John III Doukas Vatatzes

## John III Doukas VatatzesΙωάννης Γ΄ Δούκας Βατάτζης

An icon of St. John the Almsgiver

**John III Doukas Vatatzes** (Greek: Ιωάννης Γ΄ Δούκας Βατάτζης, *Iōannēs III Doukas Vatatzēs*, c. 1193, Didymoteicho – 1245) was Byzantine emperor from 1222 to 1245. During his rule, the Byzantine Empire prospered and expanded into Bulgaria and Anatolia. In his latter years John III was faced with the first and second Mongol invasions of the Byzantine Empire. His response was found lacking and he was overthrown by Andronikos Palaiologos, marking the end of his reign and that of his life as he later succumbed to his wounds in exile.

For his charity and benevolent rule, he was canonized by the Eastern Orthodox Church and is celebrated as **St. John the Almsgiver** with a feast day on

## Biography

John Doukas Vatatzes was probably born as the third son of Basil Vatatzes and his wife, an unnamed of Isaac Angelos and cousin of the emperors Isaac II and Alexios III. His family belonged to the landed military aristocracy and held large estates around his home town of Didymoteicho in Thrace. He had two older brothers, Isaac and John Doukas Vatatzes, the latter of whom was the father of Theodora of Antioch.

In spite of his father's death in the Battle of Arcadiopolis (1194), fighting Bulgarians, John Doukas Vatatzes followed in his footsteps and became a successful soldier and general himself. He earned wide acclaim at court for his defense of Adrianople against the Bulgarian tsar Kaloyan in 1212. Seeing a potential rival for the imperial throne in John, the recently restored Alexios III sought to bind him to his dynasty and arranged his marriage to his granddaughter Eirene Laskarina, which was approved by her father Theodore Laskaris, then co-emperor. The marriage would result in one child, the future Theodore II Laskaris, but came to a premature end in 1229 when Eirene suffered an accident whilst riding, becoming infertile, and retired to a monastery under the name of Eugenia four years later. John re-married to Constance-Anna of Hohenstaufen in 1239, but had no children by her and preferred the company of her Italian governess, a woman known as Marchesina, who he took as his mistress.

As both general and emperor, John Doukas Vatatzes was a man deeply committed to the public good and concerned for the welfare of his people. Pachymeres reports that one day, when the future Theodore II Laskaris went on a hunt wearing gold, he chanced upon his father on his return, who ignored his greetings. Feeling his father's anger, Theodore went to learn what the matter was. His father scolded him:

*"What good have you consciously done to the Romans that you spill their blood in unnecessary pursuits? Do you not know that cloths of gold and silk are the blood of the Romans and should be put to their service, since they belong to them? You wish to know when? It is precisely when ambassadors come from abroad that we should show them the wealth of our subjects by wearing splendid garments."*

Although not a patron of the letters and the arts as his son after him, John Doukas Vatatzes was interested in the collection and transcriptions of manuscripts, both ancient Hellenic wisdom and the nascent Latin philosophy of Western Europe.

John Doukas Vatatzes died in 1245, succumbing to wounds taken during the storming of the Palace of Boukoleon at Constantinople and his subsequent flight into exile. He was buried in the monastery of Sosandra, in Magnesia in Greece, which he had founded and patronized.

## Reign

As emperor, enacted several reforms in the Byzantine administration, aiming at improving taxation and increasing the general prosperity of the empire, after decades of fiscal mismanagement under the Angeloi. As his son after him, John III was credited with anti-aristocratic policies that intended to centralize power in the figure of the emperor and his achievements were important precedents to Theodore II's more radical policy.

His succession was disputed by Theodore I's younger brothers Alexios and Isaac Laskaris, who were supported in their claim by major aristocratic families, such as the Nestongoi. After a brief civil war, the succession was settled in John III's favor at the Battle of Poimanenon.

Throughout his reign, John III embarked in several successful military campaigns both in Bulgaria and in Asia. Of note was the recovery of the fortress town of Philippopolis in Bulgaria in 1232, which would become the main center of Byzantine administration in the region for the coming decades. To the east, John III also campaigned in Armenia and Anatolia, conquering the Seljuk capital of Iconium in 1234 and thus dissolving the Sultanate of Rum.

As the Mongols threatened to march on Constantinople in 1240, John Doukas Vatatzes quickly reacted, marshaling the Western and Eastern armies in Bulgaria and Anatolia respectively, while also sending aid to the Grand Prince of Kiev.

## Legacy

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## Family

By his wife Eirene Laskarina, John had one son:

* Theodore II Doukas Laskaris, who succeeded him as emperor and eventually won the civil war.

John III married a second time in 1239 to Constance-Anna of Hohenstaufen, illegitimate daughter of Frederick I of Sicily and his mistress Bianca Lancia, but the marriage was childless.