Isaac Ii Byzantine Emperor
Isaac II Angelus ( 1155 1204 ) is an Emperor Byzantine (1185-1195 and 1203-1204), son of Andronicus Angel and Euphrosyne Kastamonides. It is a great-grand-son of Alexios I Komnenos.
Summary |
Accession to the Throne
On 11 September 1185 , when Thessaloniki was attacked by the Sicilians , a psychic had told her cousin Andronicus I Comnenus , Emperor then, that Isaac was to succeed to the throne. Isaac killed the soldier sent to arrest him, ran to Hagia Sophia where he explained to the people what had happened. Dissatisfied with the emperor, the population Isaac proclaimed emperor and marched on the palace. Andronicus fled, but caught, he was imprisoned and executed.
But Isaac was not big enough to meet the task ahead. The empire was eaten from the inside, the work of the first Comneni began to collapse in just 5 years and Isaac confirmed this fall. The new Emperor, unlike his predecessors, had no overview or plan to address the Empire.
Internal Administration
Domestically, Isaac II was unable to prevent the disintegration of the Empire and the feudal aristocracy appeared increasingly rebellious. The emperor altered currencies, increased taxes, poorly paid officials who consequently paid on the people. He had entrusted the administration of the treasury to his maternal uncle, Theodore Kastamonids , excellent financially but ruthless extortionist. At his death Isaac was replaced by men unsuited to the crisis of the Empire and who completed the ruin of the treasury of the empire.
Foreign policy
Throughout his reign Isaac had to fight on the front of the Balkans where Serbs were progressing at an alarming rate at the expense of the Empire and the Bulgarians when complaining of too heavy a tax were formed with Wallachia in an independent state (1187). But one of the most important events of the first reign of Isaac was the Third Crusade led by Frederick Barbarossa.
War against the Normans
Upon his arrival, Isaac II had to fight the Normans , who had the plan to invade the empire under Andronikos I Komnenos and the advent of a new emperor had not stopped in their war policies. The new emperor quickly strategist named Alexis Branas the supreme command of military forces. The latter won successes against the Sicilian troops of King Norman William II the Good , especially during the Battle of the River Strymon , they were repulsed and forced to make peace.
Uprising of the Bulgarians
The maladministration of Isaac led to revolts. A special tax levied on the cattle to finance the marriage of Isaac II with a Hungarian princess was during a revolt of the shepherds Vlachs. The uprising spread to the whole Bulgaria. The revolt was led by two boyars, Peter and Ivan Asen.
Their requests were rejected by Isaac. Bulgarians and Vlachs therefore decided to combine. The new confederation formed an alliance with the Coumans and Zupan Serbian Stephen Nemanja. During the year 1,186 - in 1187 prevented the Isaac valacho-Bulgarian settlement in Thrace , with the help of the strategist Alexis Branas , but could not quell the revolt.
Shortly after the attempted theft of Alexis Branas , Vlachs and Bulgars plundered and invaded Thrace. It took Isaac the Angel takes the field in 1188 to drive them. Under the terms of a treaty of peace, he granted them the country between the Danube and the Balkans. Bulgaria became once again a dangerous country for the Empire, nearly two centuries after its virtual annihilation by Basil II.
Isaac II, however, eager to restore the power of the Empire in the Balkans, launched an offensive against the Bulgarians shortly after that he had successfully launched against the Serbs in 1190. But this new attack was not the same fortune. In 1191, the emperor besieged Turnovo , but a sudden invasion of Coumans forced him to retreat and he suffered a great defeat by returning the Balkans. But what prevented Isaac to go back on the offensive, was the revolt of Constantine the Angel, who was governor of Philippopolis proclaimed emperor by his soldiers ( 1193 ), however he was arrested at Adrianople and was blinded.
Asen The advantage of these events to pass the Balkans and ravage Thrace, beating two imperial generals near Arcadiopolis ( 1194 - 1195 ). The Emperor of missing troops spent the winter to raise an army and asked his son the King of Hungary relief. He ended up leaving the field in the spring of 1195, but it was to be overthrown by a conspiracy led by his brother Alexis.
War against the Serbs by Stefan Nemanja
After the death of Manuel I Komnenos in 1180 the Serbs considered themselves released from their promises to Byzantium and Stefan Nemanja resumed his march of invasion. He maintained appropriately valacho-Bulgarian revolt to make new allies in its fight against Constantinople. In 1187, he managed to take the place of Nis and tried to offer an outlet to the Adriatic by occupying the Duklja in Dalmatia to the Bay of Kotor. To stop the Serbs, Isaac Angel had to ally with King Bela III of Hungary , whose daughter he married Margaret in 1185 and with whom he enters into an alliance against the Serbs and Bulgarians.
However in 1190 , shortly after the German Crusade had left the Byzantine territory, Isaac II said the project to reclaim the Balkans. He led an expedition against Stefan Nemanja and beat him on the Morava. This defeat forced the Serbian leader to sign a treaty by which he restored his latest conquest, but it guaranteed the former. The second son married a Serbian Zupan's niece and became emperor sebastokrator. Thus ended the struggle between the Serbs and Byzantines during the reign of Isaac II Angelus.
Crusade of Frederick Barbarossa (1188-1190)
It is March 27, 1188, following the capture of Jerusalem by Saladin October 2, 1187, that Frederick Barbarossa decided to take the cross Mainz. Frederick, like his predecessors, had to go through the Byzantine Empire if he would reach the holy land. He chose diplomacy to achieve his ends. After the exchange of embassies agreement was signed in September 1188 between the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and Isaac II. This agreement allowed the Germanic armies crossing Byzantine territory provided they refrain from violence. Unfortunately, this crusade that would cause no problems had been very negative consequences for the Empire because of a decision of Isaac.
Treachery of Isaac II
Indeed, shortly after leaving the army Germanic Isaac II changed his mind for some unknown reason, and signed a treaty with Saladin covenant by which he undertook to destroy the army of crusaders.
Upon his arrival in Byzantine territory, Frederick Barbarossa was unprepared, he should take the roads were blocked by the Imperial Army and food convoys stopped, he learned more than his ambassadors at Constantinople had been captured.
Such a betrayal enraged that Frederick began his report with all the enemies of Byzantium. Stefan Nemanja took the opportunity to capture new fortresses in the Byzantine Empire. Soon the conflict between the two emperors became an armed conflict and Germanic forces forced the passage of Trajan guarded by the imperial army. Letters full of recriminations were exchanged and Frederick ravaged Thrace, saying it would stop the conflict in case of release of its ambassadors. Finally the governor Philippopolis , Nicetas Khoniats , went to inform the emperor of the situation and the latter, after several exchanges of embassies, agreed to release the two ambassadors (October 19, 1189).
But the conflict was not finished so far, as released ambassadors began Barbarossa aware of the agreement signed between Saladin and Isaac, the patriarch of preaching hate and abuse that had occurred. The Holy Roman Emperor considered himself thus in a state of hostility with the Empire and after a bloody battle between his forces and the Byzantine army at Didymotika , he reached Adrianople marched on November 22. In February 1190 the Germans were almost at the gates of Constantinople and occupied most of the fortresses of Thrace and Macedonia after burning Eastern Berrhoea and Philippopolis.
Compromise
Isaac Angel, feeling lost, tried to mislead the enemy by dragging out negotiations in length. Finally the two emperors signed the Treaty of Adrianople ( February 1190 ) by which the emperor promised to pass in Asia Frederick Barbarossa and his army Sestos and Gallipoli , to provide them with food, to pay compensation to the two ambassadors who had been held captive and not to punish those who had helped the Germans. It was a total capitulation.
The Crusaders then crossed the Hellespont (21-30 March) and crossed Asia Minor, not without Isaac or prevents movement of Saladin. The Germans attacked the Sultan of Iconium Kl Arslan who was beaten and marched toward the Holy Land. The arrival of Frederick Barbarossa excited terror in the Muslim world but the latter died in the passage of Selef June 10, 1190. After this event the Germanic army dispersed.
Consequences
The direct consequence of the animosity between West Frederick Barbarossa and Isaac II was a confirmation of the hypothesis that the main obstacle to the crusade was the Byzantine Empire. This is one of many other causes that led to the capture of Constantinople by the Latins in 1204.
separatist movements
Since the reign of Andronicus I attempted secession or theft had been many and the advent of the new emperor was far from the stop. But only three men were really dangerous for Isaac II.
Defection Alexis Branas (1187)
The emperor had to struggle against his strategist Alexis Branas , who, having defeated the Bulgarians, had himself proclaimed emperor by his soldiers and established a blockade in front of Constantinople. The situation was desperate Isaac lorsqu'arriva a knight frank, Conrad of Montferrat , brother of the emperor, who was in Constantinople, on the road to Jerusalem. The charge allowed the French riders win the release of Isaac. Conrad killed himself Alexis Branas during a duel with spears.
In Cyprus (1186)
Shortly after the peace treaty with Ivan Asen I , Isaac II Angelus had to struggle against the separatist movement of Isaac Comnenus. The emperor sent a fleet against Cyprus , where was it, but the Imperial fleet undergoes a disaster facing the Sicilian fleet sent by William II to rescue Isaac Comnenus. Admiral Norman conqueror Margaritone , received a fief of the King of Sicily territories conquered in 1185 he still owned and remained in possession of Zakynthos and Cephalonia.
In Asia Minor.
In Asia Minor , Isaac II Angelus could not overcome the separatist Theodore Mancaphas who created a territory comprising Lydia and Philadelphia. To dislodge the Emperor appealed to the Duke of Thracsiens, Vatatzes Basile , who drove him. Theodore Mancaphas fled to the Sultan of Iconium. He won the latter troops with which he ravaged the Byzantine provinces. Isaac II finally obtained with money that was delivered Theodore Mancaphas him, but the episode speaks volumes about the weakness of the emperor and the gradual disintegration of the empire.
End of reign
On 8 April 1195 , Isaac II was deposed and blinded by his brother Alexius III. His son, later Alexius IV , fled to Venice , and asked the help of the republic. Taking this opportunity, the Doge Enrico Dandolo turned the Fourth Crusade and Byzantium on the 18 August 1203 Isaac II restored the imperial throne associated with Alexius IV.
The occupation of the Franks and the policy of Alexius IV aroused the discontent of the population, a revolt led by Alexis Doukas Mourzuphles broke causing the downfall of Isaac II and Alexius IV. on 28 January 1204. Isaac II died shortly after the news of the arrest of his son Alexis Mourzuphles Results Except for the second part of his reign he had only a symbolic role, the reign of Isaac II was a disaster for the Byzantine Empire, which finally lost the Balkans with the revolt of the Bulgarians and the progress of the Serbs. After two centuries of unity, the Balkans became once more a mosaic of dangerous states for the Byzantine Empire. The integrity of the Empire was so seriously threatened. In addition, theft or separatist movements increasingly dangerous to reveal the Byzantine emperor's impotence. A big mistake Isaac was surely his quarrel with Frederick Barbarossa, who led an open war between two emperors, which ended in a real surrender of Isaac. This event was of course one of the factors that led to animosity between the Holy Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire and more broadly between the West and Byzantium, and leading to the capture of Constantinople in 1204. References
Preceded by Isaac II Angelus Followed by Andronicus I Comnenus 
Byzantine Emperor 1185 - 1195 Alexis III Ange Alexis III Ange Byzantine Emperor
(With Alexis Angel IV ) 1203 - 1204 Nicolas Kanabos
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