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ISAAC II

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 858 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ISAAC II . (See also:ANGELUS), See also:emperor of the See also:East 1185-1195, and again 1203-1204, was the successor of Andronicus I. He inaugurated his reign by a decisive victory over the See also:Normans in See also:Sicily, but elsewhere his policy was less successful. He failed in an See also:attempt to recover See also:Cyprus from a rebellious See also:noble, and by the oppressiveness of his taxes drove the Bulgarians and See also:Vlachs to revolt (1186). In 1187 See also:Alexis Branas, the See also:general sent against the rebels, treacherously turned his arms against his See also:master, and attempted to seize See also:Constantinople, but was defeated and slain. The emperor's See also:attention was next demanded in the east, where several claimants to the See also:throne successively See also:rose and See also:fell. In 1189 See also:Frederick See also:Barbarossa of See also:Germany sought and obtained leave to See also:lead his troops on the third crusade through the See also:Byzantine territory; but he had no sooner crossed the border than Isaac, who had meanwhile sought an See also:alliance with See also:Saladin, threw every impediment in his way, and was only compelled by force of arms to fulfil his engagements. The next five years were disturbed by fresh rebellions of the Vlachs, against whom Isaac led several expeditions in See also:person. During one of these, in 1195, Alexius, the emperor's See also:brother, taking See also:advantage of the latter's See also:absence from See also:camp on a See also:hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was readily recognised by the soldiers. Isaac was blinded and imprisoned in Constantinople. After eight years he was raised for six months from his See also:dungeon to his throne once more (see See also:CRUSADES). But both mind and See also:body had been enfeebled by captivity, and his son Alexius IV. was the actual monarch.

Isaac died in 1204, shortly after the usurpation of his general, Mourzouphles. He was one of the weakest and most vicious princes that occupied the Byzantine throne. Surrounded by a See also:

crowd of slaves, mistresses and flatterers, he permitted his See also:empire to be administered by unworthy favourites, while he squandered the See also:money wrung from his provinces on costly buildings and expensive gifts to the churches of his See also:metropolis. See See also:Gibbon, Decline and Fall (ed. J. See also:Bury, See also:London, 1896, vol. vi.) ; G. See also:Finlay, See also:History of See also:Greece (ed. 1877, See also:Oxford, vols. iii. and iv.).

End of Article: ISAAC II

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