empire
This history of the Byzantine Empire covers the history of the Eastern Roman Empire from late antiquity until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD. Several events from the 4th to 6th centuries mark the transitional period during which the Roman ...
*
Byzantine Empire under the Angelos dynasty
References
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Angelid dynasty