Laskaris

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Lascaris
Λάσκαρις

Lascarid dynasty
Imperial dynasty
CountryByzantine Empire
Empire of Nicaea
Place of originConstantinople
Founded1204[a] (as imperial family)
FounderTheodore I Laskaris
Final rulerJohn IV Laskaris
Titles
TraditionsGreek Orthodoxy
Deposition1261 (Empire of Nicaea)

The House of Laskaris or Lascaris (Greek: Λάσκαρις, later Λάσκαρης; feminine form Laskarina, Greek: Λασκαρίνα) was a Byzantine Greek noble family which rose to prominance during the Late Byzantine period. The members of the family formed the ruling dynasty of the Empire of Nicaea, a Byzantine rump state that existed from the 1204 sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade until the restoration of the Empire under the Palaeologan dynasty in 1261.

Upon the sack of the Byzantine capital by the Crusaders, Alexios V Doukas was overthrown and the Latin Empire was established in most of his former lands. Byzantine nobility would flee the Latin territories and establish the three independent Greek states that rivaled the Crusaders. After a successful resistance in Asia Minor, Theodore I Laskaris founded the Empire of Nicaea and laid claims to the Byzantine throne, along with the Angelos family of Epirus and the Komnenoi of Trebizond. The Byzantine Greek population of Asia Minor sought refuge to Theodore's empire, which gradually acquired control over much of western Anatolia. The empire was further strengthened after the military victories of Theodore's successor, John III Vataztes. John's son, Theodore II Laskaris, maintained the empire's strength until the throne was passed to his underage son, John IV Laskaris. In 1259 John fell victim to an aristocratic conspiracy which managed to establish Michael Palaiologos as his regent and co-emperor.[1][2]

The Nicaeans recaptured Constantinople in 1261 and Michael established the Palaiologos family as the new imperial dynasty. Under the Palaeologan rule, the Lascarids remained among the senior nobility up to the dissolution of the Byzantine empire, whereupon many of them emigrated to Italy and much later to Smyrna. According to George Pachymeres, a few members of the Laskarids were additionally called Tzamantouros (Tζαμάντουρος).

Name[edit]

The origin of the name is unclear. In 1928, the Greek scholar Phaedon Koukoules proposed an origin from daskaris (δάσκαρης), a Cappadocian variant for "teacher", but the δ>λ shift in Cappadocian is attested only in the late 19th century, so that its application to the mid-11th century or earlier is dubious.[3] A year later, G. Stamnopoulos proposed an alternative etymology from the name Laskas (Λάσκας) or Laskos (Λάσκος) and the -aris (-άρις) ending borrowed from the Latin -arius, but the Greek linguist K. Menas considered such an etymological evolution as unlikely.[3] The Greek historian D. Theodoridis instead suggested a derivation from the Arabic al-ʿashqar, "ruddy, blond", or also "sorrel".[4] According to the Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, the "most probable" etymology is the one proposed by B. Hemmerdinger in 1969, according to which the name derives from the Persian word Lashkarī (لشگری, also Arabic: عسکری, ʿaskarī), meaning "warrior, soldier". However, this interpretation is open to question since "the first known members of the Laskaris family [...] were simple peasants".[5][6]

History[edit]

Family and Fourth Crusade[edit]

Silver coin (aspron) of Theodore I Laskaris; first emperor of Nicaea and founder of the Laskaris imperial house.

The first occurrence of the name is in 1059, in a will by Eustathios Boilas, but the people mentioned there were simple peasants. Another family surnamed Laskaris appears in Thessalonica from c. 1180 on, but the relation with the imperial dynasty, if any, is unclear.[6]

The first Laskaris of note were the brothers Theodore and Constantine, members of a well–off provincial family with ties to the imperial Komnenos clan. The names of their parents or any other 12th century member of their family are not recorded. If Theodore followed the Byzantine custom of giving his father's name to his firstborn son, his father was called Nicholas.[7] Their mother belonged to an unidentified branch of the Komnenos family and they proudly adopted her surname.[8][9] They had no less than five brothers; Manuel, Michael, George, Alexios and Isaac. Manuel and Michael may have been born to a different mother, as they bore the additional surname Tzamantouros.[10] The family was connected to western Asia Minor and Constantinople. Both Theodore and Constantine had a seal representing Saint George and bearing the inscription Diasorites. The seal expressed their connection to the monastery of Saint George Diasorites, located in Pyrgion in the valley of the river Kaistros.[10][11] Theodore rose to prominence in Constantinople through his familial ties with the Komnenoi. After Theodore's marriage to Anna Komnene Angelina, daughter of emperor Alexios III Angelos, in 1200, the "Komnenos Laskaris" family became connected to the ruling Angelos dynasty. Theodore soon acquired the title of despot and was elevated to the first position of the imperial line of succession.[12][13]

Upon the sack of Constantinople on April 1204, the emperor Alexios V Doukas fled the city seeking refuge to Alexios III Angelos, but the latter blinded him and he was eventually taken captive by the Latins.[14] According to Niketas Choniates, as the Crusaders captured Constantinople on April 12, an emergency assembly was gathered in Hagia Sophia with the aim to declare the new Byzantine emperor between Constantine Laskaris and Constantine Doukas.[15] The former was elected emperor by the people, but declined the imperial insignia and instead urged resistance against the crusaders.[14][16] Given Constantine's apparent subordinate role under Theodore in 1205, some historians such as Sir Steven Runciman[17] and Donald Queller,[18] held that it could have been Theodore, instead of Constantine, who was nominated as emperor and succeeded Alexios V on the day of the sack. According to other accounts, Theodore had fled the city in late 1203 after his escape from prison and moved to Asia Minor with a small group of trusted soldiers and his close family.[19] Whatever the case, Constantine had no option but to quickly flee the capital and on the following day of the sack he sailed to the Asian side of the Bosporus strait.[14] Constantinople fell to the Crusaders and an ill-fated Latin Empire was erected.[20] In Asia Minor, Constantine and his brother led an anti-Latin resistance of the native Byzantine Greek population, with Theodore successfully establishing a new principality in exile.

Empire of Nicaea[edit]

Empire of Nicaea shown in red; one of the three Byzantine successor states, along with Epirus and Trebizond.

In the years after the fall of the Byzantine capital in 1204, Theodore managed to drive out the Latins from the territory he occupied in western Anatolia and create a duplicate of the former Byzantine state.[21] Initially a local lord, he ascended to power by allying with politically powerful refugees and local elites who helped him in the reestablishment the imperial government.[22] His brother Constantine aided him in his military campaigns, as well as his diplomatic relations.[23] As Theodore's state begun to consolidate its rule in northwest Anatolia, more Greeks begun to settle in his realm from the European territories that were now under Latin rule.[21] In the Empire of Nicaea the idea of Greek unification and restoration of the Byzantine rule was soon formed and strengthened.[24] In 1205 Theodore assumed the title of emperor (basileus),[22] but he was officially crowned by the new patriarch in 1208.[13] The coronation took place in the city of Nicaea; an event that turned the city into the center of the empire as well as of the Church.[25] Theodore defended his empire not only against the Crusaders but also against David Komnenos, a rival Greek emperor in Trebizond to the east on the Black Sea.[26] During his reign Laskaris undertook the task of expanding the borders of his empire, facing the forces of the Latins and the Seljuks on several occasions, while at the same time he laid the foundations of the internal administration of the newly formed state.[27] Soon the goal of the empire's foreign policy became the recapture of Constantinople, an act that would indisputably legitimize the new state as the rightful successor of the old Empire.[28]

Theodore I, whose sons, Nikolaos and John both died before 1213, was succeeded in 1222 by his son-in-law, John III Doukas Vatatzes, who had married Theodore's daughter Irene Laskarina.[29] Vatatzes had to fight off a rival claim by Theodore's brothers, Isaac and Alexios, who fled to the Latin Empire and sought aid in order to depose him. Nevertheless, Vatatzes' victory at Poemanenum in 1224 was decisive; it strengthened his own position and heralded a long and successful Nicaean offensive against the Latin holdings.[30] Throughout his reign, Vataztes' main rivals were the Bulgarian tsar Ivan Asen II and the Latin rulers of Constantinople to the west, as well as the Sultanate of Rum to the east. The Greek lords of Epirus and Trebizond, including Theodore Komnenos Doukas, were also Vatatzes' adversaries for the Byzantine throne.[30] His successful expansion into the Balkan peninsula culminated in 1246 with the capture of Thessalonica, which was until then controlled by the Komnenodoukas dynasty of Epirus. Vatatzes had previously compelled the dynasty to abandon the imperial title (basileus), allowing them to maintain only the title of 'despot'.[31] Through a series of military victories, successful diplomacy, and beneficial policies, Vatatzes managed to significantly strengthen his empire, while also gaining popularity among the Byzantines, which resulted in his canonization as a saint by the Orthodox Church.[32]

Vatatzes died in 1254 leaving his only son Theodore II Laskaris on the throne. Though his reign was short-lived compared to his predecessors, Theodore II was proven to be an able ruler and a man of letters.[33][34] During his four year reign he initiated a series of reforms aimed at curtailing the role of the aristocratic families in the internal affairs of the state. Theodore dismissed high officials of aristocratic origin and favoured local lineages of low birth. He was aware of the significance of the imperial office, and he personally administered the state.[35] Theodore II ruled until his death in 1258 leaving his eight year old son John IV Laskaris as the legal heir to the imperial throne. A few days before his death, Theodore appointed the Laskarid loyalist George Mouzalon and Patriarch Arsenios as John's guardians and regents.[36] Mouzalon's lowly origins were viewed with discontent by the Byzantine aristocracy, who was reminded of the Laskarid policy that aimed to regulate their power.[37][36] As a result, the aristocratic faction around Michael Palaiologos orchestrated a coup d'état that took control from Mouzalon and installed Palaiologos as regent of John in 1258 and eventually as co-emperor in 1259.[1][38] Following the recapture of Constantinople in 1261, Palaiologos was crowned alone as emperor, while John IV was ignored. Soon after, John was blinded, an act that triggered reactions in Asia Minor, where the imperial Laskaris family was particularly popular among the people. John likely lived under restraint until his death in c. 1305.[39]

Palaeologan era and Italy[edit]

Arms of Lascaris di Ventimiglia at the Palais Lascaris, Nice, France

Under the new Palaiologan dynasty, the Laskarids retained a certain prominence with several members of the family becoming local governors and courtiers. Among the most notable members are Manuel Laskaris, Domestic of the Schools c. 1320, and Alexios, a megas hetaireiarches c. 1370.[6] John Pegonites Laskaris was a composer who lived in Venetian-held Crete in the first half of the 15th century, while the scholars Constantine Lascaris and John Ryndakenos Laskaris were among the many who fled the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans and found refuge in Italy,[6] where they helped spark the Renaissance. In the 15th century, Laskaris Kananos wrote an account of his travels in northern Europe.

In 1269 the Count of Ventimiglia, Gugliemo Pietro I Balbo married Eudossia Laskaris, daughter of Emperor Theodore II Laskaris.[40] From this union came the dynasty of the Lascaris of Ventimiglia, who governed the sovereign County of Tenda until 1501 when the last of them, Anna Lascaris, married Renato of Savoy (French: René de Savoie) and transferred the County to his cadet branch of the Savoy dynasty. The most famous member of Ventimiglia branch of Lascaris was Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. He constructed the Lascaris towers of Malta and attempted to create for Malta a Caribbean colonial empire.

Emperors of Nicaea[edit]

Portrait Name Reign
Theodore I Laskaris
Θεόδωρος Λάσκαρις
May 1205 –
November 1221

(16 years and 6 months)

John III Vatatzes
Ἰωάννης Βατάτζης
December 1221 –
3 November 1254

(32 years and 11 months)

Theodore II Laskaris
Θεόδωρος Λάσκαρις
3 November 1254 –
16 August 1258

(3 years, 9 months and 13 days)

John IV Laskaris
Ἰωάννης Λάσκαρις
16 August 1258 –
25 December 1261

(3 years, 4 months and 9 days)

Family tree[edit]

House of Laskaris
Manuel Laskaris
HOUSE OF LASKARIS
Alexios III Angelos
Byzantine Emperor (1195-1202)
HOUSE OF ANGELOS
Constantine
Byzantine Emperor (claimant)
(1204-1205)
(daughter)
? ∞ Marco I Sanudo
duke of Naxos
3.Maria of CourtenayTheodore I
Emperor of Nicaea (1205-1222)
∞ 2.Philippa of Armenia
1.Anna AngelinaIrene Angelina
∞1.Andronikos Kontostefanos
2.Alexios Palaiologos
Irene
∞ 1.Andronikos Palaiologos
2.John III Vatatzes
Emperor of Nicaea (1222-1254)
Eudokia
∞ 1.Frederick II, Duke of Austria
2.Anseaux de Cayeux
Maria
Bela IV
king of Hungary
(2) Theodora Palaiologina
Theodore II Vatatzes
Emperor of Nicaea (1254-1258)
HOUSE OF VATATZES
Stefan V
king of Hungary
Michael VIII Palaiologos
Byzantine Emperor (1261-1282)
Anna of HungaryAndronikos II Palaiologos
Byzantine Emperor(1282-1328)

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Constantine Laskaris was elected Byzantine emperor in 1204. After the sack of Constantinople, Theodore was proclaimed emperor of Nicaea in 1205 and he was officially crowned in 1208.
  1. ^ a b Vasiliev 1964, pp. 506–508.
  2. ^ "Empire of Nicaea". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  3. ^ a b Theodoridis 2004, p. 269.
  4. ^ Theodoridis 2004, pp. 271–273.
  5. ^ Theodoridis 2004, p. 270.
  6. ^ a b c d ODB, "Laskaris" (A. Kazhdan & A. Cutler), p. 1180.
  7. ^ Angelov 2019, p. 16.
  8. ^ Angelov 2019, pp. 16–17.
  9. ^ Volkoff 2015, pp. 198–199.
  10. ^ a b Angelov 2019, p. 17.
  11. ^ Volkoff 2015, p. 197.
  12. ^ Angelov 2019, pp. 19–20.
  13. ^ a b Angold 2011, p. 70.
  14. ^ a b c Angelov 2019, p. 22.
  15. ^ Queller 1977, p. 147.
  16. ^ Queller 1977, pp. 147–148.
  17. ^ Steven Runciman, 'A History of the Crusades, Vol. 3: The Kingdom of Acre and the Later Crusades', Cambridge, 1954, pg 122
  18. ^ Queller 1977, pp. 216–217, note 84.
  19. ^ Angelov 2019, p. 23.
  20. ^ Queller 1977, p. 148.
  21. ^ a b Fine 1994, p. 90.
  22. ^ a b Angelov 2019, p. 27.
  23. ^ Volkoff 2015, p. 198.
  24. ^ Vasiliev 1964, p. 507.
  25. ^ Vasiliev 1964, pp. 511–512.
  26. ^ "Theodore I Lascaris". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
  27. ^ Vougiouklaki 2003, Chapter 1.
  28. ^ Bartusis 2015, p. 23.
  29. ^ Vasiliev 1964, p. 508.
  30. ^ a b Banev 2002a, Chapter 2.
  31. ^ Banev 2002a, Chapter 2.1.
  32. ^ Banev 2002a, Chapter 4.
  33. ^ "Theodore II Lascaris". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2023-09-12.
  34. ^ Banev 2002b, Chapters 1, 4.
  35. ^ Banev 2002b, Chapters 1, 3.
  36. ^ a b Giarenis 2006, Chapter 2.
  37. ^ Bartusis 2015, p. 36.
  38. ^ Bartusis 2015, pp. 36–37.
  39. ^ Giarenis 2006, Chapters 3–4.
  40. ^ W.A.B. Coolidge, "The History of the Col de Tenda", The English Historical Review, 31 (1916), p. 202.

Sources[edit]