Emperor Alexios III Angelos of Byzantium

Alexios III Angelos (r. 1195-1203)- The older brother of Isaac II who blinded him. Though wanting to take the throne, Alexios III was nothing more than a weak ruler uninterested in running the empire, instead he left corrupt officials to do the job while he indulged in pleasure. In his reign, most of the imperial treasury was wasted away as Alexios III spent in bribing off the people to compensate for blinding Isaac II who was still popular among them, while historian Niketas Choniates says that Alexios III would sign any document given to him no matter how stupid the terms were such as sailing on land and plowing the sea. At the end, Alexios III lost the throne when the 4th Crusade took Constantinople in 1203, whereas his brother and nephew took the throne while he fled hoping to take it back. He lived the rest of his life seeking to take back the throne but never made it dying a broken man in 1211.

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