 The state Michael established is commonly known in historiography as the "Despotate of Epirus", and it was long thought that Michael was the first Epirote ruler to claim the title of "despotes", it being surmised that he was granted the title by the deposed emperor Alexios III after his ransoming (see below).In reality, as modern research has shown, neither Michael nor his half-brother and successor, Theodore Komnenos Doukas, bore the title.It was Michael's bastard son, Michael II Komnenos Doukas, who became the first ruler of Epirus to be titled a "despotes" in the 1230s, while the designation of the Epirote state as a "despotate" first appears in Western, rather than Byzantine, sources in the 14th century.