Michael Doukas (protostrator)
Encyclopedia
Michael Doukas was a member of the Doukas
family, a relative of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
(r. 1081–1118) and a senior military figure, with the rank of protostrator
, during Alexios' reign. His life is only known through the Alexiad
of Anna Komnene
and the history of her husband, Nikephoros Bryennios.
John Doukas, and his wife, Maria of Bulgaria
, the granddaughter of Tsar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
. Michael was thus the brother-in-law of Alexios I Komnenos
, who had married his sister Irene Doukaina
. In 1074, during the rebellion of the Norman
mercenary Roussel de Bailleul
, Michael and his younger brother John
were at the estates of the Caesar John Doukas in Bithynia
. Roussel demanded that the Caesar give up the two as hostages in return for releasing their wounded father, whom he held captive. The Caesar agreed, and the two were imprisoned by Roussel. The slave servants of the two boys managed to persuade a local peasant to help them escape and lead them to Nicomedia
, but in the event, only Michael with his eunuch pedagogue Leontakios managed to escape and reach safety. His brother John remained behind, until he was liberated after Roussel's defeat later in the year.
In 1078, he played a crucial role in the marriage of Nikephoros III Botaneiates (r. 1078–1081) to the Empress Maria of Alania. The marriage was against canon law
, as she was still married to the recently deposed emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), but on the instructions of his grandfather the Caesar, Michael procured a priest willing to conduct the ceremony. In 1081, when Alexios Komnenos rebelled against Botaneiates, Michael accompanied the Caesar to Alexios' camp at Schiza. There they supported Alexios' candidacy for the throne against his elder brother Isaac Komnenos. After Alexios' successful accession to the throne, Michael was rewarded with the title of sebastos
and the office of protostrator
, one of the Empire's highest military positions.
In 1083, he participated in the campaign in Thessaly
against the Normans
under Bohemund, commanding the heavy infantry. He was defeated in battle by Bohemund near Larissa
, and his army scattered. Four years later, he participated in the failed expedition against the Pechenegs in Bulgaria
, and urged the emperor Alexios to flee after the Byzantine defeat at Dorystolon. During the flight, Michael's horse slipped and he fell, but a soldier gave him his own horse, allowing him to rejoin the emperor's party. A few years later however, in 1091, he participated in the final victory over the Pechenegs at the Battle of Levounion
.
After that, he is recorded as having attended the synod of 1094 that condemned Leo of Chalcedon
, and in a letter during the Norman invasion of 1107–1108, according to which Michael was dispatched to Epirus
to raise troops. He died after a prolonged illness on a 9 January. The year is unknown, however it was sometime before 1117, when he is listed as dead in the typikon
of the Kecharitomene Monastery.
and governor of the region of the Vardar river ca. 1118. D.I. Polemis further identifies two Doukas women as two of Michael's daughters. The first is a certain Theodora Doukaina, attested in an epigram as married to a Theodore. Polemis considers her as the mother of Euphrosyne Doukaina, Michael's granddaughter, whose father was also named Theodore. The second is Eirene Doukaina, the wife of Gregory Kamateros, a man of humble origin who rose to high office under Alexios Komnenos and his successor, John II Komnenos
(r. 1118–1143). Another daughter, married to a certain John, is unnamed, and it is possible that a poem by Nicholas Kallikles
refers to another son.
Doukas
Doukas, latinized as Ducas , from the Latin tile dux , is the name of a Byzantine Greek noble family, whose branches provided several notable generals and rulers to the Byzantine Empire...
family, a relative of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
(r. 1081–1118) and a senior military figure, with the rank of protostrator
Protostrator
Prōtostratōr was a Byzantine court office, originating as the imperial stable master, which in the last centuries of the Empire evolved into one of the senior military offices...
, during Alexios' reign. His life is only known through the Alexiad
Alexiad
The Alexiad is a medieval biographical text written around the year 1148 by the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexius I....
of Anna Komnene
Anna Komnene
Anna Komnene, Latinized as Comnena was a Greek princess and scholar and the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of Byzantium and Irene Doukaina...
and the history of her husband, Nikephoros Bryennios.
Life
Michael Doukas was born ca. 1061, the eldest son of the domestikos ton scholon Andronikos Doukas, son of the CaesarCaesar (title)
Caesar is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator...
John Doukas, and his wife, Maria of Bulgaria
Maria of Bulgaria
Maria of Bulgaria , protovestiaria, was the wife of protovestiarios Andronikos Doukas and mother of Irene Doukaina.-Life:...
, the granddaughter of Tsar Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria
Ivan Vladislav ruled as emperor of Bulgaria from August or September 1015 to February 1018. The year of his birth is unknown, but he was born at least a decade before 987, but probably not much earlier than that....
. Michael was thus the brother-in-law of Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...
, who had married his sister Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina
Irene Doukaina or Ducaena was the wife of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and the mother of the emperor John II Komnenos and of the historian Anna Komnene.-Succession of Alexios and Irene:...
. In 1074, during the rebellion of the Norman
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
mercenary Roussel de Bailleul
Roussel de Bailleul
Roussel de Bailleul , also known as Phrangopoulos , was a Norman adventurer who travelled to Byzantium and there received employ as a soldier and leader of men from the Emperor Romanus IV Roussel de Bailleul (also Ursellus de Ballione in Latin or Roscelin or Roskelin de Baieul, called Urselius by...
, Michael and his younger brother John
John Doukas (megas doux)
John Doukas was a member of the Doukas family, a relative of the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and a senior military figure of his reign. As governor of Dyrrhachium he secured the imperial possessions in the western Balkans against the Serbs...
were at the estates of the Caesar John Doukas in Bithynia
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...
. Roussel demanded that the Caesar give up the two as hostages in return for releasing their wounded father, whom he held captive. The Caesar agreed, and the two were imprisoned by Roussel. The slave servants of the two boys managed to persuade a local peasant to help them escape and lead them to Nicomedia
Nicomedia
Nicomedia was an ancient city in what is now Turkey, founded in 712/11 BC as a Megarian colony and was originally known as Astacus . After being destroyed by Lysimachus, it was rebuilt by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia, and has ever since been one of the most...
, but in the event, only Michael with his eunuch pedagogue Leontakios managed to escape and reach safety. His brother John remained behind, until he was liberated after Roussel's defeat later in the year.
Canon law
Canon law is the body of laws & regulations made or adopted by ecclesiastical authority, for the government of the Christian organization and its members. It is the internal ecclesiastical law governing the Catholic Church , the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches, and the Anglican Communion of...
, as she was still married to the recently deposed emperor Michael VII Doukas (r. 1071–1078), but on the instructions of his grandfather the Caesar, Michael procured a priest willing to conduct the ceremony. In 1081, when Alexios Komnenos rebelled against Botaneiates, Michael accompanied the Caesar to Alexios' camp at Schiza. There they supported Alexios' candidacy for the throne against his elder brother Isaac Komnenos. After Alexios' successful accession to the throne, Michael was rewarded with the title of sebastos
Sebastos
Sebastos was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of Augustus. From the late 11th century on, during the Komnenian period, it and variants derived from it formed the basis of a new system of court titles for the Byzantine Empire. The female form of the title...
and the office of protostrator
Protostrator
Prōtostratōr was a Byzantine court office, originating as the imperial stable master, which in the last centuries of the Empire evolved into one of the senior military offices...
, one of the Empire's highest military positions.
In 1083, he participated in the campaign in Thessaly
Thessaly
Thessaly is a traditional geographical region and an administrative region of Greece, comprising most of the ancient region of the same name. Before the Greek Dark Ages, Thessaly was known as Aeolia, and appears thus in Homer's Odyssey....
against the Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
under Bohemund, commanding the heavy infantry. He was defeated in battle by Bohemund near Larissa
Larissa
Larissa is the capital and biggest city of the Thessaly region of Greece and capital of the Larissa regional unit. It is a principal agricultural centre and a national transportation hub, linked by road and rail with the port of Volos, the city of Thessaloniki and Athens...
, and his army scattered. Four years later, he participated in the failed expedition against the Pechenegs in Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
, and urged the emperor Alexios to flee after the Byzantine defeat at Dorystolon. During the flight, Michael's horse slipped and he fell, but a soldier gave him his own horse, allowing him to rejoin the emperor's party. A few years later however, in 1091, he participated in the final victory over the Pechenegs at the Battle of Levounion
Battle of Levounion
The Battle of Levounion was the first decisive Byzantine victory of the Komnenian restoration. On April 29, 1091, an invading force of Pechenegs was heavily defeated by the combined forces of the Byzantine Empire under Alexios I Komnenos and his Cuman allies....
.
After that, he is recorded as having attended the synod of 1094 that condemned Leo of Chalcedon
Leo of Chalcedon
Leo of Chalcedon was an 11th-century Eastern Orthodox bishop at Chalcedon who opposed the appropriation of church treasures by Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos between 1081 and 1091.Alexios I was in a desperate situation upon ascending the throne in 1081...
, and in a letter during the Norman invasion of 1107–1108, according to which Michael was dispatched to Epirus
Epirus
The name Epirus, from the Greek "Ήπειρος" meaning continent may refer to:-Geographical:* Epirus - a historical and geographical region of the southwestern Balkans, straddling modern Greece and Albania...
to raise troops. He died after a prolonged illness on a 9 January. The year is unknown, however it was sometime before 1117, when he is listed as dead in the typikon
Typikon
The Typikon, or Typicon; plural Typika is a liturgical book which contains instructions about the order of the various Eastern Orthodox Christian church services and ceremonies, in the form of a perpetual calendar...
of the Kecharitomene Monastery.
Family
Through his marriage to an unnamed woman, he had several children. Only one is attested with certainty, Constantine Doukas, a sebastosSebastos
Sebastos was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of Augustus. From the late 11th century on, during the Komnenian period, it and variants derived from it formed the basis of a new system of court titles for the Byzantine Empire. The female form of the title...
and governor of the region of the Vardar river ca. 1118. D.I. Polemis further identifies two Doukas women as two of Michael's daughters. The first is a certain Theodora Doukaina, attested in an epigram as married to a Theodore. Polemis considers her as the mother of Euphrosyne Doukaina, Michael's granddaughter, whose father was also named Theodore. The second is Eirene Doukaina, the wife of Gregory Kamateros, a man of humble origin who rose to high office under Alexios Komnenos and his successor, John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos was Byzantine Emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as Kaloïōannēs , he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina...
(r. 1118–1143). Another daughter, married to a certain John, is unnamed, and it is possible that a poem by Nicholas Kallikles
Nicholas Kallikles
Nicholas Kallikles was a prominent physician and a leading court poet active in the Byzantine court in Constantinople during the reigns of Alexios I Komnenos and John II Komnenos .-Life:Very little is known about Kallikles' life...
refers to another son.