John II Komnenos
1087 – 1143 · Generation XXIX · Emperor (r. 1118–1143) · Komnenos
John (AD 1087 – 1143). Emperor (r. 1118–1143). Married Irene around AD 1104. 'the Good'; son of Alexios I. A pious and austere ruler, he devoted his quarter-century on the throne to repairing what the disaster at Manzikert had cost the empire fifty years before. Allied with the German emperors in the west, he crushed the Pechenegs and beat back Hungarians and Serbs in the Balkans, then took the war to the Turks in person year after year, storming stronghold after stronghold until his power reached from the Maeander valley to Cilicia and Tarsus. In Syria he led Byzantines and crusaders against the Muslims together, though allies who preferred dice in camp to fighting cost the campaign its prize. By his reign's end the empire held some ten million people again, and many historians rank him the finest of the Komnenian emperors.
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 → John II Komnenos.
Parents
- Alexios I Komnenos (1056 – 1118)
- Irene Doukaina (1066 – 1138)
Siblings
- Anna Komnene (1083 – 1153)
- Isaac Komnenos (1093 – 1152)
- Theodora Komnene (1096 – ?)
Partners
- Married Irene (1088 – 1134) in 1104 — 2 children together
Children
- Alexios Komnenos (1106 – 1142)
- Manuel I Komnenos (1118 – 1180)
Life
- 1087 — Born
- 1104 — Married Irene
- 1143 — Died