Arpados

Arpados (Greek: Αρπαδοσ, Hungarian: Árpádok) is the name of a Hungaro-Byzantine aristocratic family, descended from the royal Árpád dynasty of Hungary. They are currently the most senior male line branch of the former dynasty and, therefore, the most senior of the Árpád claimants to the Hungarian throne. 
The feminine form of the name is Arpadina. Its plural form is Arpadoi, or Arpads.
==History==
The Arpados family was established in 1268, when Byzantine emperor Theodore II Laskaris invited the exiled prince Emeric Árpád, third and only surviving son of King Emeric of Hungary, to Constantinople. Through his mother Maria Laskarina, Emeric was Theodore II's first cousin. In his youth, Theodore II had also been betrothed to Emeric's niece Isabella of Hungary, Princess of Chernigov, an arrangement which was broken after the Hungarian king Béla IV turned on the Byzantines, his former allies, during the Scythian Wars. Emeric, who was Béla IV's younger half-brother, was briefly made Duke of Epirus, but went into exile to Italy after the collapse of the Arpad dynasty in 1249. In spite their early misgivings, Theodore II invited Emeric to become a Byzantine nobleman because of their familial ties.
At Constantinople, Emeric was given a villa by the Golden Horn and granted the court title of protosebastos, ranking 13th in general court hierarchy. Theodore II arranged Emeric's marriage to Eugenia Palaiologina Kantakouzene, sister-in-law to his chief minister George Mouzalon. The marriage produced at least two children:
*Stephen Arpados, who became an important general and military governor (Doux) in the Western army.
*Maria Kantakouzene Arpadina, who became Queen of Hungary by marriage to Wenceslaus II,
Category:Byzantine families
Category:Noble Houses