John Synadenos (megas stratopedarches)
John Komnenos Angelos Doukas Synadenos (Greek: Ἰωάννης Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος Δούκας Συναδηνός) was a Byzantine noble and military leader with the rank of megas stratopedarches during the reigns of Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) and Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328).
Biography[edit]
Synadenos appears in 1276/1277, when, along with the megas konostaulos Michael Kaballarios, he led an army against the independent ruler of Thessaly, John I Doukas. The Byzantine army was routed at the Battle of Pharsalus, and Synadenos himself was captured, while Kaballarios was killed whilst trying to escape.[1][2][3] He was released or ransomed from captivity, and in 1281 he participated in the campaign against the Angevins in Albania which led to the Byzantine victory at Berat.[3][4] Finally, in 1283, he participated in another campaign against John Doukas, under Michael Tarchaneiotes.[2][3]
Eventually, Synadenos retired to a monastery with the monastic name Joachim. After his death (sometime between 1310 and 1328), his wife, Theodora Palaiologina, the daughter of Constantine Palaiologos, the half-brother of Michael VIII, became a nun with the name Theodoule, and founded the Convent of the Mother of God Bebaia Elpis ("Certain Hope") in Constantinople. The convent's typikon (the so-called "Lincoln College typikon"), authored largely by Theodora, includes lavish depictions of the family's members.[2][5][6]
Family[edit]
With Theodora, John had four children, who were reportedly all young when he died:[2][6]
- John Synadenos, megas konostaulos.[6][7]
- Euphrosyne Synadene, who was pledged to become a nun since infancy, and was the second founder of the Bebaia Elpis along with her mother.[8][9]
- An unnamed daughter, once reportedly considered as a possible bride for the Bulgarian tsar Theodore Svetoslav.[3]
- Theodore Synadenos, protostrator, he played a major role in the Byzantine civil wars of the first half of the 14th century.[10][11]
References[edit]
- ^ Geanakoplos 1959, p. 297.
- ^ a b c d Guilland 1967, p. 505.
- ^ a b c d Polemis 1968, p. 179.
- ^ Geanakoplos 1959, pp. 331–333; Guilland 1967, pp. 176, 505.
- ^ ODB, "Bebaias Elpidos Nunnery" (A.-M. Talbot, A. Cutler), p. 275; "Synadenos" (A. Kazhdan), p. 1990.
- ^ a b c Polemis 1968, pp. 179–180.
- ^ Guilland 1967, pp. 473, 505.
- ^ Polemis 1968, pp. 179, 181.
- ^ ODB, "Bebaias Elpidos Nunnery" (A.-M. Talbot, A. Cutler), p. 275.
- ^ Guilland 1967, pp. 226–227, 485–486, 505.
- ^ Polemis 1968, pp. 179–181.
Sources[edit]
- Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in Byzantine-Latin Relations. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. OCLC 1011763434.
- Guilland, Rodolphe (1967). Recherches sur les institutions byzantines [Studies on the Byzantine Institutions]. Berliner byzantinische Arbeiten 35 (in French). Vol. 1. Berlin and Amsterdam: Akademie-Verlag & Adolf M. Hakkert. OCLC 878894516.
- Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- Polemis, Demetrios I. (1968). The Doukai: A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography. London: The Athlone Press. OCLC 299868377.