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Michael I Komnenos Doukas, Latinized as Comnenus Ducas ((ギリシア語:Μιχαήλ Κομνηνός Δούκας), ''Mikhaēl Komnēnos Doukas''), and often erroneously in modern sources recorded as Michael I Angelos, a name he never used, was the founder and first ruler of the Despotate of Epirus from ca. 1205 until his assassination in ca. 1215. Born ca. 1170, Michael was a descendant of Alexios I Komnenos and a cousin of emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos. He began his public career in 1190, as a hostage to the Third Crusade, and went on to serve as governor of the province of Mylasa and Melanoudion in the 1190s and again in ca. 1200/1. During the latter tenure he rebelled against Alexios III but was defeated and forced to flee to the Seljuk Turks. In the aftermath of the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, he attached himself to Boniface of Montferrat. Soon, however, he abandoned the Crusader leader and went to Epirus, where he established himself as ruler, apparently through marriage with the daughter or widow of a local magnate. Michael's domain in Epirus became a refuge and centre of resistance of the Greeks against the Latin Crusaders. At about the same time, according to some modern scholars, he may have led the abortive Greek resistance to the Crusaders in the Peloponnese, which was crushed at the Battle of the Olive Grove of Kountouras; according to other views, he may have led a campaign there between 1207 and 1209. In order to avoid invasion and buy time to consolidate his position in Epirus, Michael soon entered into negotiations with Pope Innocent III, and concluded treaties with the Latin Empire and the Republic of Venice. In the meantime, his rule received legitimacy when he ransomed the deposed Alexios III from captivity. According to later chroniclers, Alexios III conferred the hereditary rule of Epirus to Michael and his descendants. By 1210, Michael was secure enough to launch an attack against the Latin Kingdom of Thessalonica, in conjunction with the Bulgarians. Repelled by the intervention of the Latin Emperor Henry of Flanders, Michael quickly switched sides and joined the Latins to prevent the city from falling into Bulgarian hands. In 1212, he conquered most of Thessaly from the Lombard lords of Thessalonica. At about the same time, his troops briefly took over the Lordship of Salona. He then went on to recover Dyrrhachium and the island of Corfu from the Venetians in 1213–14, but was thwarted in his attempt to push further north into Zeta. He was assassinated soon after in his sleep, and was succeeded by his half-brother Theodore Komnenos Doukas. ==Early life== Michael was the illegitimate son of the ''sebastokrator'' John Doukas. His paternal grandparents were Constantine Angelos and Theodora, a daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos (reigned 1081–1118). Michael's uncle, Andronikos, was the father of the future emperors Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185–95 and 1203–04) and Alexios III Angelos (r. 1195–1203), who were thus Michael's first cousins. Despite this kinship, he never used the surname "Angelos", which has been applied by some modern scholars to Michael and his dynasty. The few documents surviving from his own hand and a couple of lead seals show his name as "Michael Doukas" or "Michael Komnenos Doukas" (Μιχαήλ Κομνηνός ὁ Δούκας), evidently in an effort to emphasize his relation to the revered Doukas and Komnenos dynasties, rather than the disastrous reign of the Angeloi. The only medieval sources to use the surname "Angelos" to refer to Michael were later pro-Palaiologos historians hostile to him and the Epirote state's rival claims to the Byzantine inheritance. It is unknown when he was born; the only relevant information is the statement of Niketas Choniates that he was a "young man" in 1201. The Greek scholar Konstantinos Varzos places his birth approximately in 1170. He is first mentioned on 14 February 1190, when he, along with other imperial relatives, served as a hostage to Frederick I Barbarossa (r. 1152–90) during the passage of the Third Crusade through Byzantine territory. He then went on to serve as governor (''doux'' and ''anagrapheus'') of the theme of Mylasa and Melanoudion in Asia Minor during the last years of Isaac II's first reign, with the rank of ''pansebastos sebastos''. Alexios III re-appointed him to the same province, probably in 1200. Demetrios Polemis, in his study on the Doukas family, reports that he was reappointed to the post by Alexios IV (r. 1203–04), but as Varzos remarks, this is evidently an error by Polemis. In early 1201, for unknown reasons, Michael rose in revolt against the emperor. Alexios III campaigned against him in the summer 1201 and defeated him, forcing Michael to seek refuge at the court of the Seljuk Turk Sultan of Rûm, Süleymanshah II (r. 1196–1204). In his service he led Turkish raids into Byzantine territory around the Maeander River valley. According to Geoffrey of Villehardouin, a participant in the Fourth Crusade and author of ''De la Conquête de Constantinople'', at the time of the fall of Constantinople to the forces of the Fourth Crusade, Michael was present in the city, having possibly returned from exile in the period after the deposition of Alexios III and the restoration of Isaac II and his son Alexios IV in 1203–04. He then entered into the service of Boniface of Montferrat, who received the Kingdom of Thessalonica and overlordship over Greece in the division of the spoils among the Crusaders. He followed Boniface west as he went to take up his kingdom in September 1204. Although Boniface, according to Villehardouin, trusted Michael, soon he abandoned him and went to Epirus, where he installed himself as the leader of the local Greeks against the Latin Crusaders. The process of Michael's establishment in Epirus is obscure. The hagiography of St. Theodora of Arta, written in the late 13th century, maintains that Alexios III had appointed Michael as governor in the Peloponnese and a certain Senachereim, who was Michael's relative by marriage (they both had married first cousins from the Melissenos family), as governor of the Theme of Nicopolis in Epirus. When the local inhabitants rose in revolt against him, Senachereim called upon Michael for aid. Michael rushed to Nicopolis, but not before the locals had killed Senachereim. After that, Michael, himself widowed, took Senachereim's widow as his wife and succeeded him as governor. Although generally regarded as inaccurate due to the many errors it contains, this part of the hagiography is partially corroborated by Villehardouin's account that he married the daughter of a local magnate. It is certain that Michael was never appointed governor of the Peloponnese, but the hagiography's reference to the peninsula has led to suggestions by modern scholars that he is to be identified with the Michael who led the Peloponnesian Greeks in the Battle of the Olive Grove of Kountouras against the Crusaders. This commonly held identification has been questioned by more recent research by Raymond-Joseph Loenertz, who suggests that Michael leaving Epirus, which still was not securely under his control, to go on campaign in the Peloponnese would have been extremely unlikely as it would leave Epirus open to attack by Boniface. Loenertz does however consider that Michael may indeed have led another expedition into the Peloponnese a few years later, in 1207–09 (see below). 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Michael I Komnenos Doukas」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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