Alexios I Komnenos
1056 – 1118 · Generation XXVIII · Emperor (r. 1081–1118) · Komnenos
Alexios (AD 1056 – 1118). Emperor (r. 1081–1118). Married Irene around AD 1078. Founder of the Komnenian restoration. A nephew of Isaac I who had served three emperors with distinction, he took the throne by rebellion and inherited an empire at war on every side. The Normans of Robert Guiscard and Bohemond struck the western Balkans at once; despite early defeats he drove them back, recovering most of what was lost by 1085, and in 1091 he broke the Pechenegs decisively at Levounion with Cuman help. Seeking western support for the war in Asia Minor, his envoys appealed to Pope Urban II in 1095 — the spark that lit the First Crusade, which ended with much of western Anatolia back under imperial rule. His daughter Anna Komnene told the story of his reign in the Alexiad, named for her father.
One of 14 people of Komnenos (1081–1185) in this archive. The house of the Komnenian restoration, ruling through a web of marriages to its own kin.
Line of descent: Manuel Komnenos → John Komnenos → Alexios I Komnenos.
Parents
- John Komnenos (1015 – 1067)
- Anna Dalassene (1025 – 1102)
Partners
- Married Irene Doukaina (1066 – 1138) in 1078 — 4 children together
Children
- John II Komnenos (1087 – 1143)
- Anna Komnene (1083 – 1153)
- Isaac Komnenos (1093 – 1152)
- Theodora Komnene (1096 – ?)
Life
- 1056 — Born
- 1078 — Married Irene
- 1118 — Died