Alexios III

Who he is

Name

Alexios III Angelos (Alexios Komnenos)

Title

Emperor of the Romans

Since

8 April 1195

Born

about 1153

Family

Angelos; married to Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera; three daughters (see Byzantium)

Confidence

high

Choniates; Wikipedia; the 1198 provincial list and the Partitio of 1204 for the imperial estate districts.

What it holds

• The Blachernae palace (his residence) and the Great Palace with the Hippodrome
• The suburban palaces and parks outside the land walls: the Philopation park, the palace at the spring (Pege), and the estates along the European shore of the Bosporus (the Stenon)
• The episkepsis of Choirobakchoi west of the capital (1198 list; location near Athyras (Buyukcekmece), approximate)
• The forests reserved for the imperial hunts, guarded by eunuchs (Choniates, of the years before 1203; location not pinned)
• The private treasury (idikon) under its keeper (John Spyridonakes had held the post before 1200-1201)

How it was acquired

With the throne in April 1195.

Allies and rivals

See Byzantium.

How things stand that morning

In the emperor's hands. The emperor is in the capital that winter.

Wealth

Rents and dues of the estates, the palace workshops and the gifts and sales of office that Choniates complains of.

Military

The palace guards: the Varangians (Varangians) and the young guards of Blachernae.

Threats

• A palace coup (John Komnenos the Fat seizes part of the Great Palace on 31 July 1201 (or 1200)).

Places of note

• Blachernae palace: The emperor's residence.
• Great Palace and Hippodrome: Ceremonies, races and shows.
• Philopation park: Imperial park and hunting lodge outside the land walls (approximate).

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: The palaces are certain; the extent of the imperial estates in 1200 is known only from the fiscal lists of 1198 and 1204, which name districts, not boundaries.

On the map: Only the one named estate district is drawn; the palaces and parks are points within the capital's district.

Primary sources for Byzantium

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

• Chronicle of Alberic of Trois-Fontaines, Alberic of Trois-Fontaines (about 1227 to 1241, at the Cistercian abbey of Trois-Fontaines in Champagne). The widest net of any Latin chronicle for 1200, compiled from dozens of sources, many now lost. Read online
• History of Niketas Choniates, Niketas Choniates (about 1185 to 1217, in stages, with a final revision in exile at Nicaea after 1204). The central narrative for the Byzantine Empire under Alexios III Angelos: the Bulgarian and Vlach war under Kaloyan, the breakaway of Ivanko in the Rhodopes and his capture by treachery in 1200, Dobromir Chrysos at Prosek and Strumica and the emperor's campaign and settlement with him, the Cuman raids into Thrace, John Komnenos the Fat's one-day revolt at Constantinople on 31 July 1200, the loosening of imperial control in the provinces and the rise of Leo Sgouros, and the court's fiscal abuses. Read online
• The Capture of Constantinople, Gunther of Pairis (about 1205 to 1210). Written at the Cistercian abbey of Pairis in Alsace from the account of its abbot Martin, who preached the crusade at Basel in 1200 (Gunther gives the sermon) and led a contingent from the Upper Rhine. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople, Robert de Clari, knight of Picardy (about 1205 to 1216). A rank-and-file crusader's account that begins with the preaching of the crusade and the taking of the cross in 1199 to 1200 by the counts of Flanders, Blois and Champagne and by the Picard lords, among them Peter of Amiens, Robert's own lord, then the negotiations with Venice. Read online
• The Palace Revolution of John Komnenos (31 July 1200), Nicholas Mesarites (1200 or soon after). An eyewitness narrative of the one-day coup of John Komnenos the Fat at Constantinople on 31 July 1200: the crowning of the usurper in Hagia Sophia, the mob's plunder of the Great Palace, the stand of the palace clergy and the guard at the church of the Virgin of the Pharos, where Mesarites was skeuophylax, and the recovery of the palace by Alexios III's men that night. Read online
• History of the doges of Venice (about 1229, with a continuation). The earliest surviving Venetian narrative close to the events. Read online
• The Conquest of Constantinople (Villehardouin), Geoffrey of Villehardouin (about 1207 to 1213). Opens with the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly and the tournament at Ecry (28 November 1199) where Theobald III of Champagne and Louis of Blois took the cross, then the taking of the cross by Baldwin of Flanders, Hugh of Saint-Pol, Geoffrey of Perche and others through early 1200, the assemblies at Soissons and Compiegne in 1200, and the six envoys sent to Venice in the winter of 1200 to 1201. Read online
• The History of the Seljuks of Rum, Ibn Bibi (Nasir al-Din Husayn ibn Muhammad) (about 1281 to 1285, at Konya). The main Seljuk narrative for Rum begins with Kilij Arslan II's partition of the sultanate among his sons and his death (1192), Kaykhusraw I's first reign at Konya, his deposition in 1196 to 1197 by Rukn al-Din Sulayman II, Kaykhusraw's wanderings to Cilician Armenia, Aleppo and Constantinople, Sulayman's reduction of his brothers' towns (Tokat, Malatya, Amasya, and Ankara by 1204) and his Erzurum and Georgian campaigns. Read online

7 more in the sources library for The Balkans and Byzantium.