John Chryselios
John Chryselios (Template:Lang-el) was a Byzantine provincial magnate in late 10th-century Dyrrhachium, and the father-in-law of Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria (r. 997–1014).
Biography
Chryselios was the "leading man" (proteuon) of Dyrrhachium. At some point, the Bulgarian tsar Samuel married Chryselios's daughter Kosara, thereby acquiring control over the strategically important Adriatic port city.[1] It is likely that this marriage occurred in the 970s.[2] After the Battle of Spercheios in 997, Samuel made his son-in-law Ashot Taronites, a Byzantine captive who had married his daughter Miroslava, governor of the city. In circa 1005, however, Ashot and Miroslava, with the connivance of Chryselios, fled on a Byzantine ship to Constantinople, bearing a letter by Chryselios that promised to hand over the city to the Byzantines in exchange for the rank and title of patrikios for himself and his sons Theodore and Nicholas.[1][3] Soon, a Byzantine squadron appeared off the city under Eustathios Daphnomeles, and the city returned to Byzantine rule. It is, however, possible that this episode actually took place as late as 1018, at the end of the Bulgarian wars, since the chronology of our primary source, John Skylitzes, is unclear.[4]
References
- ^ a b Stephenson 2003, pp. 17–18, 34–35.
- ^ Adontz 1965, p. 395.
- ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 103–104; Adontz 1965, p. 397.
- ^ Holmes 2005, pp. 104–105, 497–498.
Sources
- Adontz, Nicholas (1965). Études Arméno-Byzantines. Samuel l'Arménien roi des Bulgares (in French). Lisbon, Portugal: Livraria Bertrand.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Holmes, Catherine (2005). Basil II and the Governance of Empire (976–1025). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-927968-5.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Stephenson, Paul (2003). The Legend of Basil the Bulgar-Slayer. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-81530-7.
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