Alexius V Ducas Mourtzouphlus

died 1204, Constantinople

Byzantine emperor.

In 1204 he led a Greek revolt against his coemperors Isaac II and Alexius IV, who had been supported by the Fourth Crusade, and he became the last Greek emperor of united Byzantium before its overthrow and partition by the Crusaders. He imprisoned Alexius IV and demanded the Crusaders leave Constantinople, but they instead besieged the city. He fled to join the fugitive Alexius III (his father-in-law), who, instead of allying with him, had him blinded. Captured by the Crusaders, he was thrown from the top of a column to his death.

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▪ Byzantine emperor

also spelled  Alexios V Doukas  or  Alexius Ducas Murtzuphlus 

died November 1204, Constantinople, Byzantine Empire [now Istanbul, Turkey]

      Byzantine emperor in 1204, son-in-law of Alexius III Angelus. He led a revolt against the coemperors Isaac II (Isaac II Angelus) and Alexius IV (Alexius IV Angelus), who were supported by the Fourth Crusade. He then became the last emperor of Byzantium before its overthrow and partition by the Crusaders. In January 1204 Alexius began his four-month reign by imprisoning the deposed Alexius IV (Alexius IV Angelus), whom he later had strangled. The leader of the anti-Latin party in Constantinople, he disavowed Alexius IV's debt to the Crusaders and demanded their withdrawal from Constantinople. They instead besieged the city, and three days later (April 12, 1204) Alexius fled to join the fugitive Alexius III (Alexius III Angelus). Alexius III, however, blinded him. He was then captured by the Crusaders, who put him to death as the murderer of Alexius IV by casting him from the top of a column in Constantinople.

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