Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos (Greek: Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, c. 1048 – 15

August 1118), Latinized Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine
Alexios I Komnenos
emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the founder of the Emperor and Autocrat of the
Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos Romans
family came to full power. Inheriting a collapsing empire and faced
with constant warfare during his reign against both the Seljuq Turks
in Asia Minor and the Normans in the western Balkans, Alexios was
able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial,
and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. The
basis for this recovery were various reforms initiated by Alexios. His
appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks were also the
catalyst that likely contributed to the convoking of the Crusades.

Contents
Life
Conspiracy and revolt of the Komnenoi against
Botaneiates
Wars against the Normans, Pechenegs, and Tzachas
Byzantine-Seljuq Wars and the First Crusade Portrait of Emperor Alexios I, from a
Personal life Greek manuscript
Succession Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Reign 1 April 1081[1] – 15
Pretenders and rebels
August 1118
Pre First Crusade
Post First Crusade Coronation 5 April 1081[2]

Reform of the monetary system Predecessor Nikephoros III

Botaneiates
Legacy
Successor John II Komnenos
Family
See also Born 1048
Notes Died 15 August 1118
Sources (aged 69–70)
Primary sources Spouse Irene Doukaina
Secondary sources Issue Anna Komnene
Further reading Maria Komnene
External links John II Komnenos
Andronikos
Komnenos
Life
Eudokia Komnene
Theodora Komnene
Alexios was the son of the Domestic of the Schools John Komnenos Isaac Komnenos
and Anna Dalassene,[3] and the nephew of Isaac I Komnenos Manuel Komnenos
(emperor 1057–1059). Alexios' father declined the throne on the
abdication of Isaac, who was thus succeeded by four emperors of Zoe Komnene
other families between 1059 and 1081. Under one of these emperors, Dynasty Komnenos
Romanos IV Diogenes (1067–1071), Alexios served with distinction
Father John Komnenos
against the Seljuq Turks.[4] Under Michael VII Doukas Parapinakes
(1071–1078) and Nikephoros III Botaneiates (1078–1081), he was Mother Anna Dalassene
also employed, along with his elder brother Isaac, against rebels in
Asia Minor, Thrace, and in Epirus.[5]

In 1074, western mercenaries led by Roussel de Bailleul rebelled in Asia Minor,[6] but Alexios successfully
subdued them by 1076.[7] In 1078, he was appointed commander of the field army in the West by
Nikephoros III.[8] In this capacity, Alexios defeated the rebellions of Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder
(whose son or grandson later married Alexios' daughter Anna) and Nikephoros Basilakes, the first at the
Battle of Kalavrye and the latter in a surprise night attack on his camp. Alexios was ordered to march
against his brother-in-law Nikephoros Melissenos in Asia Minor but refused to fight his kinsman. This did
not, however, lead to a demotion, as Alexios was needed to counter the expected invasion of the Normans of
Southern Italy, led by Robert Guiscard.

Conspiracy and revolt of the Komnenoi against Botaneiates

While Byzantine troops were assembling for the expedition, the Doukas faction at court approached Alexios
and convinced him to join a conspiracy against Nikephoros III. The mother of Alexios, Anna Dalassene,
was to play a prominent role in this coup d'état of 1081, along with the current empress, Maria of Alania.[9]
First married to Michael VII Doukas and secondly to Nikephoros III Botaneiates, she was preoccupied with
the future of her son by Michael VII, Constantine Doukas. Nikephoros III intended to leave the throne to
one of his close relatives,[10] and this resulted in Maria's ambivalence and alliance with the Komnenoi,
though the real driving force behind this political alliance was Anna Dalassene.[11]

The empress was already closely connected to the Komnenoi through Maria's cousin Irene's marriage to
Isaac Komnenos,[10] so the Komnenoi brothers were able to see her under the pretense of a friendly family
visit. Furthermore, to aid the conspiracy Maria had adopted Alexios as her son, though she was only five
years older than he.[12] Maria was persuaded to do so on the advice of her own "Alans" and her eunuchs,
who had been instigated by Isaac Komnenos. Given Anna's tight hold on her family, Alexios must have been
adopted with her implicit approval.[9] As a result, Alexios and Constantine, Maria's son, were now adoptive
brothers, and both Isaac and Alexios took an oath that they would safeguard his rights as emperor.[13] By
secretly giving inside information to the Komnenoi, Maria was an invaluable ally.[14]

As stated in the Alexiad, Isaac and Alexios left Constantinople

in mid-February 1081 to raise an army against Botaneiates.[15]
However, when the time came, Anna quickly and surreptitiously
mobilized the remainder of the family and took refuge in the
Hagia Sophia. From there she negotiated with the emperor for
the safety of family members left in the capital, while protesting
her sons' innocence of hostile actions. Under the falsehood of
making a vesperal visit to worship at the church, she Seal of Alexios as "Grand Domestic of
deliberately excluded the grandson of Botaneiates and his loyal the West"
tutor, met with Alexios and Isaac, and fled for the forum of
Constantine.[9] The tutor discovered they were missing and
eventually found them on the palace grounds, but Anna was able to convince him that they would return to
the palace shortly. Then to gain entrance to both the outer and inner sanctuary of the church, the women
pretended to the gatekeepers that they were pilgrims from Cappadocia who had spent all their funds and
wanted to worship before starting their return trip. However, before they were to gain entry into the
sanctuary, Straboromanos and royal guards caught up with them to summon them back to the palace.[9]
Anna then protested that the family was in fear for their lives, her sons were loyal subjects (Alexios and
Isaac were discovered absent without leave), and had learned of a plot by enemies of the Komnenoi to have
them both blinded and had, therefore, fled the capital so they may continue to be of loyal service to the
emperor.[16] She refused to go with them and demanded that they allow her to pray to the Mother of God for
protection. This request was granted and Anna then manifested her true theatrical and manipulative
capabilities:

She was allowed to enter. As if she were weighed down with old age and worn out by grief, she
walked slowly and when she approached the actual entrance to the sanctuary made two
genuflections; on the third she sank to the floor and taking firm hold of the sacred doors, cried
in a loud voice: "Unless my hands are cut off, I will not leave this holy place except on one
condition: that I receive the emperor's cross as guarantee of safety".[17]

Nikephoros III Botaneiates was forced into a public vow that he would
grant protection to the family.[9] Straboromanos tried to give Anna his
cross, but for her it was not sufficiently large enough for all bystanders
to witness the oath. She also demanded that the cross be personally sent
by Botaneiates as a vow of his good faith. He obliged, sending a
complete assurance for the family with his own cross. At the emperor's
further insistence, and for their own protection, they took refuge at the
convent of Petrion, where they were eventually joined by Maria of
Bulgaria, mother of Irene Doukaina.[9] Botaneiates allowed them to be
treated as refugees rather than as guests. They were allowed to have
family members bring in their own food and were on good terms with
the guards from whom they learned the latest news.[18] Anna was
highly successful in three important aspects of the revolt: she bought
time for her sons to steal imperial horses from the stables and escape
the city; she distracted the emperor, giving her sons time to gather and
arm their troops; and she gave a false sense of security to Botaneiates Alexios I. Manuscript illustration.
that there was no real treasonous coup against him.[9] After bribing the
Western troops guarding the city, Isaac and Alexios Komnenos entered
the capital victoriously on April 1, 1081.[19]

During this time, Alexios was rumored to be the lover of Empress Maria of Alania, the daughter of King
Bagrat IV of Georgia, who had been successively married to Michael VII Doukas and his successor
Nikephoros III Botaneiates, and who was renowned for her beauty.[20] Alexios arranged for Maria to stay on
the palace grounds, and it was thought that he was considering marrying her. However, his mother
consolidated the Doukas family connection by arranging the Emperor's marriage to Irene Doukaina,
granddaughter of the Caesar John Doukas, the uncle of Michael VII, who would not have supported Alexios
otherwise. As a measure intended to keep the support of the Doukai, Alexios restored Constantine Doukas,
the young son of Michael VII and Maria, as co-emperor[21] and a little later betrothed him to his own first-
born daughter Anna, who moved into the Mangana Palace with her fiancé and his mother.

This situation changed drastically, however, when Alexios' first son John II Komnenos was born in 1087:[22]
Anna's engagement to Constantine was dissolved, and she was moved to the main Palace to live with her
mother and grandmother. Alexios became estranged from Maria, who was stripped of her imperial title and
retired to a monastery, and Constantine Doukas was deprived of his status as co-emperor.[22] Nevertheless,
he remained in good relations with the imperial family and succumbed to his weak constitution soon
afterwards.

Wars against the Normans, Pechenegs, and Tzachas

The nearly thirty-seven year reign of Alexios was full of struggle. At the outset he faced the formidable
attack of the Normans, led by Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemund, who took Dyrrhachium and Corfu
and laid siege to Larissa in Thessaly[5] (see Battle of Dyrrhachium). Alexios suffered several defeats before
he was able to strike back with success. He enhanced his resistance by bribing the German king Henry IV
with 360,000 gold pieces to attack the Normans in Italy,[23] which forced the Normans to concentrate on
their defenses at home in 1083–84. He also secured the alliance of Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo, who
controlled the Gargano Peninsula and dated his charters by Alexios' reign. Henry's allegiance would be the
last example of Byzantine political control on peninsular Italy. The Norman danger subsided with the death
of Guiscard in 1085, and the Byzantines recovered most of their losses.[24]

Alexios next had to deal with disturbances in Thrace, where the heretical sects of the Bogomils and the
Paulicians revolted and made common cause with the Pechenegs from beyond the Danube.[25] Paulician
soldiers in imperial service likewise deserted during Alexios' battles with the Normans.[26] As soon as the
Norman threat had passed, Alexios set out to punish the rebels and deserters, confiscating their lands. This
led to a further revolt near Philippopolis, and the commander of the field army in the west, Gregory
Pakourianos, was defeated and killed in the ensuing battle. In 1087 the Pechenegs raided into Thrace, and
Alexios crossed into Moesia to retaliate but failed to take Dorostolon (Silistra).[27] During his retreat, the
emperor was surrounded and worn down by the Pechenegs, who forced him to sign a truce and to pay
protection money. In 1090 the Pechenegs invaded Thrace again,[28] while Tzachas, the brother-in-law of the
Sultan of Rum, launched a fleet and attempted to arrange a joint siege of Constantinople with the
Pechenegs.[29] Alexios overcame this crisis by entering into an alliance with a horde of 40,000 Cumans,
with whose help he crushed the Pechenegs at Levounion in Thrace on 29 April 1091.[30]

This put an end to the Pecheneg threat, but in 1094 the Cumans began to raid the imperial territories in the
Balkans. Led by a pretender claiming to be Constantine Diogenes, a long-dead son of the Emperor
Romanos IV,[31] the Cumans crossed the mountains and raided into eastern Thrace until their leader was
eliminated at Adrianople. With the Balkans more or less pacified, Alexios could now turn his attention to
Asia Minor, which had been almost completely overrun by the Seljuq Turks.[32]

Byzantine-Seljuq Wars and the First Crusade

By the time Alexios ascended the throne, the Seljuqs had taken most of Asia Minor. Alexios was able to
secure much of the coastal regions by sending peasant soldiers to raid the Seljuq camps, but these victories
were unable to stop the Turks altogether.[33] As early as 1090, Alexios had taken reconciliatory measures
towards the Papacy,[34] with the intention of seeking western support against the Seljuqs. In 1095 his
ambassadors appeared before Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza. The help he sought from the West
was simply some mercenary forces, not the immense hosts that arrived, to his consternation and
embarrassment, after the pope preached the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont later that same year.[35]
This was the People's Crusade: a mob of mostly unarmed pilgrims led by the preacher Peter the Hermit. Not
quite ready to supply this number of people as they traversed his territories, the emperor saw his Balkan
possessions subjected to further pillage at the hands of his own allies.[36] Eventually Alexios dealt with the
People's Crusade by hustling them on to Asia Minor. There, they were massacred by the Turks of Kilij
Arslan I at the Battle of Civetot in October 1096.[37]
The "Prince's Crusade", the second and much more
formidable host of crusaders, gradually made its way to
Constantinople, led in sections by Godfrey of Bouillon,
Bohemond of Taranto, Raymond IV of Toulouse, and
other important members of the western nobility.[38]
Alexios used the opportunity to meet the crusader
leaders separately as they arrived, extracting from them
oaths of homage and the promise to turn over conquered
lands to the Byzantine Empire.[39] Transferring each
contingent into Asia, Alexios promised to supply them
with provisions in return for their oaths of homage. The
crusade was a notable success for Byzantium, as
Alexios recovered a number of important cities and
islands. The siege of Nicaea by the crusaders forced the Europe in 1097, during the First Crusade
city to surrender to the emperor in 1097, and the
subsequent crusader victory at Dorylaion allowed the
Byzantine forces to recover much of western Asia Minor.[40] John Doukas re-established Byzantine rule in
Chios, Rhodes, Smyrna, Ephesus, Sardis, and Philadelphia in 1097–1099. This success is ascribed by
Alexios' daughter Anna to his policy and diplomacy, but by the Latin historians of the crusade to his
treachery and deception.[5] In 1099, a Byzantine fleet of ten ships was sent to assist the crusaders in
capturing Laodicea and other coastal towns as far as Tripoli. The crusaders believed their oaths were made
invalid when the Byzantine contingent under Tatikios failed to help them during the siege of Antioch;
Bohemund, who had set himself up as Prince of Antioch,[40] briefly went to war with Alexios in the
Balkans, but he was blockaded by the Byzantine forces and agreed to become a vassal of Alexios by the
Treaty of Devol in 1108.[41]

In 1116, though already terminally ill, Alexios conducted a series of defensive operations in Bythinia and
Mysia to defend his Anatolian territories against the inroads of Malik Shah, the Seljuq Sultan of Iconium. In
1117 he moved onto the offensive and pushed his army deep into the Turkish-dominated Anatolian Plateau,
where he defeated the Seljuq sultan at the Battle of Philomelion.[42]

Personal life

During the last twenty years of his life Alexios lost much of his popularity.[43] The years were marked by
persecution of the followers of the Paulician and Bogomil heresies[44]—one of his last acts was to publicly
burn at the stake Basil, a Bogomil leader, with whom he had engaged in a theological dispute.[5][37] In spite
of the success of the First Crusade, Alexios also had to repel numerous attempts on his territory by the
Seljuqs in 1110–1117.[45]

Alexios was for many years under the strong influence of an eminence grise, his mother Anna Dalassene, a
wise and immensely able politician whom, in a uniquely irregular fashion, he had crowned as Augusta
instead of the rightful claimant to the title, his wife Irene Doukaina.[46] Alexios was never happier than
when taking part in military exercises and he assumed personal command of his troops whenever
possible.[47] As such, Dalassene was the effective administrator of the Empire during Alexios' long absences
in military campaigns: she was constantly at odds with her daughter-in-law and had assumed total
responsibility for the upbringing and education of her granddaughter Anna Komnene.

Succession
Alexios' last years were also troubled by anxieties over the succession. Although he had crowned his son
John II Komnenos co-emperor at the age of five in 1092, his wife, Irene Doukaina wished to alter the
succession in favor of their daughter Anna and Anna's husband, Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger.[48]
Bryennios had been made kaisar (Caesar) and received the newly created title of panhypersebastos
("honoured above all"), and remained loyal to both Alexios and John. Nevertheless, the intrigues of Irene
and Anna disturbed even Alexios' dying hours.

Pretenders and rebels

Apart from all of his external enemies, a host of rebels also sought to overthrow Alexios from the imperial
throne, thereby posing another major threat to his reign.[37] Due to the troubled times the empire was
enduring, he had by far the greatest number of rebellions against him of all the Byzantine emperors.[49]
These included:

Pre First Crusade

Raictor, a Byzantine monk who claimed to be the emperor Michael VII. He presented himself
to Robert Guiscard who used him as a pretext to launch his invasion of the Byzantine
Empire.[49]
A conspiracy in 1084 involving several senators and officers of the army. This was uncovered
before too many followers were enlisted. In order to conceal the importance of the conspiracy,
Alexios merely banished the wealthiest plotters and confiscated their estates.[49]
Tzachas, a Seljuq Turkic emir who assumed the title of emperor in 1092.[50]
Constantine Humbertopoulos, who had assisted Alexios in gaining the throne in 1081
conspired against him in 1091 with an Armenian called Ariebes.[50]
John Komnenos, Alexios' nephew, governor of Dyrrachium, accused of a conspiracy by
Theophylact of Bulgaria.[50]
Theodore Gabras, the quasi-independent governor of Trebizond and his son Gregory.[50]
Michael Taronites, the brother-in-law of Alexios.[50]
Nikephoros Diogenes, the son of emperor Romanos IV.[50]
Pseudo-Diogenes, an impostor who assumed the identity of another of Romanos' sons, Leo
Diogenes.[51]
Karykes, the leader of a revolt in Crete.[50]
Rhapsomates, who tried to create an independent kingdom in Cyprus.[50]

Post First Crusade

Salomon, a senator of great wealth who in 1106 engaged in a plot with four brothers of the
Anemas family.[52]
Gregory Taronites, another governor of Trebizond.[52]
The illegitimate descendant of a Bulgarian prince named Aron formed a plot in 1107 to murder
Alexios as he was encamped near Thessalonica. The presence of the empress Irene and her
attendants, however, made the execution of the plot difficult. In an attempt to have her return to
Constantinople, the conspirators produced pamphlets that mocked and slandered the
empress, and left them in her tent. A search for the author of the publications uncovered the
whole plot, yet Aron was only banished due to his connection of the royal line of Bulgaria,
whose blood also flowed in the veins of the empress Irene.[53]
Reform of the monetary system
Under Alexios the debased solidus (tetarteron and histamenon) was
discontinued and a gold coinage of higher fineness (generally
.900–.950) was established in 1092, commonly called the
hyperpyron at 4.45 grs. The hyperpyron was slightly smaller than the
solidus.

It was introduced along with the electrum aspron trachy worth a Scyphate (cup-shaped) hyperpyron
third of a hyperpyron and about 25% gold and 75% silver, the billon minted under Manuel I Komnenos
aspron trachy or stamenon,[54] valued at 48 to the hyperpyron and
with 7% silver wash and the copper tetarteron and noummion worth
18 and 36 to the billon aspron trachy.[55]

Alexios' reform of the Byzantine monetary system was an important basis for the financial recovery and
therefore supported the so-called Komnenian restoration, as the new coinage restored financial confidence.

Legacy
Alexios I had overcome a dangerous crisis and stabilized the
Byzantine Empire, inaugurating a century of imperial prosperity
and success.[48] He had also profoundly altered the nature of the
Byzantine government.[56] By seeking close alliances with
powerful noble families, Alexios put an end to the tradition of
imperial exclusivity and co-opted most of the nobility into his
extended family and, through it, his government. Those who did Rare seal of Alexios I with a depiction of
not become part of this extended family were deprived of power the Resurrection
and prestige.[37] This measure, which was intended to diminish
opposition, was paralleled by the introduction of new courtly
dignities, like that of panhypersebastos given to Nikephoros Bryennios, or that of sebastokrator given to the
emperor's brother Isaac Komnenos.[56] Although this policy met with initial success, it gradually
undermined the relative effectiveness of imperial bureaucracy by placing family connections over merit.
Alexios' policy of integration of the nobility bore the fruit of continuity: every Byzantine emperor who
reigned after Alexios I Komnenos was related to him by either descent or marriage.

Family
By his marriage with Irene Doukaina, Alexios I had the following children:[57]

1. Anna Komnene (2 December 1083 – 1148/55), in her infancy she was betrothed to
Constantine Doukas, and with him treated as co-ruler by her father until after the birth of John
II. In 1097 she married Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger, later raised to Caesar. Highly
ambitious, after Alexios' death she tried unsuccessfully to usurp the throne. She then withdrew
to a monastery, where she wrote her history of Alexios' reign. The couple had several children,
but only four survived her.[58]
2. Maria Komnene (19 September 1085 – after 1136), initially betrothed to Gregory Gabras, but
married to Nikephoros Katakalon. The couple had several children, but only two sons are
known by name.[59]
3. John II Komnenos (13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143), who succeeded as emperor.[60]
 4. Andronikos Komnenos (18 September 1091 – 1130/31), was named sebastokrator and
participated in several campaigns until his death from disease. He married Irene, likely a
Russian princess, and had at least two sons.[61]
5. Isaac Komnenos (16 January 1093 – after 1152), sebastokrator.
6. Eudokia Komnene (14 January 1094 – c. 1129), who married the son of Constantine Iasites.
7. Theodora Komnene, who married (1) Constantine Kourtikes and (2) Constantine Angelos. By
him she was the grandmother of Emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos, as well as
the progenitor of the ruling dynasty of the Despotate of Epirus. Through Isaac II's daughter
Irene Angelina's children by Philip of Swabia, she is the ancestor of many European royal
families, including all European monarchs currently reigning.
8. Manuel Komnenos, born February 1097 and known only from a manuscript now in Moscow,
died probably soon after his birth[62]
9. Zoe Komnene, born March 1098 and known only from a manuscript now in Moscow, died
probably soon after her birth[62]

See also
Byzantine army (Komnenian era)
List of Byzantine emperors

Notes
1. "Alexiad", 2.10 20. Norwich 1995, p. 10
2. "Alexiad", 3.2 21. Norwich 1995, p. 12
3. Kazhdan 1991, p. 63 22. Kazhdan 1991, p. 658
4. Norwich 1995, p. 4 23. Norwich 1995, p. 21
5. Bury, John Bagnell (1911). "Alexius I." (http 24. Norwich 1995, p. 25
s://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop% 25. Finlay 1854, p. 101
C3%A6dia_Britannica/Alexius_I.). In
26. Finlay 1854, p. 78
Chisholm, Hugh (ed.). Encyclopædia
Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge 27. Finlay 1854, p. 102
University Press. p. 577. 28. Finlay 1854, p. 104
6. Norwich 1995, p. 2 29. Norwich 1995, p. 26
7. "Alexiad", 1.1 30. Norwich 1995, p. 27
8. Norwich 1995, p. 3 31. Finlay 1854, p. 86
9. Garland 2007 32. Finlay 1854, p. 108
10. Finlay 1854, p. 59 33. Finlay 1854, p. 111
11. "Alexiad", 2.2.1–2 34. Norwich 1995, p. 30
12. Norwich 1995, p. 5 35. Norwich 1995, p. 31
13. "Alexiad", 2,1,4–6, 2.3.2–3,2.3.4; cf. 36. Norwich 1995, p. 33
Bryennius 4.2, who dates the adoption to 37. Kazhdan 1991, p. 1479
early in the reign of Botaneiates 38. Norwich 1995, p. 36
14. "Alexiad", 2.3.4,2.4.5 39. Finlay 1854, p. 123
15. Norwich 1995, p. 6 40. Norwich 1995, p. 42
16. "Alexiad", 2.5.5 41. Norwich 1995, p. 48
17. "Alexiad", 2.5.6 42. Sewter 1969, pp. 481–487.
18. "Alexiad", 2.5.7–9 43. Norwich 1995, p. 54
19. Finlay 1854, p. 63 44. Finlay 1854, p. 81
45. Norwich 1995, p. 58 54. "Archived copy" (https://web.archive.org/we
46. Norwich 1995, p. 59 b/20070807042036/http://www.doaks.org/C
oinExhibition/CaseI/Case1_16_17.html).
47. Norwich, John Julius (1996). Byzantium:
The Decline and Fall (First American ed.). Archived from the original (http://www.doak
s.org/CoinExhibition/CaseI/Case1_16_17.ht
New York: Knopf. p. 52. ISBN 0394537785.
OCLC 18164817 (https://www.worldcat.org/ ml) on August 7, 2007. Retrieved
November 14, 2015.
oclc/18164817).
55. Lindblom 1998.
48. Norwich 1995, p. 61
56. Finlay 1854, p. 69
49. Finlay 1854, p. 71
50. Finlay 1854, p. 72 57. Dalven, Rae (1972). Anna Comnena (http
s://archive.org/details/annacomnena00dalv).
51. Finlay 1854, p. 73 New York: Twayne Publishers. pp. 67 (http
52. Finlay 1854, p. 74 s://archive.org/details/annacomnena00dalv/
53. Finlay 1854, p. 75 page/67)–69. ISBN 978-0805722406.
58. Varzos 1984, pp. 176–197.
59. Varzos 1984, pp. 198–203.
60. Varzos 1984, pp. 203–228.
61. Varzos 1984, pp. 229–237.
62. Varzos 1984, p. 265.

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Kazhdan, Alexander, ed. (1991). The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford and New York:
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Kouroupou, Matoula; Vannier, Jean-François (2005). "Commémoraisons des Comnènes dans
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[Commemorations of the Komnenoi in the liturgical typikon of the Monastery of Christ
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679-41650-0
Varzos, Konstantinos (1984). Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών (http://www.kbe.auth.gr/sites/defaul
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cat.org/oclc/834784634).

Further reading
Angold, Michael (1997), The Byzantine Empire, 1025–1204 (2nd ed.), Longman, pp. 136–70,
ISBN 978-0-582-29468-4
Cheynet, Jean-Claude (1998). "La résistance aux Turcs en Asie Mineure entre Mantzikert et la
Première Croisade" (http://books.openedition.org/psorbonne/4269). ΕΥΨΥΧΙΑ. Mélanges
offerts à Hélène Ahrweiler (in French). Paris: Éditions de la Sorbonne. pp. 131–147.
ISBN 9782859448301.
Frankopan, Peter (2011), The First Crusade: the Call from the East, The Bodley Head
Harris, Jonathan (2014), Byzantium and the Crusades (2nd ed.), Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-1-
78093-767-0
Plate, William (1867), "Alexios I Komnenos" (http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-id
x?c=moa;cc=moa;idno=acl3129.0001.001;q1=demosthenes;size=l;frm=frameset;seq=144), in
Smith, William (ed.), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, 1, pp. 129–
130
Skoulatos, Basile (1980). Les personnages byzantins de l'Alexiade: Analyse prosopographique
et synthèse [The Byzantine Personalities of the Alexiad: Prosopographical Analysis and
Synthesis] (in French). Louvain-la-Neuve: Nauwelaerts.
Treadgold, Warren (1997), A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Stanford University
Press, pp. 612–29, ISBN 978-0-8047-2630-6

External links
Alexius coinage (http://www.wildwinds.com/coins/byz/alexius_I/t.html)

Alexios I Komnenos
Komnenian dynasty
Born: 1056 Died: 15 August 1118

Regnal titles
Byzantine Emperor
Preceded by 1 April 1081 –15 August 1118 Succeeded by
Nikephoros III with Constantine Doukas (1081–1088) John II Komnenos
John II Komnenos (1092–1118)

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