Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos , <a href="/facts/Latinization_of_names/69CA5FuQ">Latinized</a> as Alexius I Comnenus, was <a href="/facts/Byzantine_Emperor/zofQz7f7">Byzantine emperor</a> from 1081 to 1118. After <a href="/facts/Usurper/n2FXPv3q">usurping</a> the throne, he was faced with a collapsing empire and constant warfare throughout his reign, Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the <a href="/facts/Komnenian_restoration/yA9LsjYY">Komnenian restoration</a>. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the <a href="/facts/Seljuk_Empire/PIdMSP62">Seljuk Turks</a> were the catalyst that sparked the <a href="/facts/First_Crusade/aaQJ761j">First Crusade</a>. Although he was not the first emperor of the <a href="/facts/Komnenos/UaeY7SLT">Komnenian dynasty</a>, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power and initiated a hereditary succession to the throne.
The son of <a href="/facts/John_Komnenos_(Domestic_of_the_Schools)/8GYYapMb">John Komnenos</a> and a nephew of <a href="/facts/Isaac_I_Komnenos/odSXpkTy">Isaac I Komnenos</a>, Alexios served with distinction under three Byzantine emperors. In 1081, he led a rebellion against Emperor <a href="/facts/Nikephoros_III_Botaneiates/JXBEFUWD">Nikephoros III Botaneiates</a> and took the throne for himself. He immediately faced <a href="/facts/Norman_conquest_of_southern_Italy/P8tAor5T">an invasion of the western Balkans</a> by the <a href="/facts/Normans/nUclGJWf">Normans</a> under <a href="/facts/Robert_Guiscard/AtY8QzG2">Robert Guiscard</a> and his son <a href="/facts/Bohemond_I_of_Antioch/WMUYD8JJ">Bohemond</a>. Despite initial defeats, Alexios secured an alliance with <a href="/facts/Holy_Roman_Emperor/RYrqYynl">Holy Roman Emperor</a> <a href="/facts/Henry_IV%2c_Holy_Roman_Emperor/gqcUM71B">Henry IV</a> and drove back the Normans, recovering most of Byzantine losses by 1085. In 1091, he achieved a decisive victory over the <a href="/facts/Pechenegs/h7FSsvs3">Pechenegs</a> at the <a href="/facts/Battle_of_Levounion/WAeTs9Tq">Battle of Levounion</a> in <a href="/facts/Thrace/26TVWCL0">Thrace</a> with the help of <a href="/facts/Cumans/YjaCPvh6">Cuman</a> allies.
Later in the 1090s, Alexios directed his attention towards Asia Minor, most of which had fallen to the Seljuk Turks. Desiring western support, he took reconciliatory measures towards the <a href="/facts/Pope/9zVokNjn">Papacy</a>, and in 1095 his envoys made a formal appeal to <a href="/facts/Pope_Urban_II/AwzWKQFm">Pope Urban II</a> at the <a href="/facts/Council_of_Piacenza/4KAsAbB0">Council of Piacenza</a>. At the subsequent <a href="/facts/Council_of_Clermont/LhAbtxhd">Council of Clermont</a>, Pope Urban formally called the First Crusade, which began a year after and concluded with much of western Anatolia restored to Byzantine rule. On Alexios' death in 1118, he was succeeded by his son <a href="/facts/John_II_Komnenos/LXn3nXcI">John II Komnenos</a>. Alexios' reign and campaigns were recorded by his daughter <a href="/facts/Anna_Komnene/Rgu2n3AA">Anna Komnene</a> in her <a href="/facts/Alexiad/EtNoLbkL">Alexiad</a>, a political and military history, which she named after her father.

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Alexios I Komnenos