Wikipedia

John I Doukas of Thessaly

(Redirected fromJohn I Doukas)

John I Doukas(Greek:Ἰωάννης Δούκας,romanized:Iōánnēs Doúkas),LatinizedasDucas,was anillegitimate sonofMichael II Komnenos Doukas,Despot of Epirusinc. 1230–1268. After his father's death, he became ruler ofThessalyfromc. 1268to his own death in 1289. From his father's family he is also inaccurately known asJohnAngelos.

John I Doukas
Sebastokratōr
Ruler ofThessaly
Reign1268–1289
PredecessorMichael II(asDespot of Epirus)
SuccessorConstantineandTheodore
Died1289
IssueMichael
Constantine
Theodore
Helena Komnene
three unnamed daughters
DynastyKomnenos Doukas
FatherMichael II
MotherTheodora of Arta

Married to aThessalian Vlachwoman, John first appears leading Vlach troops alongside his father in the lead-up to theBattle of Pelagoniain 1259. His defection to the camp of EmperorMichael VIII Palaiologoswas crucial in the battle, which ended with the crushing defeat of the Epirotes'Latinallies and opened the way for the recovery ofConstantinopleand the re-establishment of theByzantine Empireunder Palaiologos in 1261. John quickly returned to the side of his father and brother,Nikephoros,and assisted them in recoveringEpirusandThessaly.After Michael II died, John Doukas became ruler of Thessaly with his seat atNeopatras,whence Western chroniclers often erroneously called him "Duke of Neopatras".

Although Michael VIII Palaiologos engaged him in a marriage alliance and awarded him with the high title ofsebastokratōr,John remained the foremost of Palaiologos' Greek opponents throughout the latter's reign. A staunch opponent of theUnion of the Churchespromoted by Palaiologos for political reasons, he provided refuge to several political opponents of the emperor, and even convokedsynodsthatanathematizedPalaiologos and the supporters of the Union. He resisted several attempts by Byzantine armies to conquer Thessaly, and allied himself with Palaiologos' Latin enemies, including theDuchy of AthensandCharles of Anjou.He died in 1289, leaving the rule of Thessaly to his sons,ConstantineandTheodore.

Origin and early life

edit

John Doukas was anillegitimate(and apparently the eldest) son ofMichael II Komnenos Doukas,theDespot of Epirus,possibly by his one known mistress, an unnamed lady of the Gangrenos family.[1][2]His full family name wasDoukasKomnenosAngelos,but he is almost universally referred to in the sources simply by the first surname of "Doukas". This also led to a confusion among hisLatincontemporaries, who mistook it for his title, and referred to him as the "Duke ofNeopatras".[3][a]His actual title, which he received from theByzantine emperorMichael VIII Palaiologosinc. 1272,wassebastokratōr.[2][4]

Nothing is known of his early life before 1259,[4]when he is mentioned for his participation in the events that led up to theBattle of Pelagonia,where he led a contingent of Vlachs.[5]By that time, he was already married to a daughter of theThessalian Vlachchieftain Taronas. She is only known by themonastic nameshe assumed after his death, Hypomone ( "Patience" ).[4]This and his later association with the region ofThessalyhas led to suggestions by modern scholars that he ruled Thessaly in his father's name, but there is no concrete evidence to back this up. It is equally unclear whether the Vlach troops he commanded were part of the official Epirote army, or a privately raised force.[6]John played a crucial role in the Battle of Pelagonia, where his desertion from the coalition composed by his father, PrinceWilliam II VillehardouinofAchaea,and KingManfred of Sicily,contributed to the defeat of the allies by the forces of theNicaean EmpireunderJohn Palaiologos,Michael VIII's brother. The reason for the defection is unclear, as the various sources offer conflicting accounts. BothGeorge PachymeresandMarino Sanudo Torcelloreport that during the march, John became incensed at some Achaean knights, who openly coveted his beautiful wife. Matters were made worse when William of Villehardouin not only did not punish his men, but also insulted John Doukas for his illegitimate birth, prompting the latter to defect before the battle, after receiving assurances that he would not have to fight his own father; thereupon the Epirotes too left, and the Latin troops were overwhelmed by the Nicaeans.[7][8]

Following the battle, John accompanied the Nicaeans in their rapid occupation of the Epirote domains, but he quickly became alienated from them. He brought his own followers to the coastal town ofVonitsa,from where he contacted his father, who had taken refuge in theIonian Islands.Michael accepted his son's apologies, and soon joined him on the mainland. Nicaean control over Epirus had not yet been consolidated, and father and son were quickly able to recapture the Epirote capital ofArtaand then relieve the besieged city ofIoannina.Within a short time, the Nicaeans had been evicted from Epirus.[9]John's half-brotherNikephoroswas then sent in spring 1260 to recover Thessaly, which he mostly accomplished after defeating and capturing the Nicaean generalAlexios Strategopoulos.[6]Part of eastern Thessaly, however, around the towns ofDemetrias,Velestino,Halmyros,andPharsalos,remained in Nicaean hands for several years thereafter.[6][10]Again, despite his later association with Thessaly, John is not mentioned as playing a role in these events or in the administration of the Thessalian territories in the early 1260s, which seem rather to have been under the control of Nikephoros.[11]

The Battle of Pelagonia has frequently been described as a decisive event, but this is only partly true. Michael VIII Palaiologos' gains were rapidly reversed and his rivals quickly regained their strength, with both the Epirotes and Manfred of Sicily reclaiming most of the territories they had lost. Nevertheless, the effects of the battle were not wholly undone: Palaiologos' victory, gained with the assistance of John Doukas, not only prevented the Epirote–Latin league of 1259 from takingThessalonicaand much of Nicaea's European domains, but also provided a valuable breathing space in the lead-up to the eventual recovery ofConstantinoplein 1261, which led to the re-establishment of theByzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty.[12]

Ruler of Thessaly

edit
Map of the Greek and Latin states in southern Greecec. 1278.

When Michael II diedc. 1268,his realm was divided, with Nikephoros receiving the metropolitan territories of Epirus proper and John taking over the Epirote domains in Thessaly and Central Greece. According to Gregoras, his realm extended fromMount Olympusin the north toMount Parnassusin the south, with theAchelous Riverserving as his border with Epirus proper; his capital was at Neopatras.[4][13]Michael VIII seized the opportunity of Michael's death for a rapprochement with the two brothers. He gave Nikephoros his nieceAnnain marriage, and arranged a marriage between his nephewAndronikos Tarchaneiotesand a daughter of John, who in addition received the high title ofsebastokratōr.[14]

Nevertheless, John fiercely guarded his independence, and was prepared to ally himself with Latin powers hostile to Palaiologos, namelyCharles of Anjouand theDuchy of Athens.[15][16]He soon emerged as "the more dangerous and the more actively hostile" of the minor Greek rulers against Michael VIII. AsDonald Nicolwrites, he "was a man of great resource and ambition, and was clearly in touch with the Emperor's opponents in Constantinople. His stronghold of Neopatras was uncomfortably close to the Latin-occupied parts of Greece, particularly the Duchy of Athens and Thebes with which he was in alliance; and it was easier for troublemakers and refugees from [Constantinople] to make their escape to Thessaly than to Epirus".[17][15]This is well illustrated by the affair of John's son-in-law, Andronikos Tarchaneiotes: angered at the Emperor's preference for his younger brother Michael, he provoked aTatarraid intoThrace,and in the confusion sought refuge at John's court.[14][17]The first documented contacts between John and Michael VIII's arch-enemy, Charles of Anjou, also date to the same time (April 1273). A commercial treaty was concluded, allowing the export ofsilkfrom Thessaly toApuliaand the import of horses from Italy, but it is clear that these contacts were also the first steps for John joining the coalition being prepared by Charles against Constantinople and its ruler.[18]

Michael VIII sought to counter the threat of a new crusade, led by Charles of Anjou and aiming at the restoration of theLatin Empire,by negotiating a union of theRoman CatholicandEastern Orthodoxchurches. The Union of the Churches was concluded at theCouncil of Lyonsin 1274, at which the Emperor's representatives were forced to recognizePapal primacy.This decision aroused passionate opposition from the Byzantine people, the Orthodox clergy, and even within the imperial family itself. Michael VIII's sisterEulogia,and her daughter Anna, wife of John's half-brother Nikephoros, were among the chief leaders of the anti-Unionists. Nikephoros, John, and even theEmperor of Trebizond,John II Megas Komnenos,soon joined the anti-Unionist cause and gave support to the anti-Unionists fleeing Constantinople.[19][20]

Michael VIII askedPope Gregory XtoexcommunicateJohn Doukas, but the Pope, who was probably uncertain of the Byzantine emperor's true loyalties, refused. Michael VIII would continue to press Gregory's successors,Innocent VandNicholas III,for the same, as well as for a dissolution of John's alliance with Charles, but without success.[21][22]In 1275, Michael VIII sent an army under his brother John Palaiologos andAlexios Kaballariosagainst John. The Byzantines surprised John at Neopatras and laid siege to his fortress, before he could react. John saved himself by sneaking through enemy lines disguised as a lowly groom seeking a stray horse, and made his way to theDuke of Athens,John I de la Roche.Having secured 300 horsemen from him, he returned to Neopatras andscatteredthe Byzantine army.[23][24]In exchange for this aid, however, John gave his daughter to de la Roche's son,William de la Roche,with the towns ofZetounion,Gardiki,Gravia,andSiderokastronas her dowry.[24]In April 1277,papal legatesarrived at Constantinople and forced Michael VIII, his son and heirAndronikos,and the PatriarchJohn XI Bekkos,to publicly reaffirm their allegiance to the Union at a synod in thePalace of Blachernae.John once more rejected Michael VIII's overtures for an acceptance of the Union, and on 1 May 1277, convoked a synod of his own at Neopatras whichanathematizedthe Emperor, the Patriarch, and the Pope as heretics. In response, a synod was convoked at theHagia Sophiaon 16 July where both Nikephoros and John were anathematized in return. John convoked another synod at Neopatras in December 1277, where an anti-Unionist council of eightbishops,a fewabbots,and one hundredmonks,again anathematized Emperor, Patriarch and Pope. Only two bishops, those ofTrikalaandNeopatras,refused, and were punished.[25][26]

Michael VIII then launched another invasion, led by thepinkernēsManuel Raoul,theprōtostratōrAndronikos Palaiologos, and others. Instead of confronting thesebastokratōr,however, they fraternized with him and gave every sign of their own opposition to the Union. Michael VIII relieved and imprisoned them and appointed new commanders, themegas stratopedarchēsJohn Synadenosand themegas konostaulosMichael Kaballarios.The latter were lured by John Doukas into an ambush and suffered a crushing defeat atPharsalos.[27][28]

Michael VIII died on 11 December 1282, while preparing to invade Thessaly again.[29]With the threat of an Angevin invasion having subsided following theSicilian Vespers,his successor,Andronikos II Palaiologos(r. 1282–1328), was quick to repudiated the hated Union of the Churches. As a result, ecclesiastical ties between Thessaly, Epirus, and Constantinople were restored.[30]Nikephoros of Epirus, a weak ruler dominated by his wife, and uneasy with his half-brother's ambitions—there are hints in the sources that John coveted Epirus, and that he had launched an attack on Ioannina—now drifted into the Byzantine orbit. Anna visited her cousin Andronikos II at Constantinople, and a plot was hatched against John: in 1283 or 1284 Nikephoros and Anna invited John's son Michael to Epirus to marry their daughter, and become the heir to their state. When Michael took the bait, he was arrested and shipped off to Constantinople, where he died in prison. Andronikos launched an invasion of Thessaly, but his troops were annihilated bymalaria.In the next year (1284 or 1285), John took his revenge for his half-brother's treason by invading Epirus and raiding the environs of Arta. Following this punitive expedition, relations between Thessaly and Epirus settled down to an uneasy peace.[31]

For many years, modern historians, following the 19th-century scholarKarl Hopf,erroneously held that John Doukas died in 1296. It has since been established that he died in or shortly before March 1289.[31][32]He was buried in the monastery ofPorta Panagia,which he had founded in 1283. His tomb lies in the south side of thekatholikon,and afrescoabove his tomb shows him "as a monk being presented by an angel to the enthroned Virgin".[33][34]After his death, his widow was compelled to recognize the suzerainty of Andronikos II Palaiologos to safeguard the position of her underage sonsConstantineandTheodore.Just as when John himself had done so in the past, however, this suzerainty was purely nominal.[16][31]

Family

edit

By his wife, who is only known by hermonastic nameHypomone ( "Patience" ), John had several children, including:[2][4]

Notes

edit
  1. ^This would give rise to an actual "Duchy of Neopatras",under Latin rule, in 1319.

References

edit
  1. ^Polemis 1968,pp. 94, 97.
  2. ^abcPLP,208. ῎Αγγελος, Ἰωάννης Ι. Δούκας Κομνηνός.
  3. ^Polemis 1968,p. 97, esp. note 2.
  4. ^abcdePolemis 1968,p. 97.
  5. ^Geanakoplos 1953,p. 123.
  6. ^abcFine 1994,p. 164.
  7. ^Geanakoplos 1953,pp. 127–132.
  8. ^Fine 1994,pp. 161–163.
  9. ^Fine 1994,p. 163.
  10. ^Nicol 1962,pp. 5–6.
  11. ^Fine 1994,pp. 164, 169.
  12. ^Fine 1994,pp. 163–165.
  13. ^Fine 1994,p. 169.
  14. ^abGeanakoplos 1959,p. 231.
  15. ^abODB,"Thessaly" (T. E. Gregory), pp. 2073–2074.
  16. ^abKoder & Hild 1976,p. 72.
  17. ^abNicol 1962,p. 5.
  18. ^Geanakoplos 1959,pp. 231–232.
  19. ^Nicol 1962,pp. 2–4.
  20. ^Geanakoplos 1959,pp. 264–275.
  21. ^Geanakoplos 1959,pp. 282, 290, 323–324.
  22. ^Nicol 1962,pp. 4–5.
  23. ^Geanakoplos 1959,p. 283.
  24. ^abFine 1994,p. 188.
  25. ^Nicol 1962,pp. 4, 8.
  26. ^Geanakoplos 1959,pp. 275, 306–309.
  27. ^Nicol 1962,pp. 6–7.
  28. ^Geanakoplos 1959,p. 297.
  29. ^Geanakoplos 1959,pp. 369–370.
  30. ^Fine 1994,p. 194.
  31. ^abcFine 1994,p. 235.
  32. ^Polemis 1968,p. 97, esp. note 4.
  33. ^Constantinides 1992,p. 30.
  34. ^Koder & Hild 1976,p. 246.

Sources

edit
  • Constantinides, Efthalia C. (1992).The Wall Paintings of the Panagia Olympiotissa at Elasson in Northern Thessaly, Volume 1.Athens: Canadian Archaeological Institute at Athens.
  • Fine, John V. A. Jr.(1994) [1987].The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest.Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.ISBN0-472-08260-4.
  • Geanakoplos, Deno John (1953). "Greco-Latin Relations on the Eve of the Byzantine Restoration: The Battle of Pelagonia–1259".Dumbarton Oaks Papers.7:99–141.doi:10.2307/1291057.JSTOR1291057.
  • Geanakoplos, Deno John(1959).Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations.Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.OCLC1011763434.
  • Kazhdan, Alexander,ed. (1991).The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium.Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-504652-8.
  • Koder, Johannes; Hild, Friedrich (1976).Tabula Imperii Byzantini, Band 1: Hellas und Thessalia(in German). Vienna:Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.ISBN978-3-7001-0182-6.
  • Nicol, D. M.(1962). "The Greeks and the Union of the Churches. The Report of Ogerius, Protonotarius of Michael VIII Palaiologos, in 1280".Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, Section C.63:1–16.JSTOR25505111.
  • Polemis, Demetrios I. (1968).The Doukai: A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography.London: The Athlone Press.OCLC299868377.
  • Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Walther, Rainer; Sturm-Schnabl, Katja; Kislinger, Ewald; Leontiadis, Ioannis; Kaplaneres, Sokrates (1976–1996).Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit(in German). Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.ISBN3-7001-3003-1.

Further reading

edit
  • Ferjančić, Božidar(1974).Тесалија у XIII и XIV веку[Thessaly in the 13th and 14th Centuries] (in Serbian). Belgrade: Византолошког институт САНУ.
Preceded byasDespot of Epirus Ruler of Thessaly
1268–1289 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_I_Doukas_of_Thessaly&oldid=1171678556"