Isaac II Angelos

Isaac II Angelos
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans
Portrait of Isaac II (from a 15th-century codex containing a copy of the Extracts of History by Joannes Zonaras)
Byzantine emperor
Reign12 September 1185 –
8 April 1195
PredecessorAndronikos I Komnenos
SuccessorAlexios III Angelos
Reign19 July 1203 –
27 January 1204
Coronation1 August 1203[1]
SuccessorAlexios V Doukas
Co-EmperorAlexios IV Angelos
BornSeptember 1156
DiedJanuary 1204 (aged 47)
Constantinople
(now Istanbul, Turkey)
SpouseEirene Komnena or Palaiologina
(ended 1185)
(m. 1185⁠–⁠1204)
Issue
Names
Isaac Angelos
Ισαάκιος Άγγελος
DynastyAngelos
FatherAndronikos Doukas Angelos
MotherEuphrosyne Kastamonitissa
ReligionGreek Orthodox

Isaac II Angelos or Angelus (Greek: Ἰσαάκιος Κομνηνός Ἄγγελος, translit. Isaákios Komnēnós Ángelos; September 1156 – January 1204) was Byzantine Emperor from 1185 to 1195, and co-Emperor with his son Alexios IV Angelos from 1203 to 1204. In a 1185 revolt against the Emperor Andronikos Komnenos, Isaac seized power and rose to the Byzantine throne, establishing the Angelos family as the new imperial dynasty.

His father Andronikos Doukas Angelos was a military leader in Asia Minor (c. 1122 – aft. 1185) who married Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa (c. 1125 – aft. 1195). Andronikos Doukas Angelos was the son of Constantine Angelos and Theodora Komnene (b. 15 January 1096/1097), the youngest daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina. Thus Isaac was a member of the extended imperial clan of the Komnenoi.