59 Facts About Manuel Komnenos

Manuel Komnenos's reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire had seen a resurgence of its military and economic power, and had enjoyed a cultural revival.

Manuel Komnenos invaded the Norman Kingdom of Sicily, although unsuccessfully, being the last Eastern Roman emperor to attempt reconquests in the western Mediterranean.

Manuel Komnenos established a Byzantine protectorate over the Crusader states of Outremer.

Manuel Komnenos reshaped the political maps of the Balkans and the eastern Mediterranean, placing the kingdoms of Hungary and Outremer under Byzantine hegemony and campaigning aggressively against his neighbours both in the west and in the east.

Manuel Komnenos appears as the hero of a history written by his secretary, John Kinnamos, in which every virtue is attributed to him.

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Manuel Komnenos, who was influenced by his contact with western Crusaders, enjoyed the reputation of "the most blessed emperor of Constantinople" in parts of the Latin world as well.

Manuel Komnenos favourably impressed his father by his courage and fortitude during the unsuccessful Siege of Neocaesarea, against the Danishmendid Turks.

Manuel Komnenos still had to take care of his father's funeral, and tradition demanded he organise the foundation of a monastery on the spot where his father died.

Empire that Manuel Komnenos inherited from his father was in a more stable position than it had been a century earlier.

Manuel Komnenos was promised the support that he had requested, and his allegiance to Byzantium was secured.

In 1146 Manuel Komnenos assembled his army at the military base Lopadion and set out on a punitive expedition against Mas'ud, the Sultan of Rum, who had been repeatedly violating the frontiers of the Empire in western Anatolia and Cilicia.

Manuel Komnenos was prevented from capitalising on his conquests by events in the Balkans that urgently required his presence.

Manuel Komnenos took the precaution—which his grandfather had not taken—of making repairs to the city walls, and he pressed the two kings for guarantees concerning the security of his territories.

Manuel Komnenos's attention was again drawn to Antioch in 1156, when Raynald of Chatillon, the new Prince of Antioch, claimed that the Byzantine emperor had reneged on his promise to pay him a sum of money and vowed to attack the Byzantine province of Cyprus.

Manuel Komnenos responded to this outrage in a characteristically energetic way.

Manuel Komnenos appeared dressed in a sack with a rope tied around his neck, and begged for forgiveness.

Manuel Komnenos dispensed justice to the citizens and presided over games and tournaments for the crowd.

In 1147 Manuel Komnenos was faced with war by Roger II of Sicily, whose fleet had captured the Byzantine island of Corfu and plundered Thebes and Corinth.

However, despite being distracted by a Cuman attack in the Balkans, in 1148 Manuel Komnenos enlisted the alliance of Conrad III of Germany, and the help of the Venetians, who quickly defeated Roger with their powerful fleet.

In 1149, Manuel Komnenos recovered Corfu and prepared to take the offensive against the Normans, while Roger II sent George of Antioch with a fleet of 40 ships to pillage Constantinople's suburbs.

Manuel Komnenos had already agreed with Conrad on a joint invasion and partition of southern Italy and Sicily.

Manuel Komnenos sent Michael Palaiologos and John Doukas, both of whom held the high imperial rank of sebastos, with Byzantine troops, ten ships and large quantities of gold to invade Apulia in 1155.

Manuel Komnenos offered a large sum of money to the Pope for the provision of troops, with the request that the Pope grant the Byzantine emperor lordship of three maritime cities in return for assistance in expelling William from Sicily.

Manuel Komnenos then sent Alexios Axouch to Ancona to raise another army, but by this time William had already retaken all of the Byzantine conquests in Apulia.

Manuel Komnenos now decided to oppose the objective of the Hohenstaufen dynasty to directly annex Italy, which Frederick believed should acknowledge his power.

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On his northern frontier Manuel Komnenos expended considerable effort to preserve the conquests made by Basil II over one hundred years earlier and maintained, sometimes tenuously, ever since.

Manuel Komnenos forced the rebellious Serbs, and their leader, Uros II, to vassalage .

Manuel Komnenos then made repeated attacks upon the Hungarians with a view to annexing their territory along the Sava.

Manuel Komnenos intended the youth to marry his daughter, Maria, and to make him his heir, thus securing the union of Hungary with the Empire.

Bela III kept his word: as long as Manuel Komnenos lived, he made no attempt to retrieve his Croatian inheritance, which he only afterwards reincorporated into Hungary.

Manuel Komnenos attempted to draw the Russian principalities into his net of diplomacy directed against Hungary, and to a lesser extent Norman Sicily.

Manuel Komnenos pardoned Andronikos and persuaded him to return to Constantinople in 1165.

Manuel Komnenos was thus able to organise a grand ceremonial reception which both honoured Amalric and underlined his dependence: for the rest of Amalric's reign, Jerusalem was a Byzantine satellite, and Manuel Komnenos was able to act as a protector of the Holy Places, exerting a growing influence in the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

Manuel Komnenos's strategy was to prepare the advanced bases of Dorylaeum and Sublaeum, and then to use them to strike as quickly as possible at Iconium.

Just outside the entrance to the pass at Myriokephalon, Manuel Komnenos was met by Turkish ambassadors, who offered peace on generous terms.

Manuel Komnenos made serious tactical errors, such as failing to properly scout out the route ahead.

The army's siege equipment was quickly destroyed, and Manuel Komnenos was forced to withdraw—without siege engines, the conquest of Iconium was impossible.

Since the Sultan had already failed to keep his side of the earlier treaty of 1162 Manuel Komnenos only ordered the fortifications of Sublaeum to be dismantled, but not the fortifications of Dorylaeum.

Yet because of his over-confidence, Manuel Komnenos had demonstrated to the whole world that Byzantium still could not decisively defeat the Seljuks, despite the advances made during the past century.

Manuel Komnenos himself compared the defeat to Manzikert; it seemed to him that the Byzantine defeat at Myriokephalon complemented the destruction at Manzikert.

Third controversy sprung up in 1180, when Manuel Komnenos objected to the formula of solemn abjuration, which was exacted from Muslim converts.

Manuel Komnenos is representative of a new kind of Byzantine ruler who was influenced by his contact with western Crusaders.

Manuel Komnenos arranged jousting matches, even participating in them, an unusual and discomforting sight for the Byzantines.

Thanks to their efforts, the empire Manuel Komnenos inherited was stronger and better organised than at any time for a century.

Manuel Komnenos had proven himself to be an energetic emperor who saw possibilities everywhere, and whose optimistic outlook had shaped his approach to foreign policy.

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However, in spite of his military prowess Manuel Komnenos achieved but a slight degree of his object of restoring the Byzantine Empire.

Retrospectively, some commentators have criticised some of Manuel Komnenos's aims as unrealistic, in particular citing the expeditions he sent to Egypt as proof of dreams of grandeur on an unattainable scale.

Choniates criticised Manuel Komnenos for raising taxes and pointed to Manuel Komnenos's reign as a period of excess; according to Choniates, the money thus raised was spent lavishly at the cost of his citizens.

Manuel Komnenos spared no expense on the army, the navy, diplomacy, ceremonial, palace-building, the Komnenian family, and other seekers of patronage.

Problems this created were counterbalanced to some extent by his successes, particularly in the Balkans; Manuel Komnenos extended the frontiers of his Empire in the Balkan region, ensuring security for the whole of Greece and Bulgaria.

John Phokas, a soldier who fought in Manuel Komnenos's army, characterised him some years later as the "world saving" and glorious emperor.

Manuel Komnenos would be remembered in France, Italy, and the Crusader states as the most powerful sovereign in the world.

Manuel Komnenos participated in the building and decorating of many of the basilicas and Greek monasteries in the Holy Land, including the church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where thanks to his efforts the Byzantine clergy were allowed to perform the Greek liturgy each day.

Manuel Komnenos was the last Byzantine emperor who, thanks to his military and diplomatic success in the Balkans, could call himself "ruler of Dalmatia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary".

Manuel Komnenos was laid to rest alongside his father in the Pantokrator Monastery in Constantinople.

Thanks to the diplomacy and campaigning of Alexios, John and Manuel Komnenos, the empire was a great power, economically prosperous, and secure on its frontiers; but there were serious problems as well.

Some foreign enemies of the Empire were lurking on the flanks, waiting for a chance to attack, in particular the Turks in Anatolia, whom Manuel Komnenos had ultimately failed to defeat, and the Normans in Sicily, who had already tried but failed to invade the Empire on several occasions.

Manuel Komnenos was thus obliged to treat Frederick as his main enemy, and to form a web of relationships with other western powers, including the papacy, his old enemy, the Norman kingdom, Hungary, several magnates and cities throughout Italy, and, above all, the crusader states.

From Raynald, Manuel Komnenos secured recognition of imperial suzerainty over Antioch, with the promise to hand over the citadel, to instal a patriarch sent from Constantinople, and to provide troops for the emperor's service, but nothing seems to have been said about the reversion of Antioch to direct imperial rule.