Alexios V Doukas

Who was Alexios V Doukas?

Alexios V Doukas, nicknamed Mourtzouphlos, was Byzantine Emperor during the second and final siege of Constantinople by the participants of the Fourth Crusade. He was related to the imperial Doukas family. His nickname "Mourtzouphlos" referred to either his bushy, overhanging eyebrows or his sullen character. The term has the meaning of one being crestfallen, depressed, despondent, downcast, gloomy, sullen and evidently frowning, scowling.

A Byzantine nobleman, he had risen to the court position of protovestiarios by the time of the Fourth Crusade. He had been married twice but was allegedly the lover of Eudokia Angelina, a daughter of Emperor Alexios III Angelos. His participation in the attempted overthrow of Alexios III Angelos by John Komnenos the Fat in 1200 had led to his imprisonment until the restoration to the throne of Isaac II Angelos. Isaac II, along with his son Alexios IV Angelos, were restored to the throne through the intervention of leaders of the Fourth Crusade in July 1203. Isaac II had been deposed and imprisoned by his brother Alexios III in 1195 while Isaac II was away hunting in Thrace.