ALEXIUS III. (ANGELUS), emperor of the East, was the
second son of Andronicus Angelus, nephew of Alexius I. In
1195, while his brother Isaac II. was away hunting in
Thrace, he was proclaimed emperor by the troops; he captured
Isaac at Stagira in Macedonia, put out his eyes, and
kept him henceforth a close prisoner, though he had been
redeemed by him from captivity at Antioch and loaded with
honours. To compensate for this crime and to confirm his
position as emperor, he had to scatter money so lavishly
as to empty his treasury, and to allow such licence to the
officers of the army as to leave the Empire practically
defenceless. He consummated the financial ruin of the
state. The empress Euphrosyne tried in vain to sustain his
credit and his court; Vatatzes, the favourite instrument of
her attempts at reform, was assassinated by the emperor's
orders. Eastward the Empire was overrun by the Turks;
from the north Bulgarians and Vlachs descended unchecked
to ravage the plains of Macedonia and Thrace; while Alexius
squandered the public treasure on his palaces and gardens.
Soon he was threatened by a new and yet more formidable
danger. In 1202 the Western princes assembled at Venice,
bent on a new crusade. To them Alexius, son of the deposed
Isaac, made appeal, promising as a crowning bribe to heal the
schism of East and West if they would help him to depose his
uncle. The crusaders, whose objective had been Egypt, were
persuaded to set their course for Constantinople, before which
they appeared in June 1203, proclaiming the emperor Alexius
IV. and summoning the capital to depose his uncle. Alexius
III., sunk in debauchery, took no efficient measures to
resist. His son-in-law, Lascaris, who was the only one
to do anything, was defeated at Scutari, and the siege of
Constantinople began. On the 17th of July the crusaders,
the aged doge Dandolo at their head, scaled the walls and
took the city by storm. During the fighting and carnage
that followed Alexius hid in the palace, and finally, with
one of his daughters, Irene, and such treasures as he could
collect, got into a boat and escaped to Develton in Thrace,
leaving his wife, his other daughters and his Empire to the
victors. Isaac, drawn from his prison and robed once
more in the imperial purple, received hs son in state.
Shortly afterwards Alexius made an effort in conjunction
with Murtzuphlos (Alexius V.) to recover the throne. The
attempt was unsuccessful and, after wandering about Greece,
he surrendered with Euphrosyne, who had meanwhile joined
him, to Boniface of Montferrat, then master of a great part
of the Balkan peninsula. Leaving his protection he sought
shelter with Michael, despot of Epirus, and then repaired
to Asia Minor,where his son-in-law Lascaris was holding his
own against the Latins. Alexius, joined by the sultan of
Iconium (Konieh), now demanded the crown of Lascaris, and
on his refusal marched against him. Lascaris, however,
defeated and took him prisoner. Alexius was relegated to
a monastery at Nicaea, where he died on some date unknown.
AUTHORITIES.--Nicetas Acominatus, George Acropolites, Nicephorus Gregoras,
and the sources for the Fourth Crusade (see CRUSADES). (J. B. B.)
This article is from the 1911 edition of an
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