Ivanko's breakaway domain in the Rhodopes

Who rules

Name

Ivanko, called Alexios after his marriage

Title

Rebel lord in Thrace and the Rhodopes; until his revolt the emperor's commander at Philippopolis (the German article calls him governor, strategos; the English sources say 'command of Philippopolis'; his formal title is not pinned).

Since

His revolt: 1199 in Choniates's order of events (followed by Varzos and the Thrace record); Madgearu has him allied with Kaloyan already by 1198. His command at Philippopolis dates from 1197.

Born

not pinned ('It is not known when and where Ivanko was born', Dall'Aglio 2021, as cited).

Family

A Vlach or Bulgarian boyar and, by some accounts, a cousin of the Asen brothers; he served at Ivan Asen I's court and murdered him in 1196 (in Choniates's story, as told by Madgearu, after Asen summoned him over an affair with the sister of Asen's wife). In 1197 he was married or betrothed to Theodora Angelina, daughter of Anna Angelina and the sebastokrator Isaac Komnenos (who died a prisoner of the Bulgarians), and so a granddaughter of Alexios III; Choniates says the wedding was put off because she was still a child (as used in the Thrace record), while modern summaries speak of a marriage. He took the emperor's name Alexios. Theodora will later marry Dobromir Chrysos (1201). No brother or child is named in the sources used here.

Confidence

medium

English and German Wikipedia (Ivanko (boyar); Iwanko), citing Choniates, Treadgold, Stephenson, Kazhdan, Cheynet, Madgearu; English Wikipedia (Manuel Kamytzes, after Varzos).

Overlord

None in practice: a rebel against Alexios III, his wife's grandfather, and an ally of Kaloyan, to whose people by the Haemus he sent herds and Roman captives late in 1199 as the price of the alliance (Choniates, as used in the Thrace record); it was while seizing such herds that Kamytzes was ambushed.

What the realm holds

• Philippopolis (Plovdiv) and the upper Maritsa plain: his command and the base of his revolt (medium confidence that the city itself is in his hands that winter; it was his post, and Rosser speaks of central Thrace).
• The northern Rhodope forts: Stenimachos (Asenovgrad) and Krytzimos (Krichim), with the valleys behind them; the monastery of Bachkovo lies in this country.
• The central Rhodopes to the region of Smolena (Smolyan), added after Kamytzes's capture.
• The southern slopes toward Mosynopolis and Mount Pangaion: overrun after Kamytzes's capture (Varzos, after Choniates pp. 282-283); whether he holds the walled towns there (Mosynopolis, Xantheia, Drama) is not pinned; they are written by con and mac.

How it was acquired

Given Philippopolis by Alexios III in 1197 after his marriage; turned it into a base for revolt in 1198 or 1199; extended south after defeating Kamytzes.

Allies and rivals

Ally of Kaloyan (by 1198). Rival of Dobromir Chrysos of Strumica and Prosek, who is at peace with the emperor and will ransom Kamytzes, his father-in-law (Madgearu). Enemy of Alexios III and of the emperor's sons-in-law Alexios Palaiologos and Theodore Laskaris, who march against him in 1200 (Cheynet).

The realm that morning

In open revolt, victorious in the last fighting, with the Byzantines withdrawn after Kamytzes's capture. He holds the Philippopolis plain, the Rhodope forts and the mountains to Smolena, and has overrun the southern slopes toward Mosynopolis and Pangaion. Imperial garrisons hold Constantia (Simeonovgrad) and Adrianople to the east (con) and, as far as the record shows, the fort of Batrachokastron that had been Kamytzes's base (site not pinned).

The protostrator Kamytzes is his prisoner, unless already ransomed by Chrysos (not pinned).

Wealth

The grain and vineyards of the Philippopolis plain, the flocks of the Rhodopes, tolls on the military road from Constantinople to Sredets and Belgrade, which runs through Philippopolis, and plunder. No figures.

Military

Vlach fighters he recruited and trained while the emperor's commander (Choniates p. 281); the walls of Philippopolis and the Rhodope castles. Record: ambushed and captured Kamytzes's force. No numbers.

Threats

• Alexios III's campaign of 1200, led by his sons-in-law Alexios Palaiologos and Theodore Laskaris (Cheynet), and the emperor's own talent for intrigue.
• Dobromir Chrysos, his rival, if he joins the emperor.
• Kaloyan, if the alliance turns: Ivanko murdered Kaloyan's brother.

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. Spring 1200 (Treadgold); 1200 (Madgearu, Choniates)Alexios III invites Ivanko to a peace council, imprisons him and recovers his fortresses; Ivanko is put to death or dies in prison (date not pinned); his domain returns to the empire.Depends on: Ivanko trusting the emperor's safe conduct; the imperial army in the field. Stopped by: Ivanko refusing to treat or hostages taken; Kaloyan intervening with Cumans.
2. 1200Kamytzes, ransomed by Chrysos, is taken to Prosek and turns against the emperor (mac).Depends on: Alexios III refusing to pay the ransom. Stopped by: The emperor paying it.
3. 1200 or later, after Ivanko's fallThe emperor puts John Spyridonakes, keeper of his private treasury, over Smolena as governor (as used in the Thrace record); the Rhodopes return to imperial administration.Depends on: Ivanko's capture. Stopped by: Ivanko holding out.

Places of note

• Stenimachos (Asen's Fortress, Asenovgrad): Rhodope fortress above the Asenitsa, 2-3 km south of Asenovgrad.
• Krytzimos (Krichim): Rhodope fort where the imperial campaign against Ivanko began.
• Bachkovo monastery: The monastery of the Mother of God Petritzonitissa, founded in 1083 by the Georgian general Gregory Pakourianos, whose rule required Georgian-speaking monks and barred Greeks; inside Ivanko's country; its dealings with him and its estates in 1200 are not recorded.
• Batkun: Where Bulgarian tradition and the German article place the ambush of Kamytzes (approximate).

Where the sources disagree

• Date of Kamytzes's capture: later 1199 (Varzos) or 1198 (German Wikipedia, 'battle of Batkun').
• Ivanko's fate: 'executed by his order' (Fine) or 'most likely died in captivity' (German Wikipedia).
• Marriage: the English article (after Kazhdan, Fine, Wolff) says he married Theodora in 1197; Choniates, as used in the Thrace record, says the wedding was put off because she was a child. Either way she is promised to him on 1 January 1200.

Evidence: Choniates tells the story in detail and is followed by all modern accounts, but his chronology for 1198-1200 is loose, and the exact extent of the domain (which forts, whether the walled towns of the southern slopes) is not pinned.

On the map: The core (the Philippopolis plain and the northern Rhodopes) is secure; Smolena is likely; the southern slopes are shown as overrun only.

Primary sources for this realm

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.

• 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