The Komnenoi World Turns S2 EP5
By 1189, things personally seemed to be looking up for Isaakios II. His brother Alexios had returned home from his long exile in Syria, his wife Margit of Hungary was growing into a beauty, and he had a nine-year-old son and heir, Alexakos, and two healthy daughters. But beneath the surface, all was rotten. In a few short years, Isaakios II would lose everything -- his throne, his family, and even his life.
Now I would like to address the sad fate of Alexios Komnenos, the illegitimate son of Manuel I and Theodora Vatatzaina. According to Niketas, Alexios was "tall and manly and extremely intelligent... with strong arms topped by broad shoulders", and showed so much promise that Andronikos I "was more attached to [Alexios] than to his own sons", to the point of considering making Alexios his heir. But Andronikos turned on Alexios, and had him blinded and condemned him to exile. Isaakios II recalled him and gave him the status of kaisar.
By this time, Isaakios' empire was wracked by rebellion. There were the rampaging Vlakhs and Bulgars, the destruction left in the wake of the German army, and pretenders to the throne both great and small. Isaakios Komnenos, Andronikos I's nephew, escaped from prison and incited a mob, only to be captured and publically tortured. In Philadelphia, Theodoros Mankaphas declared himself emperor and minted his own coinage. But perhaps the greatest threat came from the false-Alexios.
The false-Alexios (or, as I like to call him, Fauxlexios) was a young man who appeared at the court of Kılıç Arslan. The hoary old half-crippled sultan was still alive and kicking, having long outlived several Byzantine emperors. Kılıç Arslan was so impressed by Fauxlexios' resemblance to Manuel I that he believed his claims to be Alexios II, somehow miraculously revived from the dead. Soon enough, Fauxlexios had assembled a marauding army several thousand strong and was laying waste to cities, pressing on towards Constantinople to establish his 'rightful' claim to the throne. He burnt crops and allowed his Turkish warriors to profane and destroy altars and holy icons in the churches they came across.
Isaakios II and the other notables at the imperial court of course knew that Alexios II had been dead and gone for years. The emperor's brother, Alexios Angelos, was sent to deal with this problem, but Fauxlexios came to a bad end all on his own. After a long night of drinking, Fauxlexios passed out with his sword laying beside him. A priest snuck up and slit his throat with his own sword while Fauxlexios was too piss-drunk to stop him.
When Fauxlexios' severed head was brought to Isaakios II's brother, Alexios Angelos was so struck by his resemblance to the real Alexios II that he lifted the head by its golden hair and said, "It was not altogether out of ignorance that cities followed this man."
Isaakios' paranoia made him lash out at those around him that he perceived to be a threat. He accused Alexios Komnenos kaisar of conspiring against him with Andronikos Komnenos Bryennios 1. Bryennios was blinded, but as Alexios kaisar was already blind, Isaakios had him forcibly shaved and tonsured as a monk.
In Sicily, King William II died in 1189, leaving a sucession crisis. His only son had died in the cradle, and all his brothers and uncles were dead, too. His only legitimate heiress was his aunt Constance, wife of Heinrich VI of Germany (himself the son of Barbarossa). The Sicilian nobles didn't want to be ruled by a woman or her German husband, so they illegally elected Tancredo, the illegitimate son of Constance's deceased half-brother Roger, as their king.
Tancredo was crowned king, stuffed William II's widow Joan of England into a tower, and called up the Byzantines wanting an alliance. So in 1191, Isaakios II's daughter Irene embarked for Sicily and was married to Tancredo's son and heir, Roger. She never saw her father again, but she would see her brother some years later.
About this same time, King Richard I of England arrived in Sicily on his way to the Third Crusade. As it happened, his sister Joan was the widow of the recently-deceased king William II. When Tancredo dragged his feet in handing her over, along with a substantial dowry, Richard's forces seized Messina and practically held the city and its inhabitants hostage in return for Joan. Richard was reunited not only with his sister Joan, but also his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, who'd chased him across the Mediterranean, dragging his fiancee Berengaria of Navarre with her. Tensions ran high in Messina; the chronicler Ambroise called the locals "bastard Greeks" and "some Saracen-born", and claims that they murdered pilgrims and threw their bodies into privies.
In May 1191, Richard's fleet hit a gale and several of his ships, including the one carrying Joan and Berengaria, went missing. He found the girls and also discovered that three ships had run a-ground on Cyprus. Isaakios Komnenos, the tyrant of Cyprus, had plundered the ships and taken their crews prisoner. Ambroise tells us that Isaakios was so evil that he and Saladin had made a pact to stand against Richard, and had sealed the pact by drinking one another's blood, but I kinda think he was talking out his ass here. Warfare broke out, but when Isaakios' daughter 4 was captured, Isaakios went wild with grief and agreed to surrender, on condition that he would not be bound in iron chains. So Richard had him bound in golden ones.
Richard finally married Berengaria while they were in Cyprus, and adding Isaakios' daughter to his collection of royal and noble women, he headed back out for the Holy Land. What became of him there is easy enough for you to find out on your own.
Meanwhile, in Byzantine territory, the Bulgars still needed seeing to, so Isaakios sent his cousin, Konstantinos Angelos 3, and Konstantinos' brother-in-law, Basileios Vatatzes, "a man of humble origin" despite his grand Vatatzes name, to take care of things in spring 1193. Konstantinos Angelos proved to be a fearsome general with a talent for turning Bulgar and Vlakh screamers into grade-A ground chuck.
It wasn't long before Konstantinos Angelos started getting tired of sleeping on his shield, eating crappy food, and fucking hairy barbarian women while his cousin Isaakios II lived it up in Constantinople, where "he delighted in ribaldries and lewd songs and consorted with laughter-stirring dwarfs." Konstantinos traded in his general's cloak for a purple-dyed imperial one, and prepared to march on Constantinople and proclaim himself emperor. He didn't make it as far as Andrianople before his brother-in-law Basileios Vatatzes captured him and turned him over to Isaakios II.
Konstantinos Angelos had an ending about as brutal as you could expect. Getting rid of him was the biggest favor Isaakios II could've done for the Bulgars and Vlakhs, in particular their leaders Asen (now going by Ivan) and Teodor (now going by Kalopeter). Ivan Asen and Teodor-Kalopeter facetiously prayed "that the Angeloi dynasty be given a reign of many years." Their troops continued sacking and burning and beseiging Byzantine cities left and right, held in check no longer by Konstantinos Angelos.
Isaakios II's next chess move was to send his generals Basileios Vatatzes and Alexios Gidos against Ivan Asen and Teodor-Kalopeter. Their armies smashed into one another near Arcadiopolis, and it was a sad, sad sight. Gidos bungled about and barely fled with his life. Basileios Vatatzes died fighting alongside his men 4. The battle was such a disaster that Isaakios II had to go to his father-in-law, King Béla III of Hungary, hat in hand, and ask for help. He managed to get enough money and mercenaries to raise another force and march onwards to confront the Bulgars and Vlakhs, once and for all.
1. He was the grandson of Anna Komnene, author of The Alexiad.
2. Although mentioned many times by Western chroniclers, Isaakios' daughter was never named. I can only assume she had a Greek name so unfamiliar that they resorted to calling her "la damselle de Chypre" instead.
3. Son of Isaakios II's uncle, also named Isaakios Angelos. Confused yet?
4. His Angelina wife had recently given birth to a son, Ioannes. Don't forget Ioannes Vatatzes, you'll be seeing him again, all grown up, in a couple of decades.
Now I would like to address the sad fate of Alexios Komnenos, the illegitimate son of Manuel I and Theodora Vatatzaina. According to Niketas, Alexios was "tall and manly and extremely intelligent... with strong arms topped by broad shoulders", and showed so much promise that Andronikos I "was more attached to [Alexios] than to his own sons", to the point of considering making Alexios his heir. But Andronikos turned on Alexios, and had him blinded and condemned him to exile. Isaakios II recalled him and gave him the status of kaisar.
By this time, Isaakios' empire was wracked by rebellion. There were the rampaging Vlakhs and Bulgars, the destruction left in the wake of the German army, and pretenders to the throne both great and small. Isaakios Komnenos, Andronikos I's nephew, escaped from prison and incited a mob, only to be captured and publically tortured. In Philadelphia, Theodoros Mankaphas declared himself emperor and minted his own coinage. But perhaps the greatest threat came from the false-Alexios.
The false-Alexios (or, as I like to call him, Fauxlexios) was a young man who appeared at the court of Kılıç Arslan. The hoary old half-crippled sultan was still alive and kicking, having long outlived several Byzantine emperors. Kılıç Arslan was so impressed by Fauxlexios' resemblance to Manuel I that he believed his claims to be Alexios II, somehow miraculously revived from the dead. Soon enough, Fauxlexios had assembled a marauding army several thousand strong and was laying waste to cities, pressing on towards Constantinople to establish his 'rightful' claim to the throne. He burnt crops and allowed his Turkish warriors to profane and destroy altars and holy icons in the churches they came across.
Isaakios II and the other notables at the imperial court of course knew that Alexios II had been dead and gone for years. The emperor's brother, Alexios Angelos, was sent to deal with this problem, but Fauxlexios came to a bad end all on his own. After a long night of drinking, Fauxlexios passed out with his sword laying beside him. A priest snuck up and slit his throat with his own sword while Fauxlexios was too piss-drunk to stop him.
When Fauxlexios' severed head was brought to Isaakios II's brother, Alexios Angelos was so struck by his resemblance to the real Alexios II that he lifted the head by its golden hair and said, "It was not altogether out of ignorance that cities followed this man."
Isaakios' paranoia made him lash out at those around him that he perceived to be a threat. He accused Alexios Komnenos kaisar of conspiring against him with Andronikos Komnenos Bryennios 1. Bryennios was blinded, but as Alexios kaisar was already blind, Isaakios had him forcibly shaved and tonsured as a monk.
In Sicily, King William II died in 1189, leaving a sucession crisis. His only son had died in the cradle, and all his brothers and uncles were dead, too. His only legitimate heiress was his aunt Constance, wife of Heinrich VI of Germany (himself the son of Barbarossa). The Sicilian nobles didn't want to be ruled by a woman or her German husband, so they illegally elected Tancredo, the illegitimate son of Constance's deceased half-brother Roger, as their king.
Tancredo was crowned king, stuffed William II's widow Joan of England into a tower, and called up the Byzantines wanting an alliance. So in 1191, Isaakios II's daughter Irene embarked for Sicily and was married to Tancredo's son and heir, Roger. She never saw her father again, but she would see her brother some years later.
About this same time, King Richard I of England arrived in Sicily on his way to the Third Crusade. As it happened, his sister Joan was the widow of the recently-deceased king William II. When Tancredo dragged his feet in handing her over, along with a substantial dowry, Richard's forces seized Messina and practically held the city and its inhabitants hostage in return for Joan. Richard was reunited not only with his sister Joan, but also his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine, who'd chased him across the Mediterranean, dragging his fiancee Berengaria of Navarre with her. Tensions ran high in Messina; the chronicler Ambroise called the locals "bastard Greeks" and "some Saracen-born", and claims that they murdered pilgrims and threw their bodies into privies.
In May 1191, Richard's fleet hit a gale and several of his ships, including the one carrying Joan and Berengaria, went missing. He found the girls and also discovered that three ships had run a-ground on Cyprus. Isaakios Komnenos, the tyrant of Cyprus, had plundered the ships and taken their crews prisoner. Ambroise tells us that Isaakios was so evil that he and Saladin had made a pact to stand against Richard, and had sealed the pact by drinking one another's blood, but I kinda think he was talking out his ass here. Warfare broke out, but when Isaakios' daughter 4 was captured, Isaakios went wild with grief and agreed to surrender, on condition that he would not be bound in iron chains. So Richard had him bound in golden ones.
Richard finally married Berengaria while they were in Cyprus, and adding Isaakios' daughter to his collection of royal and noble women, he headed back out for the Holy Land. What became of him there is easy enough for you to find out on your own.
Meanwhile, in Byzantine territory, the Bulgars still needed seeing to, so Isaakios sent his cousin, Konstantinos Angelos 3, and Konstantinos' brother-in-law, Basileios Vatatzes, "a man of humble origin" despite his grand Vatatzes name, to take care of things in spring 1193. Konstantinos Angelos proved to be a fearsome general with a talent for turning Bulgar and Vlakh screamers into grade-A ground chuck.
It wasn't long before Konstantinos Angelos started getting tired of sleeping on his shield, eating crappy food, and fucking hairy barbarian women while his cousin Isaakios II lived it up in Constantinople, where "he delighted in ribaldries and lewd songs and consorted with laughter-stirring dwarfs." Konstantinos traded in his general's cloak for a purple-dyed imperial one, and prepared to march on Constantinople and proclaim himself emperor. He didn't make it as far as Andrianople before his brother-in-law Basileios Vatatzes captured him and turned him over to Isaakios II.
Konstantinos Angelos had an ending about as brutal as you could expect. Getting rid of him was the biggest favor Isaakios II could've done for the Bulgars and Vlakhs, in particular their leaders Asen (now going by Ivan) and Teodor (now going by Kalopeter). Ivan Asen and Teodor-Kalopeter facetiously prayed "that the Angeloi dynasty be given a reign of many years." Their troops continued sacking and burning and beseiging Byzantine cities left and right, held in check no longer by Konstantinos Angelos.
Isaakios II's next chess move was to send his generals Basileios Vatatzes and Alexios Gidos against Ivan Asen and Teodor-Kalopeter. Their armies smashed into one another near Arcadiopolis, and it was a sad, sad sight. Gidos bungled about and barely fled with his life. Basileios Vatatzes died fighting alongside his men 4. The battle was such a disaster that Isaakios II had to go to his father-in-law, King Béla III of Hungary, hat in hand, and ask for help. He managed to get enough money and mercenaries to raise another force and march onwards to confront the Bulgars and Vlakhs, once and for all.
1. He was the grandson of Anna Komnene, author of The Alexiad.
2. Although mentioned many times by Western chroniclers, Isaakios' daughter was never named. I can only assume she had a Greek name so unfamiliar that they resorted to calling her "la damselle de Chypre" instead.
3. Son of Isaakios II's uncle, also named Isaakios Angelos. Confused yet?
4. His Angelina wife had recently given birth to a son, Ioannes. Don't forget Ioannes Vatatzes, you'll be seeing him again, all grown up, in a couple of decades.