European Kingdoms

Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire
Dynasty of the Angeli (AD 1185-1204)

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From the start, the capital of the newly-created Eastern Roman empire was based at Constantinople, dedicated by Emperor Constantine 'the Great' in AD 330. In AD 395, the Roman empire finally suffered a permanent split, creating formal Eastern Roman and Western Roman empires within Europe and beyond, acknowledging what had existed in practise for many years.

The successful 'Macedonian Dynasty' had restored Constantinople as the dominant power in the Balkans and Near East, with apparently secure frontiers. It had doubled its shrunken territory under the Macedonians, but the successor 'Non-Dynastic' ruler and then the brief 'Comnenian Prelude' and the 'Dynasty of the Ducas' entirely reversed that positive trend.

Constantinople was struggling for its existence. Romanus IV Diogenes of the Ducas led the Eastern Romans to a shocking defeat to the Seljuqs at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia in 1071. With Alexios I Comnenus of the 'Dynasty of the Comneni' subsequently leading the fight, there were victories which once more stabilised the empire, while the Crusaders received Constantinople's support in return for effective overlordship.

The Crusaders quickly and forcefully carved a large swathe of territory out of Seljuq holdings, and the rulers of Rum were forced back from the apogee of their Anatolian conquests into the interior around Konya. There they could do little more than solidify their governance and pose a perpetual threat.

There seemed to be too many enemies in too many regions for the Romans to fully prosper though. The death of Emperor Manuel Comnenus in 1180 had been and would continue to be followed by a series of regencies, usurpations, and coups. Between 1180-1204 no fewer than fifty-eight rebellions or uprisings would take place across the empire.

The 'Angeli Dynasty' started off badly, by insulting the powerful Asen Bulgarian lords and creating a running sore on that flank. It was even an Angeli claimant who invited crusaders to capture Constantinople for him, which they promptly did in 1204. Instead of installing Alexius Angelus (for very long) they sacked the city, brought to an end the Angeli dynasty, and create a Latin kingdom.

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(Information by Peter Kessler, with additional information from the John De Cleene Archive, from the World Heritage Encyclopaedia, from Encyclopaedia of the Roman Empire, Matthew Bunson (1994), from the BBC documentary series, The Crusades, first broadcast on 18 January 2012, from The Turks in World History, Carter Vaughn Findley (Oxford University Press 2005), from The History of the Medieval World: From the Conversion of Constantine to the First Crusade, Susan Wise Bauer (2010), from The Despotate of Epiros, Donald McGillivray Nicol (Blackwell & Mott, 1957), and from External Links: History of the Byzantine Empire (Live Science), and The Cambridge History of the Byzantine Empire, Jonathan Shepard (Ed, Revised Edition, Cambridge University Press, 2008, and available via the Internet Archive), and Encyclopaedia Britannica, and Encyclopaedia Iranica, and Byzantine Empire, CWC Oman (Fisher Unwin, 1892, and available via Heritage History).)

1185 - 1195

First successor to the Comnenian dynasty. Dethroned.

1185 - 1186

The Asen brothers, Ivan and Teodor, have requested that the new emperor, Isaac II Angelus, grants them an estate in the mountains of the theme of Paristrion. His refusal and humiliation of them prompts them to declare a rebellion and grab the land by force. They claim the title of tsar and continuation from the (First) Bulgarian empire.

A scyphate coin which was issued under Isaac II Angelus, a bowl-shaped coin with a concave face (the obverse) and a convex face (the reverse), and usually possessing a large diameter

The emperor immediately has them defeated and routed in battle. They seek refuge with the Cumans in April 1186, returning that autumn with Cuman troops. Paristrion is captured and turned into the new Bulgarian state. Regular raiding into Eastern Roman territories naturally follows.

1190

Having long been a territory within the Eastern Roman empire, recent Roman fragmentation now allows the formation of the principality of Arbanon within modern Albanian borders. This is sometimes claimed as the first Albanian state.

1191 - 1192

Fresh from freeing his sister from the clutches of Tancred on Sicily, King Richard of England arrives on Cyprus to free his intended bride from the clutches of Isaac Komnenos, the breakaway Eastern Roman governor.

The ship carrying Princess Berengaria of Navarre had been forced to put in during a storm, on its way to join Richard's forces in the Third Crusade. Isaac has already seized and plundered two wrecked crusader ships, but this time he has picked the wrong adversary.

Krujë fortress was built in the fifth or sixth century AD, perched above the Albanian city of the same name and dominated by the Eastern Roman empire until the twelfth century

Richard storms and takes Limassol, marries Berengaria in the chapel of St George, and proceeds to conquer the entire island with the help of Guy de Lusignan shortly after the latter's arrival on the island from Jerusalem.

1195

While Isaac II is hunting in Thrace his younger brother, Alexius Angelus (the second son of Andronicus Angelus), is proclaimed Emperor Alexius III by the troops, thereby deposing Isaac and usurping the throne.

1195 - 1203

Brother. Usurper supported by the troops. Deposed.

1195

Alexius captures Isaac at Stagira in Macedonia. The deposed emperor is blinded and thereafter imprisoned. Isaac's son, Alexius Angelus, flees to the west, where his sister is married to Philip Hohenstaufen of Swabia, one of the rivals for the title of Holy Roman emperor.

Philip Hohenstaufen climbed through the ranks of the nobility during his lifetime, from bishop of Würzburg, through duke of Tuscany and then Swabia, to become emperor of the Germans

1202

The Fourth Crusade begins, lasting until 1204. A number of influential lords in Flanders, France, and Germany have been endorsed by Pope Innocent III, including Philip of Swabia and Boniface of Montferrat.

Despite original plans to attack the centre of governance for the powerful Ayyubid sultanate, the exiled Alexius Angelus plots with Philip and Boniface to stop first at Constantinople so that they can overthrow Alexius III.

1203

The Venetian fleet delivers the Crusaders from Dalmatia to Constantinople by June 1203. They drive out Alexius III and install Alexius Angelus as Alexius IV. The young emperor quickly makes his disfigured and imprisoned father his co-emperor.

Saladin accepts the surrender of Guy de Lusignan and the Christian armies following the massive success of his army at the Battle of Hattin

1203 - 1204

Son of Isaac II. Deposed and killed by Alexius V.

1203 - 1204

Restored as Alexius IV's co-emperor. Deposed.

1204

Alexius IV quickly becomes unpopular with the population of Constantinople. He also fails to fulfil his promises to reward the Crusaders for installing him on the throne. The populace depose him on 5 February 1204 and install Alexius Murtzuphlus as Alexius V.

1204

Son-in-law of Alexius III. Driven out by Latins.

1204

The capture of Constantinople is the Fourth Crusade's 'success', and Western European emperors are established in the city. Close allies of Constantinople through intermarriage and trade, including Alania and the Rus, are badly affected by this disaster, but it does no harm to Turkic efforts to advance through conquest into Roman territory.

Kyiv's great territory, its competing junior princes, and its exposure to successive waves of mounted invaders from the eastern steppe eventually resulted in the decline of Kievan Rus power overall, not just in Kyiv itself

The Albanian principality of Arbanon now achieves full independence while the Eastern Roman court withdraws to Nicæa in Anatolia. Given their recent usurpation of the throne, rival claimants are also quick to establish their own holdings.

These include Trebizond, Epirus, and Thessalonica so that, at one point, there are four claimants to the Eastern Roman throne, as well as the Bulgar and Serb states which also claim dominance over it.

The principality of Achaia and the duchies of Athens and Naxos are also created, in 1204-1205, in these cases as opportunistic land-grabs or divisions of Constantinople's direct holdings. For now it is Latin emperors who hold Constantinople.

Under the leadership of Boniface, marquis of Montferrat, and Dandolo, doge of Venice, the Fourth Crusade was diverted from its original purpose, instead ending up storming the walls of Constantinople and setting up a Latin kingship there