John Gabalas () was a

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the F ...

magnate and hereditary ruler of the island of

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

in the 1240s. He lost control of the island to the

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

in 1248, and called for aid from his suzerain, the

Empire of Nicaea The Empire of Nicaea (), also known as the Nicene Empire, was the largest of the three Byzantine Greeks, Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by Walter Abel Heurtley, W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C ...

. Nicaean troops retook the island, but it was not restored to John's control, becoming a Nicaean province.

Biography

Gabalas belonged to an old aristocratic family, dating at least back to the early 10th century, when Anna Gabala married Emperor Romanos Lekapenos's son and co-ruler

Stephen Stephen or Steven is an English given name, first name. It is particularly significant to Christianity, Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is w ...

. The family was of relatively low importance thereafter, but produced a series of senior civil and ecclesiastic officials in the 11th and 12th centuries. Gabalas family rule was established on Rhodes circa 1203, when Byzantine central imperial authority had become weakened, either by John's elder brother Leo Gabalas or by an unnamed relative. John succeeded his brother after the latter's death sometime in the early 1240s. Unlike Leo, who had exercised almost independent authority and even concluded treaties of his own, John was dependent on the

. While Leo held the lofty title of "''

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...

''" and claimed to rule several Aegean islands, John is only attested as "Master of Rhodes". A letter of King

Henry I of Cyprus Henry I of Cyprus, nicknamed the Fat (; 3 May 1217 – 18 January 1253 at Nicosia) was Kingdom of Cyprus, King of Cyprus from 1218 to 1253. He was the son of Hugh I of Cyprus and Alice of Champagne. When his father Hugh I died on January 10, 1218 ...

, found in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

, appears to refer to John. It addresses him with the titles that he received from the Nicaean emperor, ''

sebastos ( , ) 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 century Byzantine Empire and came to form the basis of a new system of co ...

'' and '' megas doux'', and indicates that he was an imperial relative by marriage (''gambros''), probably as a result of a marriage to a Vatatzes lady, which may have taken place already before Leo's death. Almost nothing else is known of him and his rule except that in 1248, he was with the Nicaean army campaigning against the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzantin ...

near

Nicomedia Nicomedia (; , ''Nikomedeia''; modern İzmit) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek city located in what is now Turkey. In 286, Nicomedia became the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire (chosen by the emperor Diocletian who rul ...

, when the Genoese suddenly seized Rhodes. A Nicaean expedition, under the '' pinkernes'' John Kantakouzenos, recovered the island in a campaign that probably lasted until 1250. After 1250, Gabalas family rule over Rhodes was terminated formally as well as ''de facto'', and the island became a Nicaean province.

Coinage

The Gabalas brothers issued their own

copper Copper is a chemical element; it has symbol Cu (from Latin ) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkish-orang ...

coinage, of unknown value or denomination. They were aniconic, and contained only inscriptions, John's coins bearing his name and title: ''+ΙW �ΝΝΗCΟ ΓΑΒΑΛΑC'' ("John Gabalas") on the obverse, and ''Ο ΑVΘΕΝΤΗC ΤΗC ΡΟΔΟV'' ("The Master of Rhodes") on the reverse. As Alexis Savvides points out, the omission of the formula ''Ο ΔΟVΛΟC ΤΟV ΒΑCΙΛΕ �C' ("Servant of the

Emperor The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

"), that appeared on the coins of Leo, is remarkable, for in reality John's position vis-a-vis the Nicaean emperor was far more subordinate than that of his brother.

References

Sources

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Biography

Coinage

References

Sources

Further reading