Chrysos's domain of Prosek and Strumica

Who rules

Name

Dobromir Chrysos

Title

Lord of Prosek and Strumica (no title of his own is attested; Choniates calls him a Vlach)

Since

1196 at Strumica; Prosek soon after; recognised by Alexios III in the peace of 1197-1198

Born

not pinned

Family

A Vlach by birth (Choniates), with a Slavic first name. Married in 1198 (Varzos places it in the 1197 settlement) a daughter of the protostrator Manuel Kamytzes, the emperor's cousin, who was made to leave her first husband to marry him; her name is not pinned (Varzos lists one daughter of Kamytzes, possibly Maria). No children are recorded.

Confidence

medium

Choniates is the only narrative source; the dates of the campaigns and the marriage differ by a year between modern accounts (Wikipedia: campaigns in 1197, marriage 1198; Varzos: settlement and marriage in 1197).

Overlord

None in fact. Under the peace of 1197-1198 he is the emperor's man by treaty and by marriage, but he holds his castles in his own right.

What the realm holds

• Prosek (Demir Kapija): the cliff fortress over the Vardar gorge, his main seat
• Strumica (Stroummitza) with its citadel and the Strumica valley
• the countryside of the two strongholds; the 1197-1198 peace is described as recognising his rights between the Strymon and the Vardar, but the bounds are not pinned

How it was acquired

By revolt in 1196 from the command the emperor gave him at Strumica, by the seizure and fortification of Prosek, and by the peace of 1197-1198, which recognised him.

Allies and rivals

Father-in-law: Manuel Kamytzes, a prisoner of Ivanko since later 1199. The emperor: a treaty partner who has just disgraced Chrysos's father-in-law and imprisoned his mother-in-law and brother-in-law. Rival: Ivanko at Philippopolis. Kaloyan of Bulgaria: a possible patron (he backed the revolt of 1201).

The realm that morning

Holds Prosek and Strumica in his own right, at peace with the emperor under the treaty of 1197-1198. No fighting that winter.

Wealth

Control of the Vardar road between Thessalonica and Skopje (the gorge at Prosek is the only easy way through), the farmland and vineyards of the Strumica and Tikves basins, and the pastures of his Vlachs. No figures.

Military

Prosek, a fortress on a crag above the gorge that beat off two imperial sieges in 1197; the citadel of Strumica. His Vlach horsemen. Strong in defence; he has never met the field army in open battle.

Threats

• The emperor's anger over Kamytzes, and a new campaign
• Ivanko
• Kaloyan's growing power to the north
• The loyalty of the townsmen of Strumica, Greeks and Slavs under a Vlach lord

Officers

None named. His following is his own Vlach band (Choniates gives 500 men for his first band, the only figure) with whatever local men joined him.

Treaties and truces

Peace with Alexios III since 1197-1198, sealed by the Kamytzes marriage. No treaty with Kaloyan is recorded before 1201, when Kaloyan backed his revolt (Madgearu). Madgearu calls him Ivanko's rival.

Church

Strumica is a see of the archbishop of Ohrid (bishop of Tiberioupolis). The monasteries of the Mother of God Eleousa at Veljusa and of St Leontios at Vodoca lie in his valley. The Orthodox Church is not on the Church map.

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.

In 1200

1. 1200, about a year after Kamytzes's capture in later 1199 (not pinned closer)Chrysos pays his father-in-law's ransom (Choniates gives the sum) and Kamytzes goes free. Chrysos asks the emperor to repay him out of Kamytzes's confiscated fortune, and is refused (Choniates p. 293).Depends on: Kamytzes alive and his captor willing to sell him; Chrysos able to raise the money. Stopped by: The emperor ransoming Kamytzes himself; Kamytzes dying or escaping.
2. Spring 1200 (Treadgold)Alexios III seizes Chrysos's rival Ivanko at a parley and takes his lands (the bul record).Depends on: Ivanko trusting the safe conduct. Stopped by: Ivanko refusing to come, or Kaloyan relieving him.
3. 1201 (Varzos; some accounts say 1200-1201)Kamytzes, freed by Chrysos's ransom and embittered by the emperor's refusal to help him, rises with his son-in-law: Chrysos takes Pelagonia (Bitola) and Prilep, and Kamytzes goes over the Tempe pass into Thessaly (Choniates p. 293).Depends on: Kamytzes released alive; the emperor still refusing to repay the ransom or restore his property; Chrysos willing to break the 1197-1198 peace. Stopped by: The emperor repaying Chrysos or restoring Kamytzes; Kamytzes dying in captivity; Chrysos choosing the emperor's favour.

Later, on the likely course

1. Autumn 1201 into 1202Alexios III takes the field. He offers Chrysos his granddaughter Theodora (Ivanko's widow); Chrysos accepts and gives up Pelagonia and Prilep, keeping Prosek and its countryside. Kamytzes refuses a pardon brought by John Oinopolites, is beaten in Thessaly, wounded, and flees to Stanos, then probably to Bulgaria (Choniates pp. 293-294; Varzos).Depends on: The revolt of 1201 happening; Ivanko already dead, so that Theodora is free. Stopped by: A different outcome in the field, or Kaloyan intervening in force.
2. After 1202 (not pinned)Kaloyan takes Prosek and Chrysos disappears from the sources (Madgearu; ODB).Depends on: Kaloyan's westward push after his peace with the emperor. Stopped by: Chrysos holding out, or the emperor defending him.

Places of note

• Prosek: Cliff fortress over the Vardar gorge; Chrysos's main seat
• Strumica citadel: Hill citadel above the town (the later Tsareva Kula)

Where the sources disagree

• The brief dates Kamytzes's revolt with Chrysos to 1200-1201; Varzos (via Wikipedia) dates its start to 1201, after a captivity of about a year from later 1199. Either way it has not begun on 1 January 1200.
• Modern accounts differ on the peace: Wikipedia has the campaigns in 1197 and the marriage in 1198; Varzos puts the settlement and the marriage in 1197.

Evidence: Choniates tells the story in detail, but his dates are relative; modern accounts disagree by a year. The extent of Chrysos's land beyond the two strongholds and their valleys is not pinned.

On the map: The two valleys are drawn as the core; the peace may have given him more of the land between the Strymon and the Vardar, but no source names it.

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