Under Alexios III, Manuel Kamytzes campaigned unsuccessfully against the Bulgarian rebel leader Ivanko in 1197.
22 Facts About Manuel Kamytzes
1.
2.
In early 1199, as Alexios III briefly fell gravely ill, Manuel Kamytzes was one of the imperial relatives who put themselves forward for the throne.
3.
Manuel Kamytzes captured Thessaly, but was quickly abandoned by Chrysos and defeated by the Imperial armies in 1202.
4.
Manuel Kamytzes's mother was the firstborn child of Constantine Angelos, the founder of the Angelos family.
5.
Manuel Kamytzes's mother, Theodora, was a purple-born princess, the daughter of the Byzantine emperor Alexios I Komnenos.
6.
Manuel Kamytzes had siblings, but their number or names are unknown.
7.
Manuel Kamytzes is first mentioned in 1185, during the reign of Andronikos I Komnenos, Kamytzes' first cousin, once removed.
8.
In 1185, Isaac II Angelos, a first cousin on his mother's side, took the throne, and Manuel Kamytzes received the title of protostrator.
9.
Manuel Kamytzes played an important role in the suppression of the revolt of the general Alexios Branas, which broke out during the summer of 1186, or, more likely, in 1187.
10.
In 1189, when the army of Frederick I Barbarossa crossed Byzantine territory as part of the Third Crusade, Manuel Kamytzes was charged, along with the Domestic of the West, Alexios Gidos, to keep watch on the German forces and harass them by attacking any foraging parties.
11.
When Barbarossa seized Philippopolis, he sent a message to Manuel Kamytzes, stressing that his sole intention was safe and peaceful passage through Byzantine lands.
12.
The Germans were informed of this from the Armenian inhabitants of the fortress of Prousenos, where Manuel Kamytzes had set up his main camp, and set out with 5,000 cavalry to attack the Byzantine camp.
13.
In 1190 Manuel Kamytzes participated in yet another campaign against the Bulgarian rebels in the area of the Balkan Mountains.
14.
Manuel Kamytzes apparently preserved his post and participated in Alexios' coronation ceremonies in the capital: Choniates records that, after the coronation in the Hagia Sophia, according to protocol, the protostrator held the reins of the new emperor's horse.
15.
Manuel Kamytzes set out from Philippopolis, but just as he was crossing into Moesia, the army mutinied and refused to go on and risk a battle with the Bulgarians, citing the many perilous, and fruitless, expeditions they had undertaken in the region in the past.
16.
Manuel Kamytzes was forced to give in to his soldiers' demands and turned back.
17.
Manuel Kamytzes had his men gather flocks of livestock, as well as some prisoners of war, and take them across the plain as an ostensible tribute to his ally, the Bulgarian ruler Kaloyan.
18.
In desperation, after about a year of captivity, Manuel Kamytzes turned to his son-in-law, Dobromir Chrysos.
19.
Manuel Kamytzes was released and conveyed to Prosek, from where he again wrote to the Emperor, asking that Chrysos be repaid from his own confiscated fortune, which, as he reminded the Emperor, was many times the sum in question.
20.
The rebellion of Manuel Kamytzes led to other uprisings as well: Leo Sgouros rebelled in the Peloponnese, as did the doux of the province of Smolyan, John Spyridonakes.
21.
Manuel Kamytzes refused, and the Imperial army under Alexios III invaded Thessaly.
22.
Manuel Kamytzes married around 1170, but his wife's name is unknown.