Исаак II Ангел (греч. Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος; ок. 1156 — январь 1204) — византийский император в 1185—1195 и 1203—1204 годах. Стал первым представителем династии Ангелов, правившей страной 11 лет.

http://genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00027070&tree=LEO

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_II_Angelos

The Angelos family

One Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia, had issue:

• A1. Konstantinos Angelos, admiral of Sicily, *ca 1085, +after VII.1166; m.ca 1120 Theodora Komnene (*5.1.1096/97)
  • ...
  • B3. Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor, *ca 1222, +after 1185; m.before 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (*ca 1125 +after 1195)
    • C2. ISAAKIOS II Angelos, Emperor of Byzantium (1185-95)+(1203-04), *1155, +Constantinople 12.4.1204 in prison; 1m: NN; 2m: 1185 Margaret of Hungary (*1175 +after 1223)
      • D1. [1m.] ALEXIOS IV Angelos, Emperor of Byzantium (1203-04) -cr Hagia Sophia, Constantinople 1.8.1203, *1182/3, +murdered 28.1.1204; was engaged to Eufemia of Tschernigov
      • D2. [1m.] a daughter, a nun
      • D3. [1m.] Eirene=Maria, *1172/81, +27.8.1208; 1m: 1192 Roger, Duke of Apulia (+1193); 2m: 1197 Duke Philip of Swabia, German King (+1208)
      • D4. [2m.] Manuel Angelos, +1212
      • D5. [2m.] Ioannes Angelos (Kalojan), Pr of Szerém, Comes de Keve, *ca 1203, +ca 1259; m.NN
    • C3. Ioannes Angelos; m.NN
      • ...
    • C4. Theodoros Angelos, blinded 1184
    • C5. Andronikos Angelos, blinded 1184
    • C6. Konstantinos Angelos, blinded 1183
    • C7. Eirene Angeline; m.before 1170 Ioannes Kantakuzenos
    • C8. Theodora Angelina, +after 1195; m.1187 (div before 1190) Mgve Conrad I of Montferrat (+28.4.1192)
  • ...

----------------------------------

Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος, Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.

His father Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185), married bef. 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195), was a son of Theodora Komnene (b. January 5, 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Eirene Doukaina, by her marriage c. 1120 to Konstantinos Angelos, Admiral of Sicily (c. 1085 – aft. July 1166), son of one Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.

Contents

1 Rising by revolt

2 First reign

3 Second reign

4 Historical reputation

5 Family

6 Notes

7 References

8 External links

9 Bibliography

Rising by revolt

During the brief reign of Andronikos I Komnenos, Isaac was involved (alongside his father and brothers) in the revolt of Nicaea and Prousa. Atypically, the Emperor did not punish him for this disloyalty, and Isaac remained at Constantinople.

On September 11, 1185, during Andronikos' absence from the capital, the latter's lieutenant Stephanos Hagiochristophorites moved to arrest Isaac. Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia. Andronikos, in some ways a capable ruler, was hated for his cruelty and his efforts to keep the aristocracy obedient. Isaac appealed to the populace, and a tumult arose which spread rapidly over the whole city. When Andronikos arrived he found that during his absence he had lost popular support, and that Isaac had been proclaimed emperor. Andronikos attempted to flee by boat but was apprehended. Isaac handed him over to the people of the City, and he was killed on September 12, 1185.

First reign

Isaac II Angelos strengthened his position as emperor with dynastic marriages in 1185 and 1186. His niece, Eudokia Angelina, was married to Stefan, son of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia. Isaac's sister, Theodora, was married to the Italian marquis Conrad of Montferrat. In January 1186 Isaac himself married Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), daughter of king Béla 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 the Norman King of Sicily William II (on the banks of the Strymon, 7 September 1185), who had invaded the Balkans with 80,000 men and 200 ships towards the end of Andronicus I's reign. Elsewhere his policy was less successful. In late 1185, he sent a fleet of 80 galleys to liberate his brother Alexius III from Acre, but it was destroyed by the Normans of Sicily. He then sent a fleet of 70 ships, but it failed in its attempt to recover Cyprus from the rebellious noble Isaac Comnenus, thanks to Norman interference.

The oppressiveness of his taxes, increased to pay his armies and finance his marriage, resulted in the Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion late in 1185. The rebellion led to the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire under the Asen dynasty. In 1187, Alexios Branas, the victor over the Normans, was sent against the rebels but turned his arms against his master, and attempted to seize Constantinople, only to be defeated and slain by Isaac's brother-in-law Conrad of Montferrat. Also in 1187, an agreement was made with Venice, in which the republic would provide 40-100 galleys at six months' notice in exchange for favorable trading concessions. As each Venetian galley was manned by 140 oarsmen, that means there were about 18,000 Venetians still in the empire even after Manuel I's arrests.[1]

The emperor's attention was next demanded in the east, where several claimants to the throne successively rose and fell. In 1189 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa sought and obtained permission 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. In retaliation, Barbarossa's army occupied the city of Philippopolis and defeated a Byzantine army of 3,000 men that attempted to recapture the city.[2] Thus compelled by force of arms, Isaac II was forced to fulfil his engagements in 1190. By 1196, Isaac II had allowed the once powerful Byzantine navy to decline to only 30 galleys.

The next five years were disturbed by continued warfare with Bulgaria, against which Isaac led several expeditions in person. In spite of their promise, these ventures had little effect, and on one occasion in 1190 Isaac barely escaped with his life. While preparing for yet another offensive against Bulgaria in 1195, Alexios Angelos, the emperor's older brother, taking advantage of the latter's absence from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was readily recognised by the soldiers as Emperor Alexios III. Isaac was blinded and imprisoned in Constantinople.

Second reign

After eight years of captivity, he was raised from his dungeon to his throne once more after the arrival of the Fourth Crusade and the flight of Alexios III from the capital. But both mind and body had been enfeebled by confinement, and his son Alexios IV Angelos was associated on the throne as the effective monarch.

Heavily beholden to the crusaders, Alexios IV was unable to meet his obligations and his vacillation caused him to lose the support of both his crusader allies and his subjects. At the end of January, 1204, the influential court official Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos took advantage of riots in the capital to imprison Alexios IV and seize the throne as Emperor Alexios V. At this point Isaac II died, allegedly of shock, while Alexios IV was strangled on January 28 or 29.

Historical reputation

Isaac has the reputation of one of the most unsuccessful 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. During his reign the empire lost Lefkada, Kefallonia, and Zakynthos to the Normans in 1185. Then he lost Bulgaria to the Vlachs and Bulgarians in 1186. After that Cilicia was retaken by the Armenians and Cyprus wrested from the empire by the Franks.

Family

The identity of Isaac II's first wife is unknown, but her name, Herina (i.e., Eirene), is found on the necrology of Speyer Cathedral, where their daughter Irene is interred. (It must be noted, however, that it would have been extremely unusual for a mother and daughter to bear the same name, unless the mother's name was monastic.)[3] Isaac's wife may have been a member of the Palaiologos family.[4] A possible foreign origin is also given to her due to having the same name as her daughter.[5][6] Their third child was born in 1182 or 1183 and she was dead or divorced by 1185, when Isaac remarried. Their children were:

Euphrosyne Angelina, a nun.

Irene Angelina, married first to Roger III of Sicily, and secondly to Philip of Swabia.

Alexios IV Angelos.

By his second wife, Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), Isaac II had two sons:

John Angelos (b. ca. 1193 - d. 1259). He migrated to Hungary and ruled over Syrmia and Bacs (1227-42) as a vassal of king Béla IV of Hungary.

Manuel Angelos (b. after 1195 - d. 1212)

Isaac has the reputation of one of the most unsuccessful 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. During his reign the empire lost Lefkada, Kefallonia, and Zakynthos to the Normans in 1185. Then he lost Bulgaria to the Vlachs and Bulgarians in 1186. After that Cilicia was retaken by the Armenians and Cyprus wrested from the empire by the Franks.

Emperador del Imperio bizantino entre 1185 y 1195 y nuevamente entre 1203 y 1204. Su padre Andronikos Dukas Angelos era hijo de Theodora Comnene, la hija menor del emperador Alexis I Comnene, e Irene Dukas, lo que convertía a Isaac en miembro del clan imperial.

Casó con Irene Comnene, hija de Andrónico Comnene, que nació en Balalista, Grecia, en 1108, y murió en 1142. Casó, en 1124, con Irene Aineidasa (nacida después de 1100 y fallecida en Protocrator, Grecia, en 1152. Tuvieron por hijos a Eudoxia Comnene (desp. de 1128; casó con Andrónico I Comnene -1110 a 1185-, e Irene Comnene.

Se proclamó emperador después de derrocar a Andrónico Comnene. Se enfrentó con la nobleza. Fue vencido por los búlgaros. Alexios III Angelo, su hermano, lo derrocó.

Fue restablecido por la Cuarta Cruzada en 1203 y gobernó con su hijo Alejo IV Angelo hasta que Alejo V Ducas Murtzouphlos los asesinó, proclamándose emperador con el nombre de Alejo V.

Isaac II Angelos

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος, Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.

His father Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185), married bef. 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195), was a son of Theodora Komnene (b. January 5, 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Eirene Doukaina, by her marriage c. 1120 to Konstantinos Angelos, Admiral of Sicily (c. 1085 – aft. July 1166), son of one Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.

Rising by revolt

During the brief reign of Andronikos I Komnenos, Isaac was involved (alongside his father and brothers) in the revolt of Nicaea and Prousa. Atypically, the Emperor did not punish him for this disloyalty, and Isaac remained at Constantinople.

On September 11, 1185, during Andronikos' absence from the capital, the latter's lieutenant Stephanos Hagiochristophorites moved to arrest Isaac. Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia. Andronikos, 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 Andronikos arrived he found that his authority was overthrown, and that Isaac had been proclaimed emperor. Andronikos attempted to flee by boat but was apprehended. Isaac handed him over to the people of the City, and he was killed on September 12, 1185.

[edit]First reign

Isaac II Angelos strengthened his position as emperor with dynastic marriages in 1185 and 1186. His niece, Eudokia Angelina, was married to Stefan, son of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia. Isaac's sister, Theodora, was married to the Italian marquis Conrad of Montferrat. In January 1186 Isaac himself married Margaret of Hungary (who was renamed Maria), daughter of king Béla 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 the Norman King of Sicily William II (on the banks of the Strymon, 7 September 1185), who had invaded the Balkans with 80,000 men and 200 ships towards the end of Andronicus I's reign. Elsewhere his policy was less successful. In late 1185, he sent a fleet of 80 galleys to liberate his brother Alexius III from Acre, but it was destroyed by the Normans of Sicily. He then sent a fleet of 70 ships, but it failed in its attempt to recover Cyprus from the rebellious noble Isaac Comnenus, thanks to Norman interference.

The oppressiveness of his taxes, increased to pay his armies and finance his marriage, resulted in the Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion late in 1185. The rebellion led to the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire under the Asen dynasty. In 1187, Alexios Branas, the victor over the Normans, was sent against the rebels but turned his arms against his master, and attempted to seize Constantinople, only to be defeated and slain by Isaac's brother-in-law Conrad of Montferrat. Also in 1187, an agreement was made with Venice, in which the republic would provide 40-100 galleys at six months' notice in exchange for favorable trading concessions. As each Venetian galley was manned by 140 oarsmen, that means there were about 18,000 Venetians still in the empire even after Manuel I's arrests.[1]

The emperor's attention was next demanded in the east, where several claimants to the throne successively rose and fell. In 1189 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa sought and obtained permission 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 in 1190. By 1196, Isaac II had allowed the once powerful Byzantine navy to decline to only 30 galleys.

The next five years were disturbed by continued warfare with Bulgaria, against which Isaac led several expeditions in person. In spite of a promising start, these ventures had little effect, and on one occasion in 1190 Isaac barely escaped with his life. While preparing for yet another offensive against Bulgaria in 1195, Alexios Angelos, the emperor's older brother, taking advantage of the latter's absence from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was readily recognised by the soldiers as Emperor Alexios III. Isaac was blinded and imprisoned in Constantinople.

[edit]Second reign

After eight years of captivity, he was raised from his dungeon to his throne once more after the arrival of the Fourth Crusade and the flight of Alexios III from the capital. But both mind and body had been enfeebled by confinement, and his son Alexios IV Angelos was associated on the throne as the effective monarch.

Heavily beholden to the crusaders, Alexios IV was unable to meet his obligations and his vacillation caused him to lose the support of both his crusader allies and his subjects. At the end of January, 1204, the influential court official Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos took advantage of riots in the capital to imprison Alexios IV and seize the throne as Emperor Alexios V. At this point Isaac II died, allegedly of shock, while Alexios IV was strangled on January 28 or 29.

[edit]Historical reputation

Isaac has the reputation of one of the most unsuccessful 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. During his reign the empire lost Bulgaria, Lefkada, Kefallonia, Zakynthos, Cilicia, and Cyprus.

[edit]Family

The identity of Isaac II's first wife is unknown, but her name, Herina (i.e., Eirene), is found on the necrology of Speyer Cathedral, where their daughter Irene is interred. (It must be noted, however, that it would have been extremely unusual for a mother and daughter to bear the same name, unless the mother's name was monastic.)[2] Isaac's wife may have been a member of the Palaiologos family.[3] A possible foreign origin is also given to her due to having the same name as her daughter.[4][5] Their third child was born in 1182 or 1183 and she was dead or divorced by 1185, when Isaac remarried. Their children were:

Euphrosyne Angelina, a nun.

Irene Angelina, married first to Roger III of Sicily, and secondly to Philip of Swabia.

Alexios IV Angelos.

By his second wife, Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), Isaac II had two sons:

John Angelos (b. ca. 1193 - d. 1259). He migrated to Hungary and ruled over Syrmia and Bacs (1227-42) as a vassal of king Béla IV of Hungary.

Manuel Angelos (b. after 1195 - d. 1212)

IOGRAPHY: b. c. 9/1156

d. January 1204

Byzantine emperor who, although incapable of stemming administrative abuses, partly succeeded, by his defeat of the Serbians in 1190, in retrieving imperial fortunes in the Balkans.

In September 1185 Isaac was unexpectedly proclaimed emperor by the Constantinople mob that murdered his cousin, the emperor Andronicus I Comnenus. His reign was inaugurated by the decisive victory of his general Alexius Branas over the Normans, who, after invading the empire and sacking Thessalonica (1185), were then driven off Greek soil, except for the islands of Cephalonia and Zacynthus (modern Zante). Isaac was unsuccessful, however, in recovering Cyprus from the rebel Isaac Comnenus, who set himself up as an independent ruler of that island in 1185. Isaac II failed to crush the revolt of the Bulgarians and Walachians that broke out toward the end of that year, even though he led expeditions against them in 1186-87. In 1187 he was forced to recognize the second Bulgarian empire.

In 1189 the Byzantine ruler was confronted with the Third Crusade, which, led by German emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, was passing through Byzantine territory. Isaac tried to protect himself by concluding a treaty with Saladin, the sultan of Egypt, but he was soon forced to assist Frederick; he concluded the Treaty of Adrianople with him in February 1190, and in the following month Frederick's forces were transported across the Hellespont to Asia Minor.

Free to turn his attention to the Balkans, Isaac restored Byzantine prestige by defeating Stephen Nemanja of Serbia (1190). With Hungarian help he planned an expedition against the Bulgarians, assembling a Byzantine army for this purpose near the city of Cypsela in the spring of 1195. On April 8, however, he was suddenly overthrown by his brother, who imprisoned and blinded him and assumed the throne as Emperor Alexius III.

In 1201 Isaac's son Alexius made his way to Germany, where he succeeded in bringing about the diversion of the Fourth Crusade to Constantinople in order to restore his father to power. In July 1203 the crusaders captured the city, and on August 1, Isaac, after eight years' imprisonment, was crowned co-emperor with Alexius, who assumed the title Alexius IV. Friction between the crusaders and the townspeople of Constantinople, however, led to a revolution in January 1204; the co-emperors were dethroned, Alexius IV was assassinated on Feb. 8, 1204, and Isaac died several days later.

Copyright © 1994-2001 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaak_II.

Wikipedia:

Isaak II. Angelos (griechisch Ἰσαάκιος Β' Ἄγγελος, * 1155; † 28. Januar 1204 in Konstantinopel) war byzantinischer Kaiser von 1185 bis 1195 als Nachfolger von Andronikos I. und erneut von 1203 bis 1204.

Leben [Bearbeiten]

Isaak begann seine Herrschaft mit einem entscheidenden Sieg über die Normannen in Sizilien, war aber ansonsten weniger erfolgreich. Der Versuch, Zypern von dem rebellischen Adligen Isaak Komnenos zurückzuerobern, misslang aufgrund der Einmischung der Normannen und der drückenden Abgaben, die die Bulgaren und Walachen 1186 in einen Aufstand trieben der zur Errichtung des Zweiten bulgarischen Reichs führte. 1187 wandte sich der General Alexios Branas, der gegen die Rebellen gesandt worden war, gegen den Kaiser und versuchte, Konstantinopel zu besetzen, wurde aber geschlagen und getötet. Als nächstes verlangte der Osten die Aufmerksamkeit des Kaisers, wo verschiedene Thronprätendenten sich erhoben und wieder fielen. 1189 versuchte Friedrich Barbarossa auf dem Dritten Kreuzzug seine Truppen durch das byzantinische Reich zu führen, und erhielt die Erlaubnis. Er hatte jedoch die Grenze überschritten, als Isaak, der sich mittlerweile mit Saladin verständigt hatte, damit begann, ihm alle denkbaren Hindernisse in den Weg zu legen, und nur durch Waffengewalt zur Erfüllung der Zusage gezwungen werden konnte. Seine Tochter Irene wurde dabei dem in Deutschland befindlichen Philipp von Schwaben versprochen.

Die nächsten fünf Jahre war Isaak mit neuen Aufständen der Walachen befasst, gegen die er mehrere Feldzüge führte. Während eines dieser Feldzüge nutzte sein Bruder Alexios 1195 einen Jagdausflug des Kaisers und dessen Abwesenheit vom Feldlager, um sich selbst zum Kaiser zu proklamieren, und wurde auch von den Soldaten anerkannt. Isaak wurde geblendet und in Konstantinopel gefangen gesetzt.

Acht Jahre später, am 18. Juli 1203, wurde er für sechs Monate aus seinem Kerker geholt und erneut auf den Thron gehoben, nachdem der Vierte Kreuzzug die Stadt erreicht hatte. Da er jedoch sowohl körperlich als auch geistig durch die Gefangenschaft geschwächt war, übernahm sein Sohn Alexios IV. die tatsächliche Regierung. Isaak und Alexios wurden 1204 wegen ihres Nachgebens gegenüber den Kreuzfahrern durch einen Aufstand des Generals Alexios Murtzouphlos gestürzt, der anschließend selbst den Thron bestieg.

Isaak II. war einer der schwächsten und brutalsten Fürsten auf dem byzantinischen Thron. Umgeben von Sklaven, Mätressen und Schmeichlern ließ er es zu, dass das Reich von unwürdigen Günstlingen regiert wurde, während er das Geld, das den Provinzen abgepresst wurde, für teure Bauwerke und Geschenke an die Kirche verprasste. Die Folge davon war der fortschreitende Verfall des Reiches durch Ämterkauf und Steuerwucher.

Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άνγελος, Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.

His father Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185), married bef. 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195). Andronikos Dukas Angelos was the son of Konstantinos Angelos, Admiral of Sicily (c. 1085 – aft. July 1166, son of Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia) and Theodora Komnene (b. January 15, 1096/1097) who was the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Eirene Doukaina, by her marriage c. 1120 to Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.

Rising by revolt

During the brief reign of Andronikos I Komnenos, Isaac was involved (alongside his father and brothers) in the revolt of Nicaea and Prousa. Atypically, the Emperor did not punish him for this disloyalty, and Isaac remained at Constantinople.

On September 11, 1185, during Andronikos' absence from the capital, the latter's lieutenant Stephanos Hagiochristophorites moved to arrest Isaac. Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia. Andronikos, in some ways a capable ruler, was hated for his cruelty and his efforts to keep the aristocracy obedient. Isaac appealed to the populace, and a tumult arose which spread rapidly over the whole city. When Andronikos arrived he found that during his absence he had lost popular support, and that Isaac had been proclaimed emperor. Andronikos attempted to flee by boat but was apprehended. Isaac handed him over to the people of the City, and he was killed on September 12, 1185.

First reign

Isaac II Angelos strengthened his position as emperor with dynastic marriages in 1185 and 1186. His niece, Eudokia Angelina, was married to Stefan, son of Stefan Nemanja of Serbia. Isaac's sister, Theodora, was married to the Italian marquis Conrad of Montferrat. In January 1186 Isaac himself married Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), daughter of king Béla 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 the Norman King of Sicily William II (on the banks of the Strymon, 7 September 1185), who had invaded the Balkans with 80,000 men and 200 ships towards the end of Andronicus I's reign. Elsewhere his policy was less successful. In late 1185, he sent a fleet of 80 galleys to liberate his brother Alexius III from Acre, but it was destroyed by the Normans of Sicily. He then sent a fleet of 70 ships, but it failed in its attempt to recover Cyprus from the rebellious noble Isaac Comnenus, thanks to Norman interference.

The oppressiveness of his taxes, increased to pay his armies and finance his marriage, resulted in the Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion late in 1185. The rebellion led to the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire under the Asen dynasty. In 1187, Alexios Branas, the victor over the Normans, was sent against the Bulgarians but turned his arms against his master, and attempted to seize Constantinople, only to be defeated and slain by Isaac's brother-in-law Conrad of Montferrat. Also in 1187, an agreement was made with Venice, in which the republic would provide 40-100 galleys at six months' notice in exchange for favorable trading concessions. As each Venetian galley was manned by 140 oarsmen, that means there were about 18,000 Venetians still in the empire even after Manuel I's arrests.

The emperor's attention was next demanded in the east, where several claimants to the throne successively rose and fell. In 1189 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa sought and obtained permission 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. In retaliation, Barbarossa's army occupied the city of Philippopolis and defeated a Byzantine army of 3,000 men that attempted to recapture the city. Thus compelled by force of arms, Isaac II was forced to fulfil his engagements in 1190. By 1196, Isaac II had allowed the once powerful Byzantine navy to decline to only 30 galleys.

The next five years were disturbed by continued warfare with Bulgaria, against which Isaac led several expeditions in person. In spite of their promising start, these ventures had little effect, and on during one occasion in 1190 Isaac barely escaped with his life. The Byzantines suffered yet another major defeat in the battle of Arcadiopolis in 1194. While preparing for yet another offensive against Bulgaria in 1195, Alexios Angelos, the emperor's older brother, taking advantage of the latter's absence from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was readily recognised by the soldiers as Emperor Alexios III. Isaac was blinded and imprisoned in Constantinople.

Second reign

After eight years of captivity, he was raised from his dungeon to his throne once more after the arrival of the Fourth Crusade and the flight of Alexios III from the capital. But both mind and body had been enfeebled by confinement, and his son Alexios IV Angelos was associated on the throne as the effective monarch.

Heavily beholden to the crusaders, Alexios IV was unable to meet his obligations and his vacillation caused him to lose the support of both his crusader allies and his subjects. At the end of January, 1204, the influential court official Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos took advantage of riots in the capital to imprison Alexios IV and seize the throne as Emperor Alexios V. At this point Isaac II died, allegedly of shock, while Alexios IV was strangled on January 28 or 29.

Usurpers

Isaac's reign saw a number of pretenders rise up and attempt to wrest the throne from him. These included:

Alexios Branas

Theodore Mangaphas

Pseudo-Alexios II

Basil Chotzas - initiated a rebellion at Tarsia, near Nicomedia. Initially he had some success, but before long he was seized, blinded and cast into prison.

Isaac Comnenus (nephew of Andronicus I Comnenus) - escaped from prison and fled to Hagia Sophia, where he proceeded to incite a mob. Eventually captured, he was suspended in the air and tortured in order to obtain the names of his accomplices. His internal organs suffered severe damage and he died the next day.

Constantine Tatikios - secretly established a group of 500 individuals who hid in Constantinople. Though they managed to escape detection for some considerable time, he was informed against, captured and blinded.

Historical reputation

Isaac has the reputation of one of the most unsuccessful 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. During his reign the empire lost Lefkada, Kefallonia, and Zakynthos to the Normans in 1185. In the same year the Bulgarian Empire was restored after the rebellion of the brothers Asen and Peter and thus losing Moesia and parts of Thrace and Macedonia. After that Cilicia was retaken by the Armenians and Cyprus wrested from the empire by the Franks.

Family

The identity of Isaac II's first wife is unknown, but her name, Herina (i.e., Eirene), is found on the necrology of Speyer Cathedral, where their daughter Irene is interred. (It must be noted, however, that it would have been extremely unusual for a mother and daughter to bear the same name, unless the mother's name was monasticIsaac's wife may have been a member of the Palaiologos family. A possible foreign origin is also given to her due to having the same name as her daughter. Their third child was born in 1182 or 1183 and she was dead or divorced by 1185, when Isaac remarried. Their children were:

Euphrosyne Angelina, a nun.

Irene Angelina, married first to Roger III of Sicily, and secondly to Philip of Swabia.

Alexios IV Angelos.

By his second wife, Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), Isaac II had two sons and a daughter:

John Angelos (b. ca. 1193 - d. 1259). He migrated to Hungary and ruled over Syrmia and Bacs (1227–42) as a vassal of king Béla IV of Hungary.

Manuel Angelos (b. after 1195 - d. 1212)

Theodora ( -d, 1246) married Leopold II, Duke of Austria

Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος, Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.

His father Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185), married bef. 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195), was a son of Theodora Komnene (b. January 5, 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Eirene Doukaina, by her marriage c. 1120 to Konstantinos Angelos, Admiral of Sicily (c. 1085 – aft. July 1166), son of one Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.

The identity of Isaac II's first wife is unknown, but her name, Herina (i.e., Eirene), is found on the necrology of Speyer Cathedral, where their daughter Irene is interred. (It must be noted, however, that it would have been extremely unusual for a mother and daughter to bear the same name, unless the mother's name was monastic.) Isaac's wife may have been a member of the Palaiologos family. A possible foreign origin is also given to her due to having the same name as her daughter. Their third child was born in 1182 or 1183 and she was dead or divorced by 1185, when Isaac remarried. Their children were:

Euphrosyne Angelina, a nun.

Irene Angelina, married first to Roger III of Sicily, and secondly to Philip of Swabia.

Alexios IV Angelos.

By his second wife, Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), Isaac II had two sons:

John Angelos (b. ca. 1193 - d. 1259). He migrated to Hungary and ruled over Syrmia and Bacs (1227-42) as a vassal of king Béla IV of Hungary.

Manuel Angelos (b. after 1195 - d. 1212)

Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος, Isaakios II Angelos) (September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine emperor from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204.

His father Andronikos Dukas Angelos, a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185), married bef. 1155 Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195), was a son of Theodora Komnene (b. January 5, 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Eirene Doukaina, by her marriage c. 1120 to Konstantinos Angelos, Admiral of Sicily (c. 1085 – aft. July 1166), son of one Manolis Angelos from Philadelphia. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan.

The identity of Isaac II's first wife is unknown, but her name, Herina (i.e., Eirene), is found on the necrology of Speyer Cathedral, where their daughter Irene is interred. (It must be noted, however, that it would have been extremely unusual for a mother and daughter to bear the same name, unless the mother's name was monastic.) Isaac's wife may have been a member of the Palaiologos family. A possible foreign origin is also given to her due to having the same name as her daughter. Their third child was born in 1182 or 1183 and she was dead or divorced by 1185, when Isaac remarried. Their children were:

Euphrosyne Angelina, a nun.

Irene Angelina, married first to Roger III of Sicily, and secondly to Philip of Swabia.

Alexios IV Angelos.

By his second wife, Margaret of Hungary (renamed Maria), Isaac II had two sons:

John Angelos (b. ca. 1193 - d. 1259). He migrated to Hungary and ruled over Syrmia and Bacs (1227-42) as a vassal of king Béla IV of Hungary.

Manuel Angelos (b. after 1195 - d. 1212)

Isaac II Angelos, or Angelus (in Greek: Ισαάκιος Β’ Άγγελος, [ Isaakios II Angelos ]), was Byzantine Emperor (Eastern Roman Emperor) from 1185 to 1195, and again from 1203 to 1204. He was a member of the extended imperial clan.

During the brief reign of Andronikos I Komnenos, Isaac was involved (alongside his father and brothers) in the revolt of Nicaea and Prousa. Atypically, the Emperor did not punish him for this disloyalty, and Isaac remained at Constantinople.

On September 11, 1185, during Andronikos' absence from the capital, the latter's lieutenant Stephanos Hagiochristophorites moved to arrest Isaac. Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia. Andronikos, in some ways a capable ruler, was hated for his cruelty and his efforts to keep the aristocracy obedient. Isaac appealed to the populace, and a tumult arose which spread rapidly over the whole city. When Andronikos arrived he found that during his absence he had lost popular support, and that Isaac had been proclaimed emperor. Andronikos attempted to flee by boat but was apprehended. Isaac handed him over to the people of the City, and he was killed on September 12, 1185.

It took 3 days to kill Emperor Andronikos: The mob cut off his right hand, pulled out his hair and his teeth, gouged out one of his eyes, threw boiling water in his face, and finally hung him naked upside down and staged a contest between two soldiers to determine whose sword could penetrate his body more deeply (that did finish him).

Isaac inaugurated his reign with a decisive victory over the Norman King of Sicily William II (on the banks of the Strymon, 7 September 1185), who had invaded the Balkans with 80,000 men and 200 ships towards the end of Andronicus I's reign. Elsewhere his policy was less successful. In late 1185, he sent a fleet of 80 galleys to liberate his brother Alexius III from Acre, but it was destroyed by the Normans of Sicily. He then sent a fleet of 70 ships, but it failed in its attempt to recover Cyprus from the rebellious noble Isaac Comnenus, thanks to Norman interference.

The oppressiveness of his taxes, increased to pay his armies and finance his marriage, resulted in the Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion late in 1185. The rebellion led to the establishment of the Second Bulgarian Empire under the Asen dynasty. In 1187, Alexios Branas, the victor over the Normans, was sent against the rebels but turned his arms against his master, and attempted to seize Constantinople, only to be defeated and slain by Isaac's brother-in-law Conrad of Montferrat. Also in 1187, an agreement was made with Venice, in which the republic would provide 40-100 galleys at six months' notice in exchange for favorable trading concessions. As each Venetian galley was manned by 140 oarsmen, that means there were about 18,000 Venetians still in the empire even after Manuel I's arrests.

Isaac's attention was next demanded in the east, where several claimants to the throne successively rose and fell. In 1189 the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa (our ancestor) sought and obtained permission 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. In retaliation, Barbarossa's army occupied the city of Philippopolis and defeated a Byzantine army of 3,000 men that attempted to recapture the city. Thus compelled by force of arms, Isaac II was forced to fulfill his engagements in 1190. By 1196, Isaac II had allowed the once powerful Byzantine navy to decline to only 30 galleys.

The next five years were disturbed by continued warfare with Bulgaria, against which Isaac led several expeditions in person. In spite of their promising start, these ventures had little effect, and on one occasion in 1190 Isaac barely escaped with his life. While preparing for yet another offensive against Bulgaria in 1195, Alexios Angelos, the emperor's older brother, taking advantage of the latter's absence from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was readily recognized by the soldiers as Emperor Alexios III. Isaac was blinded and imprisoned in Constantinople.

After eight years of captivity, he was raised from his dungeon to his throne once more after the arrival of the Fourth Crusade and the flight of Alexios III from the capital. But both mind and body had been enfeebled by confinement, and his son Alexios IV Angelos was associated on the throne as the effective monarch.

Heavily beholden to the crusaders, Alexios IV was unable to meet his obligations and his vacillation caused him to lose the support of both his crusader allies and his subjects. At the end of January, 1204, the influential court official Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos took advantage of riots in the capital to imprison Alexios IV and seize the throne as Emperor Alexios V. At this point Isaac II died, allegedly of shock, while Alexios IV was strangled on January 28 or 29.

Isaac has the reputation of one of the most unsuccessful 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. During his reign the empire lost Lefkada, Kefallonia, and Zakynthos to the Normans in 1185. Then he lost Bulgaria to the Vlachs and Bulgarians in 1186. After that Cilicia was retaken by the Armenians and Cyprus wrested from the empire by the Franks.

For more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_II_Angelus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 (Redirected from Anna Angelina)

Anna Komnena Angelina (c. 1176 - 1212) was a daughter of the Byzantine Emperor Alexios III Angelos and of Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera.

Her first marriage was to the sebastokratōr Isaac Komnenos, a great-nephew of the emperor Manuel I Komnenos. They had one daughter, Theodora Angelina. Soon after Anna's father became emperor, in 1195, Isaac Komnenos was dispatched to combat the Vlach-Bulgarian Rebellion. He was captured, became a pawn between rival Bulgarian and Vlach factions, and died in chains.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JHUw6P2CasQ