Thomas Kantakouzenos

Thomas Kantakouzenos
Noble family Kantakouzenos
Died 25 July 1463
Religion Orthodox Christianity

Thomas Kantakouzenos (died 25 July 1463) was a Byzantine aristocrat, Serbian nobleman and a member of the family of the Kantakouzenos. He fought as a general on behalf of medieval Serbia in the 15th century.

Life

The Byzantinist Donald Nicol, who researched the family's history, categorically identifies him as the brother of George Palaiologos Kantakouzenos; Giovanni Musachi makes him the brother of Irene Kantakouzene, wife of Serbian Despot Đurađ Branković, but incorrectly states Thomas was the son of the Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos, an error DuCange repeats. Instead, he is more probably the son of Demetrios I Kantakouzenos.[1]

He was one of the many Greeks who entered the service of Despot Đurađ Branković following his marriage to Irene Kantakouzene in 1414. Documents from Dubrovnik show he was present at the Despot's court in 1433 and 1435. In 1439 he took part in the defense of the Castle of Smederevo against the Ottoman Turks; the historian Doukas records that when the castle fell after a siege of three months, the defenders who subsequently did homage to Sultan Murad II included Branković's son Grgur and Thomas Kantakouzenos. Despite this ceremony, Kantakouzenos carried on the fight on behalf of his brother-in-law, leading the Despot's army to victory over the Kral of Bosnia, Stephen Thomas, on 16 September 1448, which restored Srebrnica to Serbian rule. In 1452 he led another Serbian army that invaded the Principality of Zeta, but was routed on 14 September by Voivode Stefan Crnojevic.[2]

Despite his position, following Đurađ Branković's death Thomas was unable to shield his sister Irene from the cruelty of her son Lazar. On the night of Irene's death, 3 May 1457, he fled from Smederevo to Ottoman-ruled Adrianople with his niece Mara Branković and his blinded nephew Grgur.[2]

Thomas was summoned to appear in court in Ragusa on 11 August 1459 and 18 March 1462, but Nicol doubts he answered the summons. The Serbian Annals record his death on 25 July 1463, immediately after the fall of the Serbian Despotate to the Ottomans.[3]

Sources

  1. ↑ Donald M. Nicol, The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos (Cantacuzenus) ca. 1100-1460: a Genealogical and Prosopographical Study (Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1968), p. 182. However, Nicol has since backed away from this identification of Thomas' and George's father; see his "The Byzantine Family of Kantakouzenos: Some Addenda and Corrigenda", Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 27 (1973), pp. 312f
  2. 1 2 Nicol, Byzantine Family, p. 183
  3. ↑ Nicol, Byzantine Family, pp. 184f
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