Andronikos I Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos | |
---|---|
Issue | Manuel Komnenos John Komnenos Maria Komnene Alexios Komnenos Irene Komnene |
Dynasty | Komnenos |
Father | Isaac Komnenos |
Mother | Kata of Georgia |
Andronikos I Komnenos (
Early years
Andronikos Komnenos was born around 1118. Most of what is known of him is from the writings of the historian
In 1141, he was taken captive by the
Exile
About 1153, a conspiracy against Emperor Manuel in which Andronikos participated was discovered, and he was imprisoned. After repeated unsuccessful attempts, he escaped in 1165.
Still under the displeasure of the emperor, Andronikos fled to the court of Prince
Andronikos was granted estates in
Emperor
In 1180, the Emperor Manuel died and was succeeded by his ten-year-old son
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,[clarification needed] 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. The defection of the commander of the Byzantine navy, megas doux Andronikos Kontostephanos, and the defeat and defection of his cousin general Andronikos Angelos,[9] played a key role in allowing the rebellious forces to enter Constantinople.[10]
The arrival of Andronikos Komnenos was soon followed by a
In 1183, sixty-five-year old Andronikos married twelve-year-old
The reign of Andronikos was characterized by his harsh measures. He resolved to suppress many abuses but above all things to check feudalism and limit the power of the nobles, who were rivals for his throne. He attempted to reform the decaying political system by forbidding the sale of offices, punishing corrupt officials (often brutally) but above all, he moved to check the power of the feudal landowners. The people, who felt the severity of his laws, at the same time acknowledged their justice and found themselves protected from the rapacity of their superiors,[3] who had grown corrupt under the safety and opulence of Manuel I's rule.[citation needed] Andronikos became increasingly paranoid and violent, however, and the Empire descended into a terror state.[citation needed]. In September 1185, he ordered the execution of all prisoners, exiles, and their families for collusion with the invaders. The aristocrats, in turn, were infuriated against him,[3] and there were several revolts.[citation needed]
The stories of chaos led to an invasion by
Death
Andronikos seems then to have resolved to exterminate the aristocracy, and his plans were nearly successful. But on 11 September 1185, during his absence from the capital,[3] Stephen Hagiochristophorites, his lieutenant, moved to arrest Isaac Angelos, whose loyalty was suspect.[17] Angelos killed Hagiochristophorites and took refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia. He appealed to the populace, and a tumult arose that spread rapidly over the whole city.[3]
When Andronikos arrived he found that Isaac had been proclaimed emperor.
Family
Andronikos I Komnenos was married twice and had numerous mistresses. By his first wife, whose name is not known, he had three children:[21]
- Rusudan, he was the father of Alexios I and David Komnenos, the founders of the Empire of Trebizond and of the dynasty of the Grand Komnenoi, the only male-line descendants of the Komnenian house.[23][24]
- John Komnenos (1159–1185), as a child he accompanied his father during his exile, and after his rise to the throne was crowned co-emperor in November 1183. After the overthrow of Andronikos, he was executed in September 1185. [25]
- Maria Komnene (born c. 1166), married Theodore Synadenos in 1182, but he died shortly after; her second husband was a certain Romanos, whose rapacity and terrorization of the populace during the defence of Dyrrhachium against the Normans in 1185 contributed to the fall of the city. The fate of Maria and her husband after Andronikos' downfall is unknown.[26]
By his cousin and mistress Theodora Komnene, Andronikos I had the following children:[27]
- Alexios Komnenos (1170 – c. 1199), his early life is obscure, he fled to Georgia after 1185, where he married into the local nobility. The noble family of Andronikashvili claim descent from him, and he may have been the forefather of the provincial rulers of Alastaneli.[28][29]
- Irene Komnene (born 1171), she was married to the sebastokrator Alexios Komnenos, an illegitimate son of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, in October 1183. Her husband became involved in a conspiracy against Andronikos and was blinded and imprisoned, while Irene entered a monastery.[30]
His second marriage to
In popular culture
Andronikos is the main protagonist in Michael Arnold's Against the Fall of Night (Garden City, New York: Doubleday 1975),[31] as well as Ange Vlachos' Their Most Serene Majesties (Vanguard Press, 1964).[32]
He is mentioned in the Louis L'Amour medieval historical novel, The Walking Drum, with his gruesome death foreseen by the protagonist in a vision.[33]
He is among the main characters of the historical novel Agnes of France (1980,
Andronikos was portrayed in the novel Baudolino by Umberto Eco, with much detail being given to his grisly end.[34]
See also
Notes
- PMID 10466590.
- ISBN 978-0-8143-1764-8.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Chisholm 1911, p. 975.
- ^ Spinei 2009, p. 131.
- ^ O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniatēs, translated by Harry J. Magoulias, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1984. Page 80. Accessed 21 Jul 2022.
- ^ Minorsky 1945, pp. 557–558.
- ^ Speros Vryonis Jr., The Decline of medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor: and the process of Islamization from the eleventh through the fifteenth century, (Berkeley: University of California, 1971), p. 127
- ^
- Ibn Jubayr p. 355 Broadhurst (Turks and Arabs);[full citation needed]
- William of Tyre, Historia Transmarina 22.11 (innumeras Barbararum nationum secum trahens copias);[full citation needed]
- De Nugis Curialium 2.18 (Turks).[full citation needed]
- ^ O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniatēs, translated by Harry J. Magoulias, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1984. p. 138. Accessed 21 Jul 2022.
- ^ Angold 1997, p. 267.
- ^ O City of Byzantium, Annals of Niketas Choniatēs, translated by Harry J. Magoulias, Wayne State University Press, Detroit, 1984. p. 145. Accessed 21 Jul 2022.
- ^ Choniates 1984, pp. 260–274.
- ISBN 1780936710
- ISBN 978-1107009455
- )
- ^ "Sack of Thessalonica". byzantium.gr.
- ^ Harris 2003, p. 136.
- ^ a b Choniates 1984, p. 193.
- ^ Choniates 1984, pp. 188–189.
- S2CID 162791512.
- ^ Varzos 1984a, p. 637.
- ^ Varzos 1984b, pp. 511–528.
- ^ Varzos 1984a, pp. 637–638.
- ^ Varzos 1984b, p. 527.
- ^ Varzos 1984b, pp. 528–532.
- ^ Varzos 1984b, pp. 532–535.
- ^ a b Varzos 1984a, p. 638.
- ^ Varzos 1984b, pp. 532–537.
- ^ Williams 2006.
- ^ Varzos 1984b, pp. 481, 537–539.
- ^ "Against the Fall of Night". Kirkus Reviews. 4 April 1975. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ "Their Most Serene Majesties". Kirkus Reviews. 22 October 1964. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ L'Amour, Louis (1984). The Walking Drum. Bantam Books. pp. 381–382.
- ^ Mullan, John (8 May 2003). "Catching the Prester John Bug". London Review of Books. 25 (9). Retrieved 10 September 2021.
References
- Angold, Michael (1997), The Byzantine Empire, 1025–1204, Longman, ISBN 0-582-29468-1
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911), "Andronicus I", Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 1 (11th ed.), Cambridge University Press, pp. 975–976 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Jurewicz, Oktawiusz (1970). Andronikos I. Komnenos (in German). Amsterdam: Adolf M. Hakkert. OCLC 567685925.
- Magoulias, Harry J. (2011). "Andronikos I Komnenos: A Greek Tragedy". Byzantina Symmeikta. 21: 101–136. ISSN 1791-4884.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andronicus-I-Comnenus
- S2CID 161748303
- Spinei, Victor (2009), The Romanians and the Turkic Nomads North of the Danube Delta from the Tenth to the Mid-Thirteenth century, Koninklijke Brill NV, ISBN 978-90-04-17536-5
- ISBN 0-8143-1764-2.
- Williams, Kelsey Jackson (2006), "A Genealogy of the Grand Komnenoi of Trebizond", Foundations: The Journal of the Foundation for Mediaeval Genealogy, 2 (3), hdl:10023/8570, archived from the originalon 7 February 2012, retrieved 24 July 2007
- Harris, Jonathan (2003), Byzantium and the Crusades, Bloomsbury Academic
- Varzos, Konstantinos (1984). Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών [The Genealogy of the Komnenoi] (PDF) (in Greek). Vol. A. Thessaloniki: OCLC 834784634.
- Varzos, Konstantinos (1984). Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών [The Genealogy of the Komnenoi] (PDF) (in Greek). Vol. B. Thessaloniki: OCLC 834784665.
Further reading
- Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Chapter 48.
- Grünbart, Michael, 'Die Macht des Historiographen – Andronikos (I.) Komnenos und sein Bild', in Zbornik Radova Vizantinoloskog Instituta 48, 2011, pp. 75–85
- Harris, Jonathan, Byzantium and the Crusades, Bloomsbury, 2nd ed., 2014. ISBN 978-1-78093-767-0
- Harris, Jonathan, 'Collusion with the infidel as a pretext for military action against Byzantium', in Clash of Cultures: the Languages of Love and Hate, ed. Sarah Lambert and Helen Nicholson, Brepols, 2012, pp. 99–117. ISBN 978 2503 520643
- ISBN 0-19-504652-8.
- Mihai Tiuliumeanu, Andronic I Comnenul, Iași, 2000. (in Romanian)
- ISBN 0-8047-2630-2.
- Eustathios of Thessaloniki 'The Capture of Thessaloniki' (Byzantina Australiensia 8), Canberra 1988.
- The full text of a lecture by John Melville-Jones on the life of this emperor is located at Vicnet. It is accompanied by an extensive bibliography.
External links
Media related to Andronikos I Komnenos at Wikimedia Commons