Angelo Flavio Comneno
The Angelo Flavio Comneno or Angeli family were a Venetian noble family of Albanian descent who claimed descent from the Angelos dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. In the 16th century, the family founded the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, a knightly order with invented Byzantine connections. From the 16th century onwards, the heads of the family styled themselves as "Prince of Macedonia, Duke and Count of Drivasto and Durazzo", though other titles were also sometimes used.
| Angelo Flavio Comneno Angelus Flavius Comnenus | |
|---|---|
Coat of arms of the Angelo Flavio Comneno as depicted in "Genealogia d'imperatori romani et constantinopolitani et de regi prencipi et signori che da Isatio Angelo & Vespasiano...", published in 1551. | |
| Parent house | Angelos (claimed) |
| Country | Albania Italy |
| Founded | c. 1480 |
| Founder | Andres Engjëlli (earliest known) |
| Final head | Laura Angeli |
| Titles | |
| Traditions | Roman Catholicism |
| Dissolution | 1756 |
It is possible that their claims to descent from the Angeloi were genuine, but their own genealogies, which professed descent from Emperor Isaac II Angelos (r. 1185–1195 and 1203–1204) are unlikely to be correct given that all known male-line descendants of Isaac II were long dead before the Angeli appeared in Italy. Perhaps they descended from less known children or cousins of the Angeloi emperors, or possibly through a female line. Their descent was accepted as true throughout Western Europe.
The last prince of the family was Giovanni Andrea II Angeli, who in 1698 transferred the Constantinian Order to Francesco Farnese, the Duke of Parma, whose descendants remain grand masters to this day. Giovanni Andrea II's death five years later, in 1703, was followed by the death of his niece, Laura Angeli, in 1756, which rendered the family extinct.