On this day in the year 1201 or 1200? John Komnenos nicknamed “the Fat” attempted to usurp the imperial Byzantine throne from Alexios III Angelos – pizza (- sorry my mind just thinks pizza when it hears Angelos) Below is a map of the Byzantine Empire *circa 1204…..
Map to show the partition of the empire following the Fourth Crusade, c.1204. The overall outcome of the Crusades leaving the Empire permanently weakened.
John’s coup was launched on 31 July 1201, when the conspirators broke into the Hagia Sophia, where they swore to restore the Empire to its ancient bounds against the Vlach-Bulgarians, Seljuk Turks and the Latin Crusaders. While John was being proclaimed emperor and crowned by a monk – since Patriarch John X Kamateros hid himself inside a cupboard – the capital’s populace rioted outside and set fire to a number of churches.[11][12] Then the conspirators marched towards the Great Palace. Avoiding the Chalke Gate, which was held by the feared Varangian Guard, they made for the imperial box in the Hippodrome, the kathisma, which was connected to the palace precinct. John’s supporters indeed managed to drive off the Macedonian guard placed there and entered the palace through the Kareia Gate.[13][14]
Things were going great for John until he got to the throne!!
Having gained control of the western portions of the palace, John sat on the imperial throne, which broke under his great weight. He took no further actions to consolidate his position, other than appoint his chief followers to the Empire’s highest posts.[13][15] At the same time, his supporters, who along with the urban mob included a sizeable group of Georgian and Italian mercenaries, began to loot the buildings. They even reached the Nea Ekklesia and the Church of the Virgin of the Pharos, the Empire’s chief depository of holy relics, which was defended by its skeuophylax, Nicholas Mesarites, with a small guard provided by John Komnenos. Mesarites and his men managed to drive the looters back, until he was wounded in the skirmish and withdrew to the Pharos Church.[13][15]
With the coming of night, most of the crowd that had accompanied the storming of the palace earlier that day departed, intending to resume looting the next day. In the meantime, Alexios III, who resided in the Blachernae Palace in the city’s northwestern corner, rallied for a counter-strike. A small force was dispatched with boats around the city’s peninsula to the Hodegetria Monastery north of the Great Palace. It was led by the emperor’s son-in-law Alexios Palaiologos, who at that point was likely regarded as his heir-apparent, and quickly made contact with the Varangians who had held out in the palace’s northern parts.[13][14]
and then it all fell apart something tells me that the chase to catch John was not much of a chase!!
The loyalist force marched to the Hippodrome, where they drove away most of John’s supporters. They then entered the palace, where they found scarce opposition from John’s attendants. John himself was captured after a short chase in the palace and his head was immediately cut off, to be displayed the next morning at the Forum of Constantine, while his body was displayed at Blachernae. A similar fate befell many of his supporters that night, while others were captured and tortured to extract the names of all the conspirators Read More
So there you have it – it was over when “the Fat” lost his head!! Crying let me eat cake! No I just made that up! Quiet, Edward!
* From Wikipedia – The Byzantine Empire was the predominantly Greek-speaking continuation of the eastern half of the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. Its capital city was Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), originally known as Byzantium. More
