imported>StephenMacky1: Reverted 1 edit by 77.29.135.192 (talk): Per sources.

2025-03-24T22:26:08Z

Reverted 1 edit by 77.29.135.192 (talk): Per sources.

New page

{{Short description|Vlach warlord}}
'''Dobromir Chrysos''' ({{langx|mk|Добромир Хрс}}, {{langx|bg|Добромир Хриз}}, {{langx|el|Δοβρομηρός Χρύσος}}) was a [[Vlach]] warlord in eastern [[Macedonia (region)|Macedonia]] during the reign of the [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Alexios III Angelos]].<ref name="curta">Florin Curta, Southeastern Europe in the Middle Ages, 500-1250, Cambridge University Press, 2006, {{ISBN|9780521815390}}, p. 363.</ref><ref name="sophoulis">Panos Sophoulis, Banditry in the Medieval Balkans, 800-1500, Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, {{ISBN|9783030559045}}, pp. 81–82.</ref><ref name="fine">John Van Antwerp Fine, The Late Medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, University of Michigan Press, 1994, {{ISBN|0472082604}}, p. 29.</ref><ref name="madgearu">Alexandru Madgearu, The Asanids: The Political and Military History of the Second Bulgarian Empire (1185-1280), BRILL, 2016, {{ISBN|9789004333192}}, p. 110; 117; 158.</ref>

==Life==
[[File:Prosek.png|right|thumb|240px|Plan of the fortress [[Prosek, North Macedonia|Prosek]], seat of Dobromir Chrysos]]
Byzantine historian [[Niketas Choniates]] reported that Dobromir Chrysos was, despite his Slavic name, a [[Vlach]] by birth.<ref name="stephenson">Paul Stephenson, Byzantium's Balkan Frontier: A Political Study of the Northern Balkans, 900-1204, Cambridge University Press, 2000, {{ISBN|9780521770170}}, p. 307.</ref> Per Bulgarian researcher Dimitar Bechev, he was of mixed Slavic–Vlach origins.<ref>Dimitar Bechev, Historical Dictionary of North Macedonia, Rowman & Littlefield, 2019, {{ISBN|9781538119624}}, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5OSdDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA7&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 7.]</ref>

Choniates reported that Chrysos and his 500 men were initially on Emperor Alexios III's side, but due to suspicion of leaning towards his fellow Vlachs and wanting to rule independently, he was imprisoned.<ref name="sophoulis" /> After his release in 1196, he became Strumica's commander and by the end of the year started a revolt, raiding lands between the rivers [[Struma (river)|Strymon]] and [[Vardar]].<ref name="stephenson" /><ref>Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Stanford University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|9780804726306}}, p. 661.</ref> Thus he became the ruler of local Vlachs<ref>The meaning of the term "Vlach" in this period and region was the subject of fierce dispute in the late 19th and 20th centuries. For more see: Roumen Daskalov, Feud over the Middle Ages: Bulgarian-Romanian Historiographical Debates; in: Entangled Histories of the Balkans - Volume Three, Shared Pasts, Disputed Legacies, pp: 274–354. with Roumen Daskalov and Alexander Vezenkov as ed. BRILL, 2015; {{ISBN|9004290362}}.</ref> and [[Bulgarian Slavs]].<ref name="fine" /> He soon expanded his power over [[Prosek, North Macedonia|Prosek]], where he had an advanced fortification built.<ref>Florin Curta, Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages (500-1300), BRILL, 2019, {{ISBN|9789004395190}}, p. 681.</ref> Alexios launched a campaign against him in 1197 and laid siege for two months before returning to the capital [[Constantinople]], allowing Chrysos to consolidate control over the area.<ref name="sophoulis" /> After Alexios' unsuccessful campaign in the autumn of 1197, he sued for peace and recognized Chrysos' rights to the lands between the Strymon and Vardar, including Strumica and the fortress of Prosek. He was already married, but in order to cement an alliance with him the Emperor offered him a daughter of the Byzantine warlord [[Manuel Kamytzes]].<ref name="kaldellis">Anthony Kaldellis, The New Roman Empire: A History of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 2023, {{ISBN|9780197549322}}, pp. 713–715.</ref> She was forced to divorce her husband and marry Chrysos in 1198.{{sfn|Choniates|1984|pp=279–280}} Presumably he took the name "Chrysos" upon marriage.<ref name="stephenson" />

His father-in-law Kamytzes was captured by Ivanko during a campaign and Chrysos ended up paying the ransom for his release, with the former joining him in a revolt.<ref name="simpson">Alicia Simpson, Niketas Choniates: A Historiographical Study, OUP Oxford, 2013, {{ISBN|9780199670710}}, p. 62–63; 190; 213.</ref> Around 1201 they launched a series of fresh raids into Macedonia, Thessaly, central Greece, and the Peloponnese.<ref name="madgearu" /> Imperial diplomacy and Chrysos' marriage to Alexios III's granddaughter [[Theodora Angelina (daughter of Isaac Komnenos)|Theodora Angelina]] (who had previously been married to the rival leader, [[Ivanko (boyar)|Ivanko]]) ended the campaign.<ref name="kaldellis" /><ref name="simpson" />{{sfn|Choniates|1984|pp=293–294}} Chrysos was then forced to accept a new treaty that allowed him to retain control only of Prosek and the surrounding countryside. According to historian Panos Sophoulis, his rule was largely based on terror and intimidation. Apparently, he had extorted the local population to build wealth for himself and his followers. His extra income may have been from tolls on travelers or robberies on the two routes near Prosek, Morava-Axios highway, and [[Via Egnatia]].<ref name="sophoulis" /> After 1201, he died and disappeared from the sources.<ref name="kazhdan">Alexander P. Kazhdan, The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium, Oxford University Press, 1991, {{ISBN|9780195046526}}, p. 641; 1738.</ref> Prosek appears to have been conquered by the Bulgarian emperor [[Kaloyan of Bulgaria|Kaloyan]] after 1202.<ref name="madgearu" /><ref name="kazhdan" />

==Sources==
{{O City of Byzantium}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

== Literature ==
* [http://anamnesis.info/fonts/versiq.1.3/journal/flash_journal/broi6-Dobromir_Hriz/Dobromir_Hriz.html Томов, Т. Добромир Хриз, който владееше Просек и Струмица - Анамнеза, Т. 6 (2008), 97-114]

{{Rebellion and secession in Byzantium, 1182–1205}}

[[Category:12th-century nobility]]
[[Category:13th-century nobility]]
[[Category:12th-century military personnel]]
[[Category:13th-century military personnel]]
[[Category:12th-century births]]
[[Category:13th-century deaths]]
[[Category:Eastern Romance people]]
[[Category:History of the Aromanians]]
[[Category:People from medieval Macedonia]]

Dobromir Chrysos - Revision history

imported>StephenMacky1: Reverted 1 edit by 77.29.135.192 (talk): Per sources.