Manuel Komnenos Raoul ( el, Μανουήλ Κομνηνός Ῥαούλ; ) was a

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

aristocrat and official. A member of the aristocratic Raoul/Rales family, Manuel was a son of the '' protovestiarios''

Alexios Raoul Alexios Raoul ( el, ; died c. 1258) was a Byzantine aristocrat and general of the Empire of Nicaea. He attained the rank of '' protovestiarios'' during the reign of Emperor John III Vatatzes (r. 1221–1254). Biography Alexios Raoul was the scio ...

. His father was a senior military leader under the

Nicaean emperor The Empire of Nicaea or the Nicene Empire is the conventional historiographic name for the largest of the three Byzantine Greek''A Short history of Greece from early times to 1964'' by W. A. Heurtley, H. C. Darby, C. W. Crawley, C. M. Woodhouse ...

John III Vatatzes John III Doukas Vatatzes, Latinized as Ducas Vatatzes ( el, Ιωάννης Δούκας Βατάτζης, ''Iōannēs Doukas Vatatzēs'', c. 1192 – 3 November 1254), was Emperor of Nicaea from 1221 to 1254. He was succeeded by his son, known ...

(r. 1222–1254), but fell out of favour with his successor,

Theodore II Laskaris Theodore II Doukas Laskaris or Ducas Lascaris ( gr, Θεόδωρος Δούκας Λάσκαρις, Theodōros Doukas Laskaris; 1221/1222 – 16 August 1258) was Emperor of Nicaea from 1254 to 1258. He was the only child of Emperor John I ...

(r. 1254–1258), who distrusted the aristocracy and promoted men of humble origin like

George Mouzalon George Mouzalon ( el, Γεώργιος Μουζάλων, Geōrgios Mouzalōn; – 25 August 1258) was a high official of the Empire of Nicaea under Theodore II Laskaris (). Of humble origin, he became Theodore's companion in childhood and was ...

, who became his chief minister. Theodore II's marrying one of Manuel's sisters to George's brother, Andronikos Mouzalon, was regarded as an insult, and the family became opponents of the emperor, who at some point had all of Alexios' sons thrown into prison. As a result, the Raoul family actively supported the murder of the Mouzalon brothers in 1258, following Theodore II's death, and the subsequent usurpation of

Michael VIII Palaiologos Michael VIII Palaiologos or Palaeologus ( el, Μιχαὴλ Δούκας Ἄγγελος Κομνηνὸς Παλαιολόγος, Mikhaēl Doukas Angelos Komnēnos Palaiologos; 1224 – 11 December 1282) reigned as the co-emperor of the Empire ...

(r. 1259–1282). As a reward, Michael VIII appointed Alexios' eldest son, John Raoul Petraliphas, as ''protovestiarios'', while Manuel was made '' pinkernes''. In 1276, Manuel was appointed governor in

Thessaly Thessaly ( el, Θεσσαλία, translit=Thessalía, ; ancient Thessalian: , ) is a traditional geographic and modern administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, The ...

. Shortly after, however, Manuel and his brother Isaac became opposed to the emperor's efforts to secure the Union of the Churches and supported the anti-unionist Patriarch

Arsenios Autoreianos Arsenios Autoreianos (Latinized as Arsenius Autorianus) ( el, Ἀρσένιος Ἀυτωρειανός), ( 30 September 1273), List of Constantinople patriarchs, Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, lived about the middle of the 13th century. ...

. As a result, Manuel was arrested in 1279, and in 1280 he was blinded and exiled to Kenchreai on the

Skamandros River Karamenderes is a river located entirely within the Çanakkale Province of Turkey. It flows west from Mount Ida and empties into the Aegean Sea near the Troy Historical National Park. According to the ''Iliad'', the battles of the Trojan War were ...

References

Sources

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raoul, Manuel Komnenos 13th-century Byzantine people Byzantine governors Byzantine prisoners and detainees People of the Empire of Nicaea Manuel Komnenos Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown Prisoners and detainees of the Byzantine Empire