John Synadenos

John Synadenos and his wife Theodora Palaiologina, from the Lincoln Typikon. John Komnenos Angelos Doukas Synadenos was a Byzantine noble and military leader with the rank of megas stratopedarches during the reigns of Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) and Andronikos II Palaiologos (r. 1282–1328).

Biography Synadenos appears in 1276/1277, when, along with the megas konostaulos Michael Kaballarios, he led an army against the independent ruler of Thessaly, John I Doukas. The Byzantine army was routed at the Battle of Pharsalus, and Synadenos himself was captured, while Kaballarios was killed whilst trying to escape. He was released or ransomed from captivity, and in 1281 he participated in the campaign against the Angevins in Albania which led to the Byzantine victory at Berat. Finally, in 1283, he participated in another campaign against John Doukas, under Michael Tarchaneiotes.

Family With Theodora, John had four children, who were reportedly all young when he died: Euphrosyne Synadene, who was pledged to become a nun since infancy, and was the second founder of the Bebaia Elpis along with her mother. An unnamed daughter, once reportedly considered as a possible bride for the Bulgarian tsar Theodore Svetoslav. Theodore Synadenos, protostrator, he played a major role in the Byzantine civil wars of the first half of the 14th century.