John II Doukas of Thessaly

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John II Doukas, also Angelos Doukas (Latinized as Angelus Ducas) (Greek: Ἰωάννης Ἄγγελος Δούκας, romanized: Iōannēs Angelos Doukas), was ruler of Great Vlachia (Thessaly) from 1303 to his death in 1318.

John II Angelos Doukas was the son of

The selection of the duke of Athens as regent proved both timely and fortuitous.

With the Catalans moving into Boeotia, Attica, and the Gulf of Corinth coast, John II was able to exert more control over Thessaly. Here he encountered the opposition of the local magnates, who had probably become accustomed to central authority that had been even more ineffectual than usually. John attempted to strengthen his position by drawing closer to the Byzantine Empire and marrying Irene Palaiologina, the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos in 1315. Perhaps at this time John was conferred the title of sebastokratōr. He was already relying on some Byzantine assistance against the Catalans within his domains, but died in 1318 without heirs.

On John II's death in 1318 much of northwestern Thessaly came under the control of the powerful magnate Stephen Gabrielopoulos, but the southernmost areas around Neopatras were seized by the Catalans, who set up their own principality there (the Duchy of Neopatras).

References

• Ferjančić, Božidar (1974). Тесалија у XIII и XIV веку [Thessaly in the 13th and 14th Centuries] (in Serbian). Belgrade: Византолошког институт САНУ.
• ISBN 0-472-08260-4
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• Polemis, Demetrios I. (1968). The Doukai: A Contribution to Byzantine Prosopography. London: The Athlone Press.
  OCLC 299868377
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