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Kantakouzenos
The House of Kantakouzenos ( Kantakouzenoi; , pl. Καντακουζηνοί; feminine form Kantakouzene; ), also found in English-language literature as Cantacuzenus or Cantacuzene, was a Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek Nobility, noble family that rose to prominence in the middle and late Byzantine Empire. The family became one of the empire's wealthiest landowners and provided several prominent governors and generals, as well as two list of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperors between 1347–1357. In the mid-14th century, the Kantakouzenoi challenged the rule of the Palaiologos, Palaiologos dynasty and nearly established themselves as the new imperial family. After the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos, his underage son, John V Palaiologos, John V, inherited the throne. The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, first civil war broke out between 1341–1347 with the Anna of Savoy, Empress, the John XIV of Constantinople, Patriarch, and Alexios Apokaukos, Apokaukos on one sid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Civil War Of 1341–1347
The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347, sometimes referred to as the Second Palaiologan Civil War, was a conflict that broke out in the Byzantine Empire after the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos over the guardianship of his nine-year-old son and heir, John V Palaiologos. It pitted on the one hand Andronikos III's chief minister, John VI Kantakouzenos, and on the other a regency headed by the Empress-Dowager Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch of Constantinople John XIV Kalekas, and the Alexios Apokaukos. The war polarized Byzantine society along class lines, with the aristocracy backing Kantakouzenos and the lower and middle classes supporting the regency. To a lesser extent, the conflict acquired religious overtones; Byzantium was embroiled in the Hesychast controversy, and adherence to the mysticism, mystical doctrine of Hesychasm was often equated with support for Kantakouzenos. As the chief aide and closest friend of Emperor Andronikos III, Kantakouzenos became regent for the u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John VI Kantakouzenos
John VI Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzene (; ; – 15 June 1383) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman, statesman, and general. He served as grand domestic under Andronikos III Palaiologos and regent for John V Palaiologos before reigning as Byzantine emperor in his own right from 1347 to 1354. Deposed by his former ward, he was forced to retire to a monastery under the name () and spent the remainder of his life as a monk and historian. At age 90 or 91 at his death, he was the longest-lived of the Roman emperors. Early life Born in Constantinople, John Kantakouzenos was the son of Michael Kantakouzenos, governor of the Morea; Donald Nicol speculates that he may have been born after his father's death and raised as an only child. Through his mother Theodora Palaiologina Angelina, he was related to the then-reigning house of Palaiologos. He was also related to the imperial dynasty through his wife Irene Asanina, a second cousin of Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos. Kantak ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Matthew Kantakouzenos
Matthew Asen Kantakouzenos or Cantacuzenus (, c. 1325 – June 1383) was Byzantine Emperor from 1353 to 1357 and later Despot of the Morea from 1380 to 1381. Life Matthew Asanes Kantakouzenos was the son of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos and Irene Asanina. In return for the support he gave to his father during his struggle with John V Palaiologos, he was given part of Thrace as an appanage in 1347, and was proclaimed joint emperor in 1353, when open civil war broke out again with John V. From his Thracian domain, centred on Gratzianous, he led several wars against the Serbs. An attack, which he prepared in 1350, was frustrated by the defection of his Turkish auxiliaries. With five thousand Turks, Matthew tried to re-establish his former appanage along the Serbian-Byzantine border by attacking this region, but failed to take Serres. He was soon defeated in battle in late 1356 or early 1357 by a Serb army under Vojvoda Vojihna, who was the holder of Drama (a major fortress in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexios Apokaukos
Alexios Apokaukos (; died 11 June 1345), also Latinized as Alexius Apocaucus, was a chief minister and head of the navy in the Byzantine Empire, during the reigns of emperors Andronikos III Palaiologos (r. 1328–1341) and John V Palaiologos (r. 1341–1357). Although he owed his rise to high state offices to the patronage of John VI Kantakouzenos (r. 1347–1354), he became, together with Patriarch John XIV Kalekas, one of the leaders of the faction supporting Emperor John V in the civil war of 1341–1347 against his one-time benefactor. Apokaukos died when he was lynched by political prisoners during an inspection of a new prison. Biography Early life Alexios was of humble origin, and was born in the late 13th century somewhere in Bithynia.. He nevertheless studied under the scholar Theodore Hyrtakenos, and became a tax official. By 1320 he was director of the salt pans, from which he later advanced to the position of ''domestikos'' of the themes of the West.. He rose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cantacuzino Family
The House of Cantacuzino (; ) 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, specifically from Byzantine Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos (reigned 1347–1354). After the Russo-Ottoman War of 1710–11, a lateral branch of the family settled in Russia, receiving the princely (''Knyaz'', as opposed to '' Velikij Knyaz'') status. In 1944, Prince Ștefan Cantacuzino settled in Sweden, where his descendants form part of the unintroduced nobility of that country. Origin of the family Members of the family claim that the genealogical links between the original House of Kantakouzinos and the subsequent House of Cantacuzino have been extensively researched.Jean-Michel Cantacuzène, ''Mille ans dans les Balkans'' Éditions Christian Paris (1992) . The family first appears among the Phanariotes in the late 16th century, with Michael "Şeytanoğ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaiologos
The House of Palaiologos ( Palaiologoi; , ; female version Palaiologina; ), also found in English-language literature as Palaeologus or Palaeologue, was a Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek Nobility, noble family that rose to power and produced the last and longest-ruling dynasty in the history of the Roman Empire. Byzantine Empire under the Palaiologos dynasty, Their rule as List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperors lasted almost two hundred years, from 1259 to the fall of Constantinople in 1453. The origins of the family are unclear. Their own medieval origin stories ascribed them an ancient and prestigious origin in ancient Roman Italy, descended from some of the Roman people, Romans that had accompanied Constantine the Great to Constantinople upon its foundation in 330. It is more likely that they originated significantly later in Anatolia since the earliest known member of the family, possibly its founder, Nikephoros Palaiologos, served as a commander there in the second ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Despot (court Title)
Despot or ''despotes'' () was a senior Byzantine court title that was bestowed on the sons or sons-in-law of reigning emperors, and initially denoted the heir-apparent of the Byzantine emperor. From Byzantium it spread throughout the late medieval Balkans and was also granted in the states under Byzantine cultural influence, such as the Latin Empire, the Second Bulgarian Empire, the Serbian Empire and its successor states ( Bulgarian and ), and the Empire of Trebizond. With the political fragmentation of the period, the term gave rise to several principalities termed "despotates" which were ruled either as independent states or as appanages by princes bearing the title of despot; most notably the Despotate of Epirus, the Despotate of the Morea, the Despotate of Dobruja and the Serbian Despotate. In modern usage, the word has taken a different meaning: "despotism" is a form of government in which a single entity rules with absolute power. The semantic shift undergone by the te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Demetrios I Kantakouzenos
Demetrios I Kantakouzenos (; 1343 – 1384) was a governor of the Morea and the grandson of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. Demetrios was the son of Matthew Kantakouzenos, governor of Morea, and Irene Palaiologina. Demetrios was given the title of ''sebastokrator'' by Emperor John V Palaiologos in December 1357 and went to the Peloponnese with his father and grandfather in 1361. One of the sons of Matthew Kantakouzenos, he disputed the succession to the Despotate of the Morea with Theodore I Palaiologos, the son of John V between 1380 and 1384. Our only information for this event is a cryptic reference in the Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos' funeral oration for his brother Theodore, who remarks on the insubordination of the "son" of Matthew Kantakouzenos, who had usurped the government on the death of Manuel Kantakouzenos in 1380. The traditional view is that this son was John, not Demetrios; however, D.A. Zakythenos, a historian of the Despotate of the Peloponnese, was incl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Byzantine Civil War Of 1352–1357
The Byzantine civil war of 1352–1357 was an armed conflict resulting from and following the Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347. The war pitted Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos against John VI Kantakouzenos and his eldest son Matthew Kantakouzenos. John V emerged victorious as the sole emperor of the Byzantine Empire, but the destruction brought about by the civil war left the Byzantine state in ruins. Background In the aftermath of the 1341–1347 conflict, John VI Kantakouzenos established himself as senior emperor and tutor over the young John V Palaiologos. However, this state of affairs did not last long. Supporters of the Palaiologoi still distrusted him, while his own partisans would have preferred to depose the Palaiologoi outright and install the Kantakouzenoi as the reigning dynasty. Kantakouzenos' eldest son, Matthew, also resented being passed over in favour of John V. To placate him, a semi-autonomous appanage covering much of western Thrace was created. It ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John V Palaiologos
John V Palaiologos or Palaeologus (; 18 June 1332 – 16 February 1391) was Byzantine emperor from 1341 to 1391, with interruptions. His long reign was marked by constant civil war, the spread of the Black Death and several military defeats to the Ottoman Turks, who rose as the dominant power of the region. John V became emperor at age eight, which resulted in a civil war between his regent John VI Kantakouzenos and a rival council led by his mother Anna of Savoy, who pawned the crown jewels to Venice in order to raise funds. Kantakouzenos was recognized as emperor in 1347, coinciding with the arrival of the Black Death. Shortly after, another civil war erupted in 1352, with John V seeking help from Serbia against John VI's son Matthew and his enlisted Ottoman Turks. The Turks used the ensuing chaos to gain their first European territory on former Byzantine soil. John V assumed real power in 1354, removing John VI and his son Matthew. He attempted to gain Western s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Domestic
The title of Grand domestic () 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 earlier office of the domestic of the Schools, and came to rank as one of the senior dignities in the Byzantine state during the last centuries of its existence. From Byzantium, it was also adopted by the breakaway Empire of Trebizond, as well as by the 14th-century Serbian Empire. History and evolution The title of the grand domestic is first mentioned in the 9th century, and most likely derives from the older office of ''domestikos tōn scholōn'' ("Domestic of the Schools"), with the epithet ''megas'' added to connote the supreme authority of its holder, following contemporary practice evident in other offices as well. Both titles appear to have co-existed for a time, with the grand domestic being a more exalted variant of the plain titles of the domestics of the East and of the West, until the late 11 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
