Isaac II Angelus
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Isaac II Angelus (or Isaakios Angelos) (September 1156 - February, 1204), was the Byzantine emperor from 1185-1195, and again 1203-1204.
His father Andronicus Angelus was a son of Theodora Comnena Porphyrogenita. Theodora was the youngest daughter of Alexius I Comnenus and Irene Ducaena. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.
Under the brief reign of Andronicus I Comnenus Isaac was involved (alongside his father and brothers) in the revolt of Nicaea and Prusa. Atypically, the Emperor did not punish him for this disloyalty.
On September 11, 1185, during Andronicus's absence from the capital, the latter's lieutenant Stephanus Hagiochristophorites moved to arrest Isaac. Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia. Andronicus, in some ways a capable ruler, was hated for his efforts to keep the aristocracy obedient and his cruelty. Isaac appealed to the populace, and a tumult arose which spread rapidly over the whole city. When Andronicus arrived he found that his power was overthrown, and that Isaac had been proclaimed emperor. Isaac handed him over to the people of the City, and he was killed on September 12, 1185.
Isaac strengthened his position as emperor with dynastic marriages during 1185 and 1186. His niece, Eudocia, was married to Stefan, son of Stefan Nemanja of Rascia in Serbia. His sister, Theodora, was married to Conrad of Montferrat. In January 1186 Isaac himself married Margaret of Hungary, daughter of king Bela III. Hungary was one of the empire's largest and most powerful neighbours, and Margaret also had the benefit of high aristocratic descent, being related to the royal families of Kiev, the Holy Roman Empire, Italy, Provence, and earlier Byzantine dynasties.
Isaac inaugurated his reign with a decisive victory over William II of Sicily, but elsewhere his policy was less successful. He failed in an attempt to recover Cyprus from the rebellious noble Isaac Comnenos, thanks to Norman interference. The oppressiveness of his taxes drove the Bulgarians and Vlachs to revolt (1186), leading to the reestablishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In 1187, Alexius Branas, the general sent against the rebels, turned his arms against his master, and attempted to seize Constantinople, but was defeated and slain by Isaac's brother-in-law Conrad of Montferrat. The emperor's attention was next demanded in the east, where several claimants to the throne successively rose and fell. In 1189 Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor sought and obtained leave to lead his troops on the Third Crusade through the Byzantine Empire; but he had no sooner crossed the border than Isaac, who had meanwhile sought an alliance with Saladin, threw every impediment in his way, and was only compelled by force of arms to fulfil his engagements.
The next five years were disturbed by fresh rebellions of the Vlachs, against whom Isaac led several expeditions in person. During one of these, in 1195, Alexius Angelus, the emperor's elder brother, taking advantage of the latter's absence from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was readily recognised by the soldiers. Isaac was blinded and imprisoned in Constantinople. After eight years, he was raised from his dungeon to his throne once more after the arrival of the Fourth Crusade. But both mind and body had been enfeebled by captivity, and his son Alexius IV was the actual monarch. Isaac died in 1204, shortly after the usurpation of his general, Mourzouphles.
Isaac has the reputation of one of the weakest and most vicious princes that occupied the Byzantine throne. Surrounded by a crowd of slaves, mistresses and flatterers, he permitted his empire to be administered by unworthy favourites, while he squandered the money wrung from his provinces on costly buildings and expensive gifts to the churches of his metropolis.
Family
The identity of Isaac's first wife is unknown, but her name, Herina, is found on the necrology of Speyer Cathedral, where their daughter Irene is interred. His wife Herina may have been a member of the Palaeologus family. Their third child was born in 1182 or 1183 and she was dead or divorced by 1185, when Isaac remarried. Their children were:
- Euphrosyne, a nun.
- Irene, married first to Roger III of Sicily, and secondly to Philip of Swabia
- Alexius
By his second wife, Margaret of Hungary, Isaac had two sons:
- John, born no earlier than January 1193. He is said to have migrated to Hungary and to have been governor of Sirmium and Belgrade around 1254
- Manuel, born after 1195
Sources
- Nicetas Choniates, Historia, ed. J.-L. Van Dieten, 2 vols. (Berlin and New York, 1975); trans. as O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniates, by H.J. Magoulias (Detroit; Wayne State University Press, 1984).
Bibliography
- Hiestand, Rudolf. Die Erste Ehe Isaaks II Angelus und Seine Kinder (Jahrbuch der Osterreichischen Byzantinistik, 47), 1997.
- K. Varzos, I genealogia ton Komninon (Thessalonica, 1984) vol. 2 pp. 807-840.
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