Michael I Komnenos Doukas

Michael I Komnenos Doukas (c. 1170–1215), illegitimate son of the sebastokrator John Doukas and cousin of the Angeloi emperors, founded the Despotate of Epirus. A hostage to the Third Crusade in 1190, he later rebelled against Alexios III and fled to the Seljuks.

After the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople in 1204, he first served Boniface of Montferrat, then made Epirus a centre of Greek resistance to the Latins. He made treaties with the Latin Empire and Venice, conquered most of Thessaly in 1212 and recovered Dyrrhachium and Corfu in 1213–1214. He was assassinated in his sleep in 1214/15 and succeeded by his half-brother Theodore.