Michael Angelus Ducas Comnenus

despot of Epirus

Also known as: Michael I Komnenos Doukas

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June 30, 2026

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Michael Angelus Ducas Comnenus was the founder of the despotate of Epirus, a Byzantine principality established in 1204 in the Balkans. This state served as a center of resistance for Byzantine Greeks during the Latin occupation of Constantinople. Michael, a member of the dethroned Byzantine imperial house, established the principality in what is now southern Albania and northwestern Greece. His half-brother and successor, Theodore Ducas, expanded the territory and claimed the title of Byzantine emperor. The despotate was eventually reannexed to the Byzantine Empire in 1337. The Ducas family itself was a prominent Byzantine lineage that provided several rulers to the empire, with members appearing from the 10th century onwards.12

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Byzantine Empire
The Fourth Crusade and the establishment of the Latin Empire
In Epirus in northwestern Greece Michael Angelus Ducas, a relative of Alexius III, made his capital at Arta and harassed the Crusader states in Thessaly. The third centre of resistance was based on the city of Nicaea in Anatolia, where Theodore I Lascaris, another relative of Alexius III, was crowned…
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In Epirus in northwestern Greece Michael Angelus Ducas, a relative of Alexius III, made his capital at Arta and harassed the Crusader states in Thessaly. The third centre of resistance was based on the city of Nicaea in Anatolia, where Theodore I Lascaris, another relative of Alexius III, was crowned…
Read More