Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, Episode 253, the second Bulgarian Empire.

Last time, we watched on in horror as the Norman Sakt Thessaloniki, then restrained our

jubilation as the Emperor Andronicus was torn apart by the mob. It may have felt like justice,

but it marked the end of the Comdenian dynasty. For over a century one family had provided

stability at the top. They had kept the empire together and commanded the loyalty of the

nobleman who ran the state. But now, this new aristocracy had no clear leader. Every man

with a blood connection to the Comdeni-noi could claim that he represented the true continuity

of Manoel's reign. The only thing this class seemed to agree on was that Isaac Angolos was not

the man to lead them. This wasn't because Angolos was an unworthy man, but simply because his

qualifications to be Vassilafs were no better than anyone else's. Angolos had been swept

to power by accident and now faced a daunting task. Isaac II Angolos was born in 1156, making

him just 29 years old when he became Emperor. A perfectly reasonable age for a prince to

take over from his father, having spent his youth being prepared for office. But of course

Isaac was not a prince and had undergone no training for the highest office in the land.

The Angoloi had joined the Comdenian clan when Alexius Comdenos had married one of his daughters

to Isaac's grandfather. Isaac's father had served Manoel well, and as we heard two episodes

ago it was the Angoloi who was sent to stop Andronicus from reaching the boss for us.

After failing to do this, the men of the family defected to Andronicus to avoid punishment for

their failure, but as soon as Andronicus had moved on, they became leaders of his opposition at

Nicaea. After the failure of their revolution, Isaac managed to live quietly at the family

home in Constantinople until the events of our last episode. Andronicus's paranoid attempt

to snuff out potential usurpers ended up creating the movement which destroyed him.

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