Isaac Komnenos (son of John II)

Isaac Komnenos or Comnenus (Greek: Ἰσαάκιος Κομνηνός, Isaakios Komnēnos; c. 1113 – after 1154), was the third son of Byzantine Emperor John II Komnenos by Piroska of Hungary.

Life

Shortly before his death in 1143, John II Komnenos designated his fourth son Manuel as his heir, although the third son, Isaac, was still alive. At the time Isaac was conducting the body of his eldest brother, the co-emperor Alexios Komnenos, back to Constantinople.

Manuel had the powerful backing of the megas domestikos (commander-in-chief of the army) John Axuch who took control of the capital before Isaac learned of his father's death and could make any bid for the throne. Axuch was faithful to the wishes of John II, although he is recorded as having tried hard to persuade the dying emperor that Isaac was the better candidate to succeed. Although some of the clergy, the people and the military, thought that Isaac was better fit to rule, he had to resign himself to his younger brother's accession.^[1]

In 1145–1146 he campaigned with him against the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia. Although the relationship between the brothers remained uneasy, there was never an open conflict, and Isaac enjoyed the court dignity of sebastokrator. The marriages of Isaac's daughters served as useful tools of Manuel's foreign policy.

Family

By his first wife, Theodora, Isaac had five children:

• Alexios Komnenos.
• Irene Komnene, who married an unnamed Doukas Kamateros and became the mother of Isaac Komnenos of Cyprus.
• John Komnenos.
• Anna Komnene, who married Constantine Makrodoukas.
• Maria Komnene, who married King Stephen IV of Hungary.

By his second wife, Irene Synadene, Isaac had two daughters:

• Theodora Komnene, who married King Baldwin III of Jerusalem.
• Eudokia Komnene, who married William VIII of Montpellier.

Notes

References

• K. Varzos, Ē genealogia tōn Komnēnōn (Thessalonica, 1984) vol. 1 pp. 391–398.
• P. Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos 1143–1180, Cambridge University Press, 1993.