The Eastern Roman Emperor Andronikos (I) Komnenos died on this day in 1185. In the second half of the twelfth century, Byzantium was still strong in the Mediterranean. However, as one might expect, the international context surrounding Byzantium was quite different from previous eras. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1118–1180) had a Hungarian mother and a German fiancée. From the Normans (Scandinavians who had settled in Western Europe), he took over Bari in Southern Italy and allied with the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem against the Arabs. The restoration of ecclesiastical communion between the Eastern and Western Churches seemed to be close at hand. At the same time, Manuel suffered a defeat, which can be interpreted as one of the signs of the end of Byzantium: in 1176, the Roman Army was deadly ambushed by the Seljuks at Myriokephalon in Phrygia (today roughly Konya Province in Turkey). Andronikos, Manuel’s first cousin, conspired against Manuel and fled the Empire. He was first held hostage by the Vlachs (in the borderland between modern-day Romania and Moldova). Andronikos then reached Kiev and was received there by Prince Yaroslav the Wise (it is highly possible that Anna Porphyrogenita, the sister of Emperor Basil II, was Yarsolav’s mother). Manuel pardoned Andronikos, and he won Yaroslav’s support for the Empire. Andronikos returned to the Empire but was treated there with suspicion. He fled again to Antioch, Jerusalem, and Georgia, seducing prominent Byzantine ladies. In 1180, Andronikos submitted himself to Manuel and was pardoned for a second time. That same year, Manuel died. Although his wife Maria of Antioch (a daughter of Raymond of Poitiers, the prince of the crusader state of Antioch) became a nun with the name Xene (lit. “foreigner”), her regency in the name of Manuel’s eleven-year-old son Alexios II Komnenos was unsuccessful. As expected, the Byzantines’ neighbors started to gain advantages. Bela III, the king of Hungary, took over Byzantine Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Sirmium (modern-day Serbia). In this situation, Andronikos began to assemble an army and move on the city. In 1181, when he was already at Chalcedon (modern-day greater Istanbul), riots in support of Andronikos broke out in Constantinople. The mob killed and looted in the Pisan and Genoese quarters, without even sparing women or children. Andronikos did not intervene to halt the massacre. In 1183, Andronikos became regent for Alexios II. When Nun Xene (i.e. Maria) was drowned, Patriarch Theodosios abdicated in protest. The stability acquired during the previous reign had been lapsing because of the personal ambitions of struggling parties. Even though Alexios II did not protest against his mother’s murder, Andronikos ordered the 14-year-old boy to be strangulated. Andronikos “became emperor at age sixty-five, but he remained almost as vigorous, charming, unscrupulous, and irresponsible as during his many previous adventures” (Warren Treadgold, A History of the Byzantine State and Society, Standford, 1997). He married Alexios’ widow, the 11-year-old Agnes (Anna) of France, as his consort. (Andronikos continued to live with his mistress.) Taking advantage of this situation, the Normans started to take over Byzantine cities, including Thessalonica, while Andronkios, fearing for his power, did not trust his generals and attempted to arrest the ex-rebel leader Isaac Angelos. This butchered arrest (Isaac skillfully defended himself) resulted in a riot in Constantinople. The city’s okhlos (crowd) forced the Patriarch to crown Isaac emperor. Andronikos, with his wife and mistress, tried to escape to Crimea, but an unfavorable wind prevented them from sailing away. They were returned to Constantinople, and Isaac permitted the mob to dismember Andronikos gradually in the course of several days. They also robbed imperial treasury. |
