Basil Vatatzes

Basil Vatatzes (died 1194) was a Byzantine commander from the Adrianople region. He rose under Manuel I Komnenos and c. 1187 married a cousin of Isaac II Angelos. By 1189 he held a provincial governorship, and after promotion to command in the Thracesian Theme he crushed the rebel Theodore Mankaphas near Philadelphia c. 1192 and drove him to the Seljuks.

As Domestic of the West, he confronted the Bulgarian rebellion and refused to back his brother-in-law Constantine Angelos Doukas's revolt in 1193. In 1194 he was killed fighting the Bulgarians at the Battle of Arcadiopolis. He was likely the father of the Nicaean emperor John III Vatatzes.