The lineage was founded by Constantine Angelos, a minor noble from Philadelphia, who married Theodora Komnene, a daughter of emperor Alexios I Komnenos. According to the 12th-century historian John Zonaras, Constantine was brave, skilled and handsome, but of lowly origin. The family's surname, "Angelos", is commonly held to have derived from the Greek word for "angel", but such an origin is rarely attested in Byzantine times, and it is possible that their name instead derives from Agel, a district near Amida in Upper Mesopotamia. The historian Suzanne Wittek-de Jongh suggested that Constantine was the son of a certain patrikiosManuel Angelos, whose possessions near Serres were confirmed by a chrysobull of Emperor Nikephoros III, but this is considered unlikely by most scholars. Constantine and Theodora had seven children, three sons and four daughters. Through his sons, Constantine was the progenitor of the Angelos dynasty, which produced three Byzantine emperors in 1185–1204, as well as the "Angelos Komnenos Doukas" dynasty that ruled over Epirus and Thessalonica in the 13th–14th centuries. Constantine's third son Andronikos Doukas Angelos was the progenitor of the imperial Angelos dynasty. In 1185, Andronikos' son Isaac II Angelos deposed Andronikos I Komnenos and was proclaimed Byzantine Emperor. Irene Angelina, a daughter of Isaac II Angelos, married Philip of Swabia, King of the Germans. Their daughters married into a number of western European royal and princely families. Many of the extant aristocratic families of Europe are, therefore, descendants of the Angeloi. Isaac was deposed by his brother Alexios III Angelos, who was in turn overthrown by Alexios IV Angelos with the aid of the Fourth Crusade. Under the corrupt and dissolute reign of the Angelos dynasty, the Byzantine empire deteriorated and soon fell prey to Latin crusaders and Venetians in the Fourth Crusade. The Angelos line was continued by the descendants of Constantine's eldest son, John Doukas. After the fall of Constantinople and the establishment of the Latin Empire in 1204, John Doukas' illegitimate son, Michael I Komnenos Doukas, founded the Despotate of Epirus, choosing the city of Arta as its capital. In 1224, Michael's half-brother Theodore captured the Kingdom of Thessalonica from the crusaders and proclaimed himself as the legitimate Byzantine emperor in Thessalonica. However, Theodore was defeated and captured by John II Asen in the Battle of Klokotnitsa in 1230, and the Empire of Thessalonica quickly declined. During Theodore's captivity, his brother Manuel ruled over Thessalonica, succeeded by Theodore's sons John and Demetrios. Eventually, the city was lost to the Nicaean emperorJohn III Doukas Vatatzes in 1246, marking the end of the rule of the Angeloi in Thessalonica. In 1230, Theodore's nephew Michael II, son of Michael I, established himself as ruler of Epirus and Thessaly. After the death of Michael II in 1271, Epirus was ruled by his legitimate son Nikephoros I, while Thessaly was given to his illegitimate son John I Doukas. In 1318, Nicholas Orsini murdered Nikephoros' son Thomas, ending the rule of the family in Epirus. In Thessaly, John I Doukas was succeeded by his son Constantine, followed by John II, who ruled from 1302/03 until his death in 1318. In the same year, the south of Thessaly was seized by the Catalan Grand Company and annexed to the Duchy of Athens, while the north passed to a series of autonomous magnates. Having re-established Byzantine control over Epirou and Thessaly in 1340, emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos appointed the pinkernesJohn Angelos, a nephew of megas domestikosJohn Kantakouzenos, to the governorship of Epirus. John extended his rule to Thessaly in 1342, but died from the plague in 1348. Epirus and Thessaly were conquered by the Serbian ruler Stefan Dušan soon afterwards. Descendants of John Angelos continued to govern Thessaly under Simeon Uroš and John Uroš. John Uroš, the last Nemanjić, abdicated in favour of Alexios Angelos Philanthropenos, the kaisar of Thessaly. Alexios' brother Manuel Angelos Philanthropenos was the last Byzantine Greek ruler of Thessaly. After the Ottoman conquest of Thessaly in 1394, the Angeloi Philanthropenoi took refuge in Serbia. A grandson of either Alexios or Manuel, Mihailo Anđelović, served as an official at the court of Đurađ and Lazar Branković. Mihailo's brother Mahmud, captured in his infancy by Ottoman soldiers, was brought to Edirne, where he converted to Islam. He later rose to the highest ranks of the Ottoman Empire, becoming beylerbey of Rumelia in 1451 and Grand Vizier in 1455. Thus, in the negotiations between Serb despot Lazar Branković and Mehmed II in 1457, the two sides were represented by the brothers Mihailo and Mahmud Anđelović.
