Alexios I Komnenos
Alexios I Komnenos was one of the most consequential Byzantine emperors, the founder of the Komnenian dynasty and the man whose appeal to Pope Urban II triggered the First Crusade - with results that neither he nor anyone else could have foreseen. He came to power in 1081 through a military coup against the elderly Nikephoros III. He inherited an empire in desperate straits: the Seljuks occupied most of Anatolia, the Normans under Robert Guiscard were attacking from the west through the Balkans, and the treasury was nearly empty. Alexios proved extraordinarily adaptable. He defeated Robert Guiscard's Norman invasion through diplomacy, financial pressure, and eventually military skill. He secured the Danube frontier against the Pechenegs in 1091 at the Battle of Levounion, annihilating their threat in a single engagement. To address the Seljuk threat in Anatolia, he sent letters to Pope Urban II in 1095 requesting western mercenaries and military help. Urban preached the First Crusade at Clermont in November 1095. Alexios managed the First Crusade with considerable diplomatic skill, extracting oaths from the crusade leaders and recovering Nicaea in 1097. His long reign - 37 years - saw genuine recovery of territory and institutional consolidation. His daughter Anna Komnene wrote his biography, the Alexiad, a masterpiece of Byzantine literature.
- Lived: 1048 CE – 1118 CE
- Nationality: byzantine
- Roles: emperor, head_of_state, military_leader, diplomat
