Alexios Tzamplakon ( Greek: Ἀλέξιος Τζαμπλάκων, fl. 1317–1332) was a Byzantine aristocrat and high official.
Life
The Tzamplakones were an important and wealthy aristocratic family attested since the mid-13th century, when one of its members achieved the high military rank of Domestic of the Schools. Alexios was this man's son. [1] [2]
He is first attested in 1317, in the service of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328). [2] He is then mentioned in 1326, when he held the dignity of megas tzaousios and the post of governor ( kephale) of the city of Serres and the region of Popolia south of Mount Pangaion in Macedonia. [1] [2] [3] In the civil war between Andronikos II and his grandson Andronikos III (r. 1328–1341), Tzamplakon initially sided with the elder Andronikos, but in 1327 changed sides, and was rewarded with a promotion to megas papias and the governorship of Zichne. [1] [2] [3]
In July 1331/1332, Tzamplakon commanded the Byzantine army's left wing in the defeat at Rhosokastron against the Bulgarians. [2] [3] In November 1332, in his last known act as megas papias, he co-signed a treaty with Venice. [3] Shortly thereafter, and having already some time before adopted the monastic name Antony, he retired to a monastery where he lived out his days. The date of his death is unknown, but was probably after 1334. [1] [2] [3]
Family
Alexios Tzamplakon had four known children, three sons and a daughter: [1] [2] [3]
- Asomatianos, who became megas doux (commander of the Byzantine navy)
- Arsenios, who also became a megas papias
- Demetrios, who became megas stratopedarches (a senior military rank)
- an unnamed daughter, who married a member of the Tornikes family
References
Sources
- Guilland, Rodolphe (1967). Recherches sur les institutions byzantines [Studies on the Byzantine Institutions]. Berliner byzantinische Arbeiten 35 (in French). Vol. I. Berlin and Amsterdam: Akademie-Verlag & Adolf M. Hakkert. OCLC 878894516.
- Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- Trapp, Erich; Beyer, Hans-Veit; Kaplaneres, Sokrates; Leontiadis, Ioannis (1991). "27748. Τζαμπλάκων Ἀλέξιος". Prosopographisches Lexikon der Palaiologenzeit (in German). Vol. 11. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. ISBN 3-7001-3003-1.