Constantine Angelos Doukas, Latinized as Angelus Ducas ( gr, Κωνσταντίνος Ἂγγελος Δούκας, Kōnstantinos Angelos Doukas), was a usurper who attempted to overthrow his cousin, the

Byzantine emperor This is a list of the Byzantine emperors from the foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD, which marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, to its fall to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as l ...

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 ...

, in 1192/93.

Career

Born , Constantine Angelos Doukas was a son of Isaac Angelos Doukas, and hence a grandson of

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 northe ...

and first cousin of the

(). The name or origin of his mother is unknown. In 1192/93, Isaac II named him fleet commander ('' doux tou stolou'') and governor of Philippopolis, an area then suffering from the ongoing

Vlach–Bulgarian rebellion __NOTOC__ The Uprising of Asen and Peter ( bg, Въстание на Асен и Петър) was a revolt of Bulgarians and Vlachs living in Moesia and the Balkan Mountains, then the theme of Paristrion of the Byzantine Empire, caused by a tax ...

. The contemporary historian

Niketas Choniates Niketas or Nicetas Choniates ( el, Νικήτας Χωνιάτης; c. 1155 – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (Ἀκομινάτος), was a Byzantine Greek government official and historian – like his brother Michael Akominatos, wh ...

writes favourably of Constantine, noting that he was able to train his troops well and to command loyalty from them, and that although naturally impetuous "in the manner of lion cubs", he was also willing to listen and be restrained by the advice of the more experienced professionals placed under his command. Constantine was able to check the rebels' raids against the region of Philippopolis and Berrhoe, so that the rebels "cowered in fear of him and were more panic-stricken at the sight of him than of the emperor". His success on the battlefield emboldened Constantine, however, and he started aiming to usurp the throne. He began sounding out his subordinate commanders and other men of prominent birth from the wider region, and had himself proclaimed emperor. Immediately he set out with his supporters for

Adrianople Edirne (, ), formerly known as Adrianople or Hadrianopolis (Greek: Άδριανούπολις), is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, ...

, seat of his brother-in-law, the

Grand Domestic 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 ear ...

of the West,

Basil Vatatzes Basil Vatatzes ( gr, Βασίλειος Βατάτζης, Vasileios Vatatzēs, ) was a Byzantine military commander, and likely the father of the Nicaean emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes. Biography Origin and early life Vatatzes was of low birth, ...

. Evidently trusting that Vatatzes would join him, Constantine sent ahead letters informing his brother-in-law of his actions. Vatatzes, however, rejected Constantine's actions as folly and refused to join him. The usurper reached , at the border between the provinces of Philippopolis and Adrianople, but there his own supporters seized him and took him prisoner. Constantine's followers handed him over to the emperor, claiming that they had been pressured into supporting his usurpation against their will. Isaac II harboured his doubts about their sincerity, but chose to overlook their part in the failed uprising. In the end, only Constantine was punished, by being blinded. According to Choniates, this deed greatly encouraged the Bulgarian rebels, who had feared Constantine's ability and much preferred the ineffective Isaac II to remain on the throne, if possible, for ever. Constantine's subsequent fate, or whether he was married and had any offspring, is unknown.

References

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Doukas, Constantine Angelos 1170s births 12th-century Byzantine people

Byzantine generals Byzantine governors Byzantine usurpers Year of death unknown Byzantine prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of the Byzantine Empire Byzantine people of the Byzantine–Bulgarian Wars