Officers: prévôtés, bailiwicks, seneschals · The Byzantine Empire (the Empire of the Romans) · as at first light, 1 January 1200

Mylasa and Melanoudion

Caria from the south bank of the Maeander to the Morsynos valley and the coast, first a theme of Mylasa (attested 1127/1128), renamed after its seat moved to Melanoudion (not identified, south of Miletus) between about 1150 and 1175.

After Manuel I disbanded the naval theme of the Kibyrrhaiotai, its coast and the nearby Dodecanese, above all Kos, came under the doux of Mylasa and Melanoudion. The province includes Palatia (Miletus) and the monastic mountain of Latros (Latmos). Its governor is a doux who is also the tax assessor (anagrapheus). Michael Doukas, the sebastokrator John's bastard son, held it in the last years of Isaac II and was reappointed by Alexios III, probably in 1200; whether he is in post on 1 January 1200 is not pinned.

He rises in revolt soon after (early 1201 in Varzos; Magoulias's dating of Choniates puts it in 1200).

Who he is

Name
not pinned for 1 January 1200. Michael Doukas held it under Isaac II and Alexios III reappointed him, 'probably in 1200' (Varzos)
Title
Doux and anagrapheus (governor and assessor of taxes) of Mylasa and Melanoudion
Since
not pinned
Born
not pinned (Michael is first mentioned on 14 February 1190)
Family
Michael Doukas, bastard son of the sebastokrator John Doukas, the emperor's paternal uncle; later Michael I Komnenos Doukas, founder of the state of Epirus (after 1204, later)
Confidence
low

Wikipedia, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, after Varzos (1984) and Loenertz (1973); Choniates for his revolt and his raids with Rukn al-Din's troops. An earlier doux and anagrapheus, Andronikos Kantakouzenos, is attested in 1175 (Magoulias's note, after Nicol).

Overlord

The emperor Alexios III Angelos (Byzantium).

What it holds

  • Mylasa (Mylasa) and Melanoudion (site not identified)
  • Palatia, the old Miletus (Miletus), and the monasteries of Mount Latros
  • The Carian coast and, by the late twelfth century, Kos and the nearby islands (the islands are written by pel)

How it was acquired

Imperial province since the early twelfth century.

Allies and rivals

Faces the Turkmen of inland Caria; Michael Doukas will go over to the sultan after his revolt.

How things stand that morning

Imperial; the governor that morning is not pinned.

Wealth

Olives, flocks and the coastal trade of Caria; the land tax assessed by the anagrapheus.

Military

Castles of Caria (not pinned); no figures.

Threats

  • The governor's own revolt (Michael Doukas, 1200 or 1201)
  • Turkmen raids from inland Caria

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. during 1200 (probably)Alexios III reappoints Michael Doukas doux and anagrapheus of Mylasa and Melanoudion (Varzos).Depends on: the emperor's favour to his uncle's son. Stopped by: another appointment.
  2. early 1201 (Varzos) or 1200 (Magoulias's dating of Choniates)Michael rises in revolt for reasons unknown; Alexios III campaigns against him (summer 1201 in Varzos) and beats him; he flees to Sultan Rukn al-Din and raids the Maeander towns with Turkish troops.Depends on: Michael's grievances. Stopped by: recall or reward before he rises.

Places of note

  • Herakleia under Latros (Kapikiri) and the Latros monasteries: The monastic mountain east of Miletus.

Where the sources disagree

  • Michael's revolt: the Balkans sheet (Byzantium) places it in summer 1200 after Magoulias's dating of Choniates; Varzos, followed by the English Wikipedia, puts the reappointment probably in 1200, the revolt in early 1201 and the emperor's campaign in summer 1201. Either way it is after 1 January 1200. Con-byzantium calls him a tax collector; Varzos makes him doux and anagrapheus.

Evidence: The province's outline is known; the holder that winter is not pinned.

On the map: Province bounds reconstructed; inland Caria was frontier.

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.

Sources and studies

  1. Wikipedia: Mylasa and Melanoudion
  2. Wikipedia: Michael I Komnenos Doukas (after Varzos 1984 and Loenertz 1973)
  3. Niketas Choniates, History, trans. H. J. Magoulias, O City of Byzantium (Detroit 1984): the reigns of Isaac II and Alexios III, read through the archive.org search of the scan

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.