In 1345, a powerful Byzantine minister was lynched while inspecting his own prison
In a fatal lapse of judgment, the Byzantine Empire's most powerful minister entered a high-security prison without his guards, only to be cornered and killed by the inmates.
Alexios Apokaukos was the 'megas doux' and the functional ruler of the Byzantine Empire during a chaotic civil war. On June 11, 1345, he visited a new prison in Constantinople to inspect the progress of the construction. In a rare moment of vulnerability, he entered the facility without his usual military escort.
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