Manuel Angelos Philanthropenos

Manuel Angelos Philanthropenos (Greek: Μανουήλ Ἂγγελος Φιλανθρωπηνός) was a Byzantine Greek nobleman who ruled Thessaly from ca. 1390 until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1393, as a Byzantine vassal with the title of Caesar.

Manuel was either the son or the brother of the Caesar Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos, who had ruled Thessaly since the early 1370s, succeeding him upon his death ca. 1389/1390. Like Alexios, he recognized the suzerainty of the Byzantine emperor, and was given the title of Caesar in return.^[1][2][3] In 1389 he (or Alexios, if he was still living) sent aid to the ruler of Ioannina, Esau de' Buondelmonti against the Albanian tribes of Epirus, and their joint forces scored a major victory over them.^[4] In 1393 however, the Ottomans sent a large army which occupied Thessaly. Manuel was thus the last Christian ruler of the entire region until 1878, when it became part of the Kingdom of Greece.^[5] Either he or (less likely) Alexios was the grandfather of the Serbian ruler Mihailo Anđelović and the Ottoman Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha Angelović.^[6]

References

1. ^ Fine (1994), p. 353
2. ^ Kazhdan (1991), pp. 1649, 2074
3. ^ Stavrides (2001), pp. 76–77
4. ^ Fine (1994), p. 355
5. ^ Fine (1994), pp. 353, 430
6. ^ Stavrides (2001), pp. 75–78

Sources

• Fine, John Van Antwerp (1994), The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, University of Michigan Press, ISBN 978-0472082605, http://books.google.gr/books?id=Hh0Bu8C66TsC 
• Kazhdan, Alexander, ed (1991). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6. 
• Stavrides, Théoharis (2001). The Sultan of vezirs: the life and times of the Ottoman Grand Vezir Mahmud Pasha Angelović (1453–1474). BRILL. ISBN 978-9004121065. http://books.google.com/books?id=ptXG0uA70lAC. 

Preceded by Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos

Ruler of Thessaly (under the Byzantine Empire) ca. 1390–1393

Succeeded by Ottoman conquest