The Accession of John III Doukas Vatatzes
The Accession of John III Doukas Vatatzes

Summary/Abstract: John Vatatzes’s accession in 1221 was not quite the bland affair that the historian George Akropolites would have us believe, but the historian was not an eyewitness of events and had to make do with the sanitised version of events that was circulating more than ten years later, when he arrived at the Nicaean court. He played down the fact that it was a disputed succession, which pitted those that supported a continuation of the alliance with the Latin Empire of Constantinople against those around John Vatatzes, who were opposed. The latter had support from within the administration and from the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople, who used the novel rite of anointing with chrism to compensate for Vatatzes’s lack of any strong dynastic claim to the throne. This had been coming under scrutiny from a rival Byzantine ruler, Theodore Doukas, who had to his credit stronger dynastic credentials and notable success against the Latins, which brought the city of Thessaloniki within his grasp. Anointing gave John Vatatzes an advantage in the propaganda war between them over legitimacy. The debate that ensued helped clarify the ideological significance of anointing with chrism by linking it to the sacerdotal status of the imperial office. It stamped John Vatatzes’s understanding of imperial authority and conduct of office with a philanthropic character that was remembered with gratitude by later generations and earned him popular canonisation. It was less to the liking of the aristocracy. Some of Vatatzes’s relatives and original supporters conspired against him because they felt deprived of rewards to which they were entitled. It was a more serious episode than George Akropolites allows and required a display of military force, but once the conspiracy was crushed by the autumn of 1224, John Vatatzes was securely in power.

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