Maps of Power

Laiou 1972

Properties

ID 119465
System Class Bibliography
Bibliography Book
Case Study Byzantino-Serbian Border Zones in Transition (1282–1355) , Historical Region of Macedonia TIB 16

Description

Angeliki E. Laiou, Constantinople and the Latins. The Foreign Policy of Andronicus II. 1282–1328 (Cambridge, Mass. 1972).

Relations

Actors (3)
Name Class Begin End Relation Type Description
Eltimeres Person He was probably killed in 1305. He held the title of Despot. The question, who bestowed him with the title of despot, remains unresolved. He ruled almost independently in the region of Krounos (Krŭn) in Rhodope (κατὰ τὸν Κρουνὸν ἐξάρχοντα). He received this territory probably as dowry. He was the brother of the Bulgarian Tsar George Terter I. He was the son-in-law of the Bulgarian Tsar Smilets and his wife Smiltsena Palaiologina (γαμβρόν γε ὄντα Σμιλτζαίνης), since he married their daughter Maria (Marina). His nephew was Theodor Svetoslav. He was the father or the father-in-law of Ioannes Dragusinos (ΕΚΟΙΜΙΘΕΙ Ο ΔΟΥΛΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΘΕΟΥ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΣ Ο ΔΡΑΓΟΥΣΙΝΟΣ ΚΑΙ ΟΙΟΣ ΤΟΥ ΔΕΣΠΟΤΟΥ ΤΟΥ ΑΛΔΙΜΙΡΟΥ). He was apparently of Cuman origin. He acted as a loyal supporter of Smiltsena after the death of her husband. He offered her a place of refuge in the region of Krounos (Krŭn). The Bulgarian Tsar Theodor Svetoslav gained his trust after he donated the fortresses Diampolis (Jambol) and Lardaia to him. Eltimeres defeated and blinded sebastokrator Radoslav, the brother of the Bulgarian Tsar Smilets, who aspired to the Bulgarian throne with the aid of the Byzantines. He handed over Radoslav and the captured byzantine noblemen to the Bulgarian Tsar Theodor Svetoslav. He marched in 1304 with Theodor Svetoslav against the Byzantines, although his mother-in-law and a byzantine embassy tried to dissuade him with gifts and pronoia promises from joining the alliance with the Bulgarian Tsar. Another intercesssion of his mother-in-law ended with success. He switched the sides and fought with the Byzantines against the Bulgarian Tsar. The hostilities led to the reconcquest of the fortresses Diampolis and Lardaia and the capture of the territory of Krounos by the Bulgarian Tsar Theodor Svetoslav.
Kotanitzes Tornikios Person Mentioned in the sources from 1280 to 1306. He was Monk of the Peribleptos Monastery in Constantinople in 1280–1283 and monk of the Μεγίστη μονή in Prusa, 1283. He held the position of Deputy commander (ὑποστράτηγος) during his stay at the Serbian court, 1297. As an outlaw, who rebelled against the Byzantine Emperor, he joined the Serbs before 1280. In 1280 he commanded the Serbian troops and plundered the Macedonian borderland till Serres. He was captured by the Byzantines. In 1283 he fled from the Μεγίστη μονή in Prusa and sought asylum at the Serbian court. Around 1297 he together with the Serbian troops looted the border regions of Macedonia. The Serbian King Stefan Uroš II Milutin handed over Kotanitzes Tornikios to Byzantines as a consequence of the peace agreement. Kotanitzes Tornikios is attested in 1306. Probably he was still in prison. According to the historian Georgios Pachymeres the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos ordered to put the rebellious general Kassianos in prison together with Kotanitzes Tornikios. Gordana Tomović assumes that Kotanitzes Tornikios is the same person as the Despot Tornikos from the inscription of the gramatikь Nestorь in the Church of Saint George at Gorni Kozjak
Palaiologos Ioannes Person Born after 1288. Died in autumn 1325 or in winter 1326. Πανυπερσέβαστος in 1305, καῖσαρ 1326. Governor of Thessalonike in 1325/1326. Probably also governor of other towns in Macedonia. He was the nephew of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos and the cousin of Michael IX Palaiologos. His father was Palaiologos Konstantinos. His mother was Raulaina, Eirene Palaiologina. He was the husband of Eirene, kaisarissa, the daughter of Theodoros Metochites, since 1305/1306. His daughter Maria, born around 1313–1314, married in 1325–1326 the Serbian King Stefan Uroš III Dečanski. His son, whose name is unknown, held the rank of protosebastos and fell in the battle against the Bulgars near Rhosokastron in 1332. Mentioned in horismos of the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos III. from august 1321. Andronikos III. confirmed, that he is not the owner of the abandoned village Pungion. He rebelled against the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II before 1326. His aim was to govern the western parts of the empire and Macedonia independently. He plotted with his brothers-in-law, the governors of Melnik and Strumica and asked also his son-in-law Stefan Uroš III. Dečanski for help. They plundered together Macedonia and reached the river Strymon and the town Serres. Andronikos II. offered him the insignia of a καῖσαρ, in order to end the revolt. He received the embassy of Andronikos II. in Skopje. He accepted the offer and promised to keep the peace. He also wanted to go back to Thessalonike, but died soon after an illness in Skopje. Both Manuel Philes and Theodoros Metochites composed an epitaph for him.