DUCAS

ducas, dukas or doukas, the name of a byzantine family which supplied several rulers to the eastern empire. the family first came into prominence during the 9th century, but was ruined when constantine ducas, a son of the general andronicus ducas, lost his life in his effort to obtain the imperial crown in 913. towards the end of the 10th century there appeared another family of ducas, which was perhaps connected with the earlier family through the female line and was destined to attain to greater fortune. a member of this family became emperor as constantine x. in 1059, and constantine's son michael vii. ruled, nominally in conjunction with his younger brothers, andronicus and constantine, from 1071 to 1078. michael left a son, constantine, and, says gibbon, "a daughter of the house of ducas illustrated the blood, and confirmed the succession, of the comnenian dynasty." the family was also allied by marriage with other great byzantine houses, and after losing the imperial dignity its members continued to take an active part in public affairs. in 1204 alexius ducas, called mourzoufle, deposed the emperor isaac angelus and his son alexius, and vainly tried to defend constantinople against the attacks of the latin crusaders. nearly a century and a half later one michael ducas took a leading part in the civil war between the emperors john v. palaeologus and john vi. cantacuzenus, and michael's grandson was the historian ducas (see below). many of the petty sovereigns who arose after the destruction of the eastern empire sought to gain prestige by adding the famous name of ducas to their own. ducas (15th cent.), byzantine historian, flourished under constantine xiii. (xi.) dragases, the last emperor of the east, about 1450. the dates of his birth and death are unknown. he was the grandson of michael ducas (see above). after the fall of constantinople, he was employed in various diplomatic missions by dorino and domenico gateluzzi, princes of lesbos, where he had taken refuge. he was successful in securing a semi-independence for lesbos until 1462, when it was taken and annexed to turkey by sultan mahommed ii. it is known that ducas survived this event, but there is no record of his subsequent life. he was the author of a history of the period 1341-1462; his work thus continues that of gregoras and cantacuzene, and supplements phrantzes and chalcondyles. there is a preliminary chapter of chronology from adam to john palaeologus i. although barbarous in style, the history of ducas is both judicious and trustworthy, and it is the most valuable source for the closing years of the greek empire. the account of the capture of constantinople is of special importance. ducas was a strong supporter of the union of the greek and latin churches, and is very bitter against those who rejected even the idea of appealing to the west for assistance against the turks. the history, preserved (without a title) in a single paris ms., was first edited by i. bullialdus (bulliaud) (paris, 1649); later editions are in the bonn _corpus scriptorum hist. byz._, by i. bekker (1834) and migne, _patrologia graeca_, clvii. the bonn edition contains a 15th century italian translation by an unknown author, found by leopold ranke in one of the libraries of venice, and sent by him to bekker.