- Demetrios Angelos Doukas
Demetrios Angelos Doukas or Angelus Ducas (Greek: Δημήτριος Άγγελος Δούκας, "Dēmētrios Angelos Doukas"), was ruler of
Thessalonica from 1244 until his deposition in 1246. He was born c. 1220.Demetrios was the younger son of
Theodore Komnenos Doukas and Maria Petraliphaina. In 1230 his father was captured together with his family in theBattle of Klokotnitsa byIvan Asen II of Bulgaria . When his sister Irene married Ivan Asen II in 1237, Demetrios was released from captivity together with his now blind father Theodore and his older brother John. Theodore and his sons made their way back toThessalonica and incited a revolt against Theodore's brotherManuel Komnenos Doukas who had ruled the city since 1230. Since Theodore was blind, he installed his son John as ruler and retired to Vodena. When John submitted to EmperorJohn III Doukas Vatatzes of Nicaea in 1242, Demetrios also received the title ofdespotes .Demetrios succeeded his brother as ruler of Thessalonica in 1244. Young and dissolute, Demetrios inspired little loyalty among the leading families of Thessalonica. When Emperor John III Doukas Vatatzes campaigned near the city during his invasion of
Bulgaria in 1246, the local nobility conspired to arrest Demetrios and turn over the city to the Nicaean emperor. Demetrios was powerless to resist and the city was surrendered to John III Doukas Vatatzes. Demetrios was sent into exile to the fortress of Lentiana. The date of his death is unknown.References
*"The
Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium ", Oxford University Press, 1991.
*D.I. Polemis, "The Doukai", London, 1968.
*K. Varzos, "Ē genealogia tōn Komnēnōn" (Thessalonica, 1984).
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