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Coup of Alexios III Angelos
In 1195 Alexios III Angelos, brother-in-law of Byzantine emperor Isaac II, launched a palace coup while Isaac was hunting, seized Constantinople and …
Timeline
- 1195Constantinople · Byzantium/OttomanIsaac II Angelos was losing popular support due to failed foreign wars and fiscal pressure; Alexios III took advantage of his absence to contact the guard and palace factions, preparing to seize the throne.
- 1195Constantinople · Byzantium/OttomanWith supporters' help Alexios III seized the palace and key roads, deposed Isaac II and crowned himself Byzantine emperor; the coup was completed quickly without large-scale street fighting.
- 1195Constantinople · Byzantium/OttomanIsaac II was captured on his return to the capital, blinded and imprisoned in the palace, per Byzantine custom rendering him ineligible to reign again, planting the seeds for his son Alexios IV's later appeal to the crusaders.
Sources
- Nicetas Choniates, Historia — Nicetas Choniates
- Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium — Alexander Kazhdan (ed.) (1991)