John Kantakouzenos ( el, Ἱωάννης Καντακουζηνός; died 17 September 1176) was a military commander and an early member of the

Kantakouzenos The House of Kantakouzenos ( Kantakouzenoi; el, Καντακουζηνός, pl. Καντακουζηνοί), Latinized as Cantacuzenus and anglicized as Cantacuzene, was one of the most prominent Greek noble families of the Byzantine Empire in t ...

family. He distinguished himself in the campaigns of

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός, translit=Manouíl Komnenos, translit-std=ISO; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized Comnenus, also called Porphyrogennetos (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine empero ...

() against the

Serbians The term Serbians in English is a polysemic word, with two distinctive meanings, derived from morphological differences: * Morphology 1: Serb- ian- s, derived from the noun '' Serb'' and used interchangeably to refer to ethnic Serbs, thus havi ...

Hungarians Hungarians, also known as Magyars ( ; hu, magyarok ), are a nation and ethnic group native to Hungary () and historical Hungarian lands who share a common culture, history, ancestry, and language. The Hungarian language belongs to the ...

, and

Pechenegs The Pechenegs () or Patzinaks tr, Peçenek(ler), Middle Turkic: , ro, Pecenegi, russian: Печенег(и), uk, Печеніг(и), hu, Besenyő(k), gr, Πατζινάκοι, Πετσενέγοι, Πατζινακίται, ka, პა� ...

in the years between 1150 and 1153. It was during these campaigns that he was severely wounded and lost the fingers of one hand. In 1155 he was sent to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

where he foiled the plot of the inhabitants of that city to hand the city over to the Hungarians. He was killed in the Battle of Myriokephalon, where he served as a commander of a division of the Byzantine army. He fell, having been isolated from his own troops, fighting alone against a band of

Seljuk Turk The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

soldiers of the

Sultanate of Rum fa, سلجوقیان روم () , status = , government_type = Hereditary monarchyTriarchy (1249–1254) Diarchy (1257–1262) , year_start = 1077 , year_end = 1308 , p1 = B ...

. John is known to have been present at the ecclesiastical councils convened at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

in May 1157, March 1166, and January and February 1170. In the acts of those councils he is described as holding the rank of ''

sebastos ( grc-gre, σεβαστός, sebastós, venerable one, Augustus, ; plural , ) was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of . The female form of the title was (). It was revived as an honorific in the 11th-ce ...

'', and ranks first in the class of the ''sebastoi''. John Kantakouzenos was married to Maria Komnene, the eldest daughter of Manuel I's brother, the ''

sebastokrator ''Sebastokrator'' ( grc-byz, Σεβαστοκράτωρ, Sevastokrátor, August Ruler, ; bg, севастократор, sevastokrator; sh, sebastokrator), was a senior court title in the late Byzantine Empire. It was also used by other rulers wh ...

'' Andronikos Komnenos. They had at least one son, Manuel Kantakouzenos, who campaigned against the Turks with Andronikos Angelos, but afterwards offended Emperor Manuel I, who put him in prison where he was blinded. A branch of the Byzantine Kantakouzenos may have later arrived in Romanian lands and became known as the

Cantacuzino family The House of Cantacuzino (french: Cantacuzène) is a Romanian aristocratic family of Greek origin. The family gave a number of princes to Wallachia and Moldavia, and it claimed descent from a branch of the Byzantine Kantakouzenos family, specific ...

References

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kantakouzenos, John 1176 deaths 12th-century Byzantine military personnel Byzantine generals Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Seljuk wars Byzantines killed in battle Generals of Manuel I Komnenos

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 ...

Year of birth unknown Sebastoi