General Notes

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  1 NAME Isaac II of Byzantium /Angelus/

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  () 2 GIVN Isaac II of Byzantium

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  () 2 SURN Angelus

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  () 2 NSFX E Roman Emporer

Weis" "Ancestral Roots. . ." (45:27.)
Isaac II was a truely pitiful player on the stage of history. The three years
preceeding his ascent to the throne, 1182-1185, were the reign of the
remarkable Emporer Adronicus I Comneni. Andronicus was a true military and
political genius and a first-rate demogouge. he was arrogant and self-centered
in persuit of power. When Andronicus' cousin, the Emporer Manuel I, died in
1180 the Imperial title passed to Manuel's twelve year old son, Alexius II.
Alexius' mother, Maria of Antioch, acted as regent. As the populace was
already disgusted with the pro-western and pro-nobility policies of the late
Emporer Manuel, which were carried on by Alexius II and Maria, it was easy for
Andronicus to use his oratorical gifts to turn the public emotions away from
the Emporer and towards himself. He had Maria strangled, assumed the regency
for himself, then, several days later, had Alexius strangled also. Once firmly
enrenched in Imperial security, Andronicus became a tyrant towards the very
mobs who had previously worshiped him. In 1185 the mobs dethroned him and
subjected him to monsterous insults and torture. His dead and mutilated body
was not even given a Christian burial.
It was at this low point in Byzantine history that Isaac II Angelus was
proclaimed Emporer. Faced both with numerous internal insurrections and with
foreign enemies pressing against the Empire's frontiers from all directions,
Isaac, showed absolutely no ability or interest in matters of Imperial
administration. All the while his court was preoccupied with excessive luxury
and a vain and foolish persuit of pleasure. Taking advantage of the popular
aura of miscontent, Isaac's brother dethroned Isaac and had him blinded,
ruling himself as Emporer Alexius III from 1195 to 1203. The new emporer,
however, was in no way different from his brother.
Meanwhile, the deposed Isaac's son, the Prince Alexius, was at the court of
the German Emporer Philip of Swabia (RIN 3302). Philip had married his sister,
Irene (RIN 3303). The fourth crusade was just then getting underway. Prince
Alexius and Irene were able to persuade Philip and the Pope to have the
Venetian vessels carrying the crusading armies to Egypt diverted instead to
Constantinople for the purpose of deposing Alexius III and putting the blind
Isaac II back on the throne. This having been accomplished, Isaac and Prince
Alexius (now Emporer Alexius IV) reigned jointly for about a year - 1203-1204.
The populace were totally disgusted at the concessions that the Emporers had
made to Philip in order to gain his assistance, and, when it was apparent that
the crusader armies intended to encamp on the outskirts of Constantinople
until these provisions were fulfilled, they again revolted. Isaac and his son
both perished in the revolt.
Thus ended, for all practical purposes, the ancient Byzantine Empire.
From 1204 to 1261 the Empire was ruled by Emporers who sat at the pleasure of
the crusader states. The Empire was revived for two more centuries,1261-1453,
before finally being swallowed up by the Ottoman Empire on 29 May 1453, but
was merely a shadow of its former self in power and prestige.

NOTE : My source for the narratives on all the Byzantine Emporers is the
excellent book, "History of the Byzantine Empire, 324-1453" by A.A.
Vasiliev / The University of Wisconsin Press, 1952 / DF 552 V3
available at the Indiana State Library in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Latin rendition of surname: Angelus