March 1206-1213 A.D. Michael IV Autoreianos—Constantinople’s 126th; Well Educated; Lived Through Sack of Constantinople in 4th Crusade
March
1206-1213 A.D. Michael IV
Autoreianos—Constantinople’s 126th;
Well Educated; Lived Through Sack
of Constantinople in 4th Crusade
Michael IV of
Constantinople
References
Sources
From Wikipedia, the free
Michael IV Autoreianos (Greek: Μιχαήλ Ἀυτωρειανός)
was the Patriarch of Constantinople from 1206[1] to his death in 1212.
Michael was a well-educated
man and a member of the literary circle around Eustathius of Thessalonica.
In the ecclesiastic hierarchy, he had reached the post of megas sakellarios at the time of the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204.[2] According to a letter written by John Apokaukos in 1222, he was nominated bishop of Amastris, but David Komnenos rejected his nomination as an infringement of his
sovereignty.[3] In 1208 he was made patriarch by Theodore I
Laskaris, in succession of John X who
had died in 1206. Laskaris had established a Byzantine Greek successor state in Asia, the Empire of Nicaea, and had tried to persuade John X to join him, but he
had refused because of old age and died shortly after.[4]
Shortly after his appointment,
on 20 March 1206, Michael IV performed Theodore Laskaris' coronation as emperor
(Laskaris had already been acclaimed emperor in 1205). He also took the highly
unusual move, contrary to both Byzantine tradition and Orthodox doctrine, of
promising remission of sins for Laskaris' soldiers who fell in battle. It
appears however that this pledge was of short duration. He died at Nicaea on 26 August 1212.[5]
References
3. Jump up^ Anthony Bryer, "David Komnenos and Saint
Eleutherios",Archeion Pontou, 42 (1988-1989), p. 180 and note
Sources
·
Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991), Oxford
Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6
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