Theodore II of Constantinople (''Eirenikos'' ; died 31 January 1216), also known as ''Theodore Kopas'' or ''Koupas'' (Κωπᾶς/Κουπᾶς),Vougiouklaki (2003)
Chapter 1
. was a high-ranking

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

official and chief minister during most of the reign of the

Byzantine emperor The foundation of Constantinople in 330 AD marks the conventional start of the Eastern Roman Empire, which Fall of Constantinople, fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453 AD. Only the emperors who were recognized as legitimate rulers and exercised s ...

Alexios III Angelos Alexios III Angelos (; 1211), Latinized as Alexius III Angelus, was Byzantine Emperor from March 1195 to 17/18 July 1203. He reigned under the name Alexios Komnenos (; Aléxios Komnēnós) associating himself with the Komnenos dynasty (from whi ...

(r. 1195–1203). After the fall of

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

to the

Fourth Crusade The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was a Latin Christian armed expedition called by Pope Innocent III. The stated intent of the expedition was to recapture the Muslim-controlled city of Jerusalem, by first defeating the powerful Egyptian Ayyubid S ...

, he fled to 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 ...

, where he became a monk and served as

Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople The ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople () is the List of ecumenical patriarchs of Constantinople, archbishop of Constantinople and (first among equals) among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox ...

in exile in 1213–1216.

Political career

An intelligent, well-spoken and educated man, he rose to power following the disgrace and exile of Alexios III's hitherto favourite official,

Constantine Mesopotamites Constantine Mesopotamites () was a senior Byzantine official, and ''de facto'' chief minister under the emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos from 1193 until his fall in summer 1197. He was also archbishop of Thessalonica from until , ...

, in autumn 1197. Theodore II succeeded Mesopotamites in his confidential and influential palace post of ''

epi tou kanikleiou The (), more formally or () was one of the most senior offices in the Byzantine imperial chancery.. Its holder was the keeper of the imperial inkstand, the ''kanikleion'', which was shaped as a little dog () and contained the scarlet ink with ...

'' (secretary of the imperial inkpot) and as chief minister. He also held the senior court rank of ''

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 ...

''. According to the account of the contemporary historian

Niketas Choniates Niketas or Nicetas Choniates (; – 1217), whose actual surname was Akominatos (), was a Byzantine Greek historian and politician. He accompanied his brother Michael Akominatos to Constantinople from their birthplace Chonae (from which came h ...

, Theodore II feared that he would share Mesopotamites' fate, and therefore exercised his power with great restraint. He was anxious not to displease the hereditary aristocracy that dominated the imperial court and that had undermined Mesopotamites' position. To that effect, he also neglected to undertake any of the reforms that the Empire desperately needed.

Exile and church career

In April 1204, Constantinople

fell A fell (from Old Norse ''fell'', ''fjall'', "mountain"Falk and Torp (2006:161).) is a high and barren landscape feature, such as a mountain or Moorland, moor-covered hill. The term is most often employed in Fennoscandia, Iceland, the Isle of M ...

to the soldiers of the

, and like many Byzantine leaders, Theodore II fled the city and sought refuge in

Asia Minor Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

. There Theodore II was

tonsure Tonsure () is the practice of cutting or shaving some or all of the hair on the scalp as a sign of religious devotion or humility. The term originates from the Latin word ' (meaning "clipping" or "shearing") and referred to a specific practice in ...

d as a monk. In 1209, the newly proclaimed

Nicaean emperor The Empire of Nicaea (), also known as the Nicene Empire, was 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 (1967), p. 55: "There in ...

Theodore I Laskaris Theodore I Laskaris or Lascaris (; 1175November 1221) was the first emperor of Nicaea—a successor state of the Byzantine Empire—from 1205 to his death. Although he was born to an obscure aristocratic family, his mother was related t ...

, named him to the post of ''

chartophylax A ''chartophylax'' (, from χάρτα, "document" and φύλαξ, "guard, keeper"), sometimes also referred to as a ''chartoularios'', was an ecclesiastical officer in charge of official documents and records in the Greek Orthodox Church in Byzant ...

'' of the

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (, ; ; , "Roman Orthodox Patriarchate, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Istanbul") is one of the fifteen to seventeen autocephalous churches that together compose the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is heade ...

, re-established in Nicaean exile. Theodore I Laskaris also awarded him with the title ''

hypatos ton philosophon The ''hypatos tōn philosophon'' () was a Byzantine title given to senior scholars in the 11th–14th centuries. The title first appears in 1047 and was probably introduced then or slightly earlier, for Michael Psellos. In the 11th and 12th cent ...

'', a prestigious title given to the head of the

faculty of philosophy A faculty is a division within a university or college comprising one subject area or a group of related subject areas, possibly also delimited by level (e.g. undergraduate). In North America, academic divisions are sometimes titled colleges, sc ...

in Constantinople.Kazhdan (1991), p. 964. On 28 September 1213, Theodore II was elected as Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople by the patriarchal

synod A synod () is a council of a Christian denomination, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. The word '' synod'' comes from the Ancient Greek () ; the term is analogous with the Latin word . Originally, ...

. His tenure was marked by his open confrontation with the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

, especially over the legitimacy of the

Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople The Latin Patriarchate of Constantinople was an office established as a result of the Fourth Crusade and its conquest of Constantinople in 1204. It was a Roman Catholic replacement for the Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantino ...

and of Catholic control over the Greek Orthodox populations ruled by

Frankokratia The Frankish Occupation (; anglicized as ), also known as the Latin Occupation () and, for the Venetian domains, Venetian Occupation (), was the period in Greek history after the Fourth Crusade (1204), when a number of primarily French ...

.Vougiouklaki (2003)
Chapter 2
. Theodore II of Constantinople died on 31 January 1216.

Notes and references

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Theodore 02 Of Constantinople 12th-century births 1216 deaths 12th-century Byzantine people 13th-century patriarchs of Constantinople 13th-century Byzantine government officials People from the Empire of Nicaea 12th-century Byzantine government officials