Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 1.djvu/840

Rh 82*2 COMNENUS. COMNENUS. I. I. 1. Theodora, married 2. Maria, Raldwin III., king married of Jerusalem; after his Stephen, death concubine of An- prince of dronicus Comnenua, af- Hun- terwards emperor. gary* 3- A daugh- ter, married Con Stan- tine Ma- croducas. I 4. A daughter, married probably a Ducas, whose son Isaac became inde- pendent master of Cy- prus, and styled himself emperor. 5. Eudoxia, married a French noble- From above. IV. Further Issue of the Emperor Calo-Joannes. Manuel, Emperor [Manuel] ; born about 1120, began to reign 1143, died 1180 ; married 1. Bertha (in 1143), afterwards called Irene, daughter of Berengar, Count of Sulzbach, and niece of Konrad III., Emperor of Germany, who died about 1158; 2. Maria, afterwards called Xene, daughter of Raymond, prince of Antioch; put to death by Andronicus I. in 1183 ; 3. Concubine, Theodora Coranena (Calusina). 1. Maria, betrothed to Bela, prince of Hungary ; married, in 1180, Ray- ner, 2nd son of William, marquis of Monteferrato, called Alexis, afterwards Caesar ; both put to death by Andronicus I. 2. A daugh- ter ; died young. 3. Alexis II., Emperor [Alexis II.] ; born 1167; began to reign 1 180; married,in 1179, Anna, or Agnes, daugh- ter of Louis VII., king of France ; put to death by Andronicus I. in 1183. 4. Alexis, illegitimate, Sebastocrator ; married Irene, natural daughter of An- dronicus I. Comnenus and Theodora Comnena ; destined to succeed Andro- nicus I., by whom he was afterwards blinded for conspiracy ; though blind, created Caesar by Isaac II. ; for some time a monk ; a learned and highly gifted man, of whom no issue is known. (See Du Cange, Familiae Byzantinae, pp. 169 — 189.) Frmn above, V. Issue of Isaac Sebastocrator, founder of the Imperial branch of the Comnbni of Trebizond. The history of the Emperors of Trebizond was almost entiraly unknown till the publication of Pro- fessor Fallmerayer's Geschichte des KaiseHhums von TrapezunU one of the most important historical productions of our 4ay8. The accounts which Du Cange and Gibbon give of these emperors is in many respects quite erroneous ; but these writers are to be excused, since they could not avail themselves of several Oriental works perused by Fallmerayer, and especially of two Greek MSS. which the German professor discovered at Venice, viz., A Chronicle of the imperial palace at Trebizond, by Panaretus, and a work on Trebizond by the celebrated Cardinal Bessarion. It would not be compatible with the plan of the present work to give the lives of the Emperors of Trebizond, but it has been thought advisable to give at least their genealogy, and thus to assist those who should wish to investigate the history and tragical fall (in 1 462) of the last independent remnant of Greek and Roman power. As there are no genealogical tables in Fallmerayer's work, the writer has brought together all his separate statements respecting the genealogy of the fiunily, and the following genealogical table of the Comneni of Trebizond is thus the first that has yet been printed. V. Isaac Sebastocrator, Caesar, third son of Alexis I., and third brother and favourite of the Emperor Calo-Joannes. In consequence of some slanders against his character, he fled to the Sultan of Iconium, with his son Joannes, returned, enjoyed again the confidence of Calo-Joannes, lost it once more, was imprisoned, but released by the emperor Manuel, and died in possession of the highest civil and military honours, leaving behind him the reputation of having been one of the most virtuous and able men of his time. Died after 1143. I J. Joannes ; returned from Iconium, whither he had fled with his father; but, for some insult shewn to him, abandoned the Greeks for ever, adopted the Mohammedan religion, settled at Ico- nium, and married Camero (?), daughter of Sultan Mazuthi (Mesud I); called by the Turks-Seljuks Zelebis (Chelebi), that is, " the Nobleman." This Joannes, as was said by Mohammed II., sultan of theTurks-Osraanlis, the conqueror of Constantinople, and repeated by most of the Turkish historians, was the ancestor of the sultans of Turkey, leaving issue, viz. Soliman Shah. Ertoghrul. Osman, the well-known founder of the present reigning dynasty in Turkey. These three persons are all historical, but their descent from John Comnenus is more than doubtful. 2. Andronicus, Emperor [Andronicus I.] ; bom about 1112; began to reign 1182 — 3; put to death 1185 ; married 1. name unknown ; 2. Theodora Comnena, con- cubine ; 3. Philippa, daughter of Raymond* prince of Antioch, and widow of Baldwin III., king of Jerusalem, con- cubine (wife ?) ; 4. An- na or Agnes, daughter of Louis VII., king of France, and widow oi the emperor Alexis II. 3. A son. I Isaac; put to death by Isaac II. Angelus.