Alexios Komnenos

Alexios Komnenos (; – after 1182) was a Byzantine aristocrat and courtier. A son of Andronikos Komnenos and nephew of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, he rose to the high rank of prōtostratōr in 1167. In 1176 he participated in the Myriokephalon campaign where, following the death of his older brother John, he was raised to the titles of prōtosebastos and prōtovestiarios. Following Manuel's death in 1180, he won the favour, and reportedly became the lover, of Empress-dowager Maria of Antioch. Through her he ruled the Byzantine Empire for two years as de facto regent of the underage emperor Alexios II Komnenos. The aristocracy challenged his dominance, led by the princess Maria Komnene, who plotted to assassinate the prōtosebastos. The plot was discovered and most conspirators arrested, but Maria and her husband fled to the Hagia Sophia, protected by Patriarch Theodosios Borradiotes and the common people of Constantinople.

Mounting tensions resulted in a popular uprising against Alexios' regime on 2 May 1181, (modern scholars have proposed other dates as well), which ended in a mutual reconciliation. His power shaken, the prōtosebastos reacted by punishing Borradiotes for his role in the affair. Overwhelming opposition, both among the people and the aristocracy, forced him to recall Borradiotes soon after. These events left Alexios in poor shape to oppose the advance of the adventurer Andronikos I Komnenos, who moved against Constantinople from the east. The generals dispatched against Andronikos were defeated or defected, and the usurper entered the city in April 1182. The prōtosebastos Alexios was deposed, publicly humiliated, and mutilated. His fate thereafter is not known.

Origin and early career under Manuel I Alexios was the second son and the last of five children of the sebastokratōr Andronikos Komnenos, himself the second son of Emperor John II Komnenos and Irene of Hungary. The origin of Alexios' mother, also named Irene, is unknown. The court poet, Theodore Prodromos, composed a laudatory poem to celebrate his birth.

In his prosopographical study of the Komnenoi, the Greek scholar, Konstantinos Varzos, placed his birth on Easter Day 1135 (or possibly 1134 or 1136), as he was old enough to participate in a campaign in 1149/50. Alexios' father died in August 1142, only a little while after his older brother (also named Alexios). The two brothers were on a campaign with their father, John II, and their other brothers in southern Asia Minor, and probably died of the same illness. This provided the occasion for another poem by Prodromos, in which young Alexios is referred to as the only solace for his bereaved mother. The Prosopography of the Byzantine World database, on the other hand, interprets the poems by Prodromos as indicating that Alexios was born in 1142, during his father's absence on the campaign that cost his life. but this in turn contradicts the indiction dating given by Choniates. Among the scholars who accept the dating of these events to 1181, several, including the English translator of Choniates, Harry Magoulias, place the date of the intended coup on 7 February, but Choniates' German editor, Jean-Louis Van Dieten, points out that on that year the feast day of the martyr Theodore was on 21 February. According to Van Dieten's reconstructed chronology, the condemnation of the conspirators took place on 1 March 1181, and the clashes took place on 2 May. The historian Oktawiusz Jurewicz, in his study on Andronikos I Komnenos, placed the events in 1182. As other, more precisely dated, events took place soon after, he proposed a condensed timeframe in which the uprising and reconciliation all took place in February 1182, with the date for the aborted coup set on 13 February.

Downfall

Despite the failure of the revolt, the position of the prōtosebastos was weakened: on the one hand, his readiness to use force against fellow citizens, even in the most hallowed of all churches in the Empire, increased popular hostility, while on the other, the amnesty offered to Maria and her supporters strengthened the perception of the regime's weakness. Alexios exacerbated the situation when he turned against Patriarch Theodosios for the aid and shelter he had given the rebels. The Patriarch was confined in the Pantepoptes Monastery. Only the intervention of the Empress-regent and other members of the imperial family saved him from being dismissed. At long last, the prōtosebastos was forced to consent to the Patriarch's reinstatement. His triumphal return, with jubilant crowds lining the procession that led him back to the patriarchal palace near the Hagia Sophia, was another blow to the regime's authority.

In the meantime, the ambitious Andronikos Komnenos, cousin of Emperor Manuel, watched affairs in the capital from the Pontus, where he had been appointed governor. His sons Manuel and John had participated in the revolt, and the leaders of the conspiracy were in contact with him. Andronikos sent many letters to his nephew, the young Alexios II, to the Patriarch Theodosios and others bemoaning the usurpation of the young emperor's rights by the prōtosebastos, and the impropriety of the latter's alleged relationship with the Empress-regent. Relying on his oath to Emperor Manuel to uphold the rule of both Manuel and Alexios II—an oath occasioned more by his own, well-known ambitions—he even claimed to have been charged by the late Manuel to safeguard the rule of his son. Following the suppression of the uprising, his daughter Maria hastened to him at Sinope, bearing news; soon more letters came from the capital urging him to intervene. In autumn 1181, Andronikos began his march against Constantinople, proceeding slowly to give the impression of a large and cumbersome force, and allowing time for his propaganda to have an impact. Only the city of Nicaea under John Doukas, and the Theme of Thrace under the megas domestikos John Komnenos Vatatzes, rejected his claims and resisted his advance. Choniates accused the prōtosebastos of lethargy and neglect ("he was unmanly and not only spent the early morning in sound sleep but also wasted most of the day sleeping") in dealing with Andronikos, but Skoutariotes does not repeat these accusations and modern scholars dismiss them.

Nevertheless, the army sent by the government, under Andronikos Angelos (the father of the future emperors Isaac II and Alexios III), was defeated at Charax near Nicomedia, even though according to Choniates it faced only "farmers unfit for warfare and a contingent of Paphlagonian soldiers". On his return to Constantinople, Angelos faced accusations that he had misappropriated money meant for the army's salary. Fearing accusations of pro-Andronikos sentiments, he barricaded himself and his family in their mansion, before fleeing the city altogether and joining Andronikos Komnenos in Bithynia. Emboldened by this defection, Andronikos Komnenos moved to Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople. Again he put on an appearance of having a large army and a powerful navy, but in reality they were far inferior. The imperial fleet still blocked Andronikos' passage; Alexios tried to bolster his position by manning as many ships as he could with Latins who were loyal to him, but the megas doux, Andronikos Kontostephanos, forced him to concede command of the navy. Alexios attempted to negotiate, and sent George Xiphilinos (a future patriarch) to Andronikos' camp, offering a pardon and high office. In the event, Xiphilinos betrayed the prōtosebastos, and Andronikos rejected the offer, insisting instead that the prōtosebastos retire and be held accountable for his administration, and the Empress-dowager be confined to a convent. Within a few days, Andronikos Kontostephanos also defected to the rebels with the Byzantine-manned ships.

This was the final blow for the prōtosebastos; Andronikos Komnenos' supporters now began to move openly and even sailed across to visit him at his camp. Conversely, although he still held valuable hostages—including Andronikos' sons—Alexios appears to have become dejected and passively awaited events. In late April, a revolt in the city opened the prisons of the Great Palace and set the prōtosebastos opponents free. His supporters and family were now arrested and thrown in the same cells. German mercenaries arrested the prōtosebastos in the palace, probably suborned by Andronikos. Under cover of night he was moved to the House of Michaelitzes in the patriarchal palace. During his captivity there, his guards tortured him by preventing him from sleeping, despite the intercession of Patriarch Theodosios. After a few days he was led, seated on a pony and preceded by a reed flag in mockery of a banner amidst the jeers and abuse of the populace, to a fishing boat and across to Chalcedon. There Andronikos Komnenos, in front of the assembled aristocrats, ordered his eyes gouged out. The Latin chronicler William of Tyre reports that his genitals were also cut off as punishment for his affair with the Empress, but this is not corroborated by any other source.

The remainder of his life, and the date and circumstances of his death, are unknown. Likewise, his children lived and died in obscurity.