Alexios Komnenos (protosebastos)


Alexios Komnenos was a Byzantine aristocrat and courtier. A son of Andronikos Komnenos and nephew of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, he rose to the high rank of prōtostratōr in 1167. In 1176 he participated in the Myriokephalon campaign, and was raised to the titles of prōtosebastos and prōtovestiarios following the death of his older brother John in the campaign. Following Manuel's death in 1180, he won the favour, and reportedly became the lover, of Empress-dowager Maria of Antioch and through her ruled the Byzantine Empire for two years as de facto regent of the underage emperor Alexios II Komnenos. His dominance was challenged by the aristocracy, led by the princess Maria Komnene, who plotted to assassinate Alexios II. The plot was discovered and most conspirators arrested, but Maria and her husband fled to the Hagia Sophia, protected by Patriarch Theodosios Borradiotes and the common people of Constantinople. Mounting tensions resulted in a popular uprising against Alexios' regime on 2 May 1181—other dates have been proposed by modern scholars as well—which ended in a mutual reconciliation. His power shaken, the prōtosebastos reacted by punishing Borradiotes for his role in the affair, but was forced to recall him shortly after in the face of overwhelming opposition both among the people and the aristocracy. These events left Alexios in poor shape to oppose the advance of the adventurer Andronikos I Komnenos, who moved against Constantinople from the east. The generals dispatched against Andronikos were defeated or defected, and the usurper entered the city in April 1182. The prōtosebastos Alexios was deposed, publicly humiliated, and mutilated. His fate thereafter is not known.

Origin and early career under Manuel I

Alexios was the second son and the last of five children of the sebastokratōr Andronikos Komnenos, second son of Emperor John II Komnenos, and his wife Irene. His birth was celebrated by the court poet Theodore Prodromos, who composed a laudatory poem on the occasion. The Greek scholar Konstantinos Varzos, in his prosopographical study of the Komnenoi, placed his birth on Easter Day 1135 as he was old enough to participate in a campaign in 1149/50. Andronikos died in August 1142, only a little while after his elder brother Alexios. Both were on campaign with their father and other brothers in southern Asia Minor, and probably died of the same illness. This provided the occasion for another poem by Prodromos, who claims that the young Alexios was the only solace for his devastated mother. The Prosopography of the Byzantine World database on the other hand interprets the poems as indicating that Alexios was born in 1142, during his father's absence on campaign.
, Rome
When John II died in 1143, his two remaining sons were Isaac and the younger Manuel I Komnenos, who eventually, due to the support of the army, became emperor. Isaac, despite his protests, never actively threatened Manuel's rule, however. Although Alexios' mother, the sebastokratorissa Irene, suffered repeated disgrace and imprisonment at the hands of Manuel, the emperor showed great favour to her sons, particularly Alexios' older brother John. In c. 1149/50, like all young Byzantine aristocrats, the young Alexios was required to begin his military training and accompany his uncle, Emperor Manuel, on campaign. No details are known of his early military career, however. In c. 1153/4 he married Maria Doukaina, whose exact parentage is unknown. Together they had at least four children: a son Andronikos, a daughter Irene, and a son and daughter whose names are unknown.
The first recorded instance of Alexios attending a public function was at a synod at the imperial Palace of Blachernae, along with his brother John, on 12 May 1157. He also participated along with John in the synod of March 1166. In both cases, Alexios is recorded without any rank or title, among the imperial relatives. In May/June 1167, following the dismissal and banishment of the hitherto holder, Alexios Axouch, Alexios Komnenos assumed the high office of prōtostratōr. He appears with this rank in the synod of February 1170 against John Eirenikos. Sometime during the period where he held the office of prōtostratōr, i.e. 1167–76, Alexios fell gravely ill, and his wife donated a richly embroidered veil to the Church of the Saviour at the Chalke Gate, an occasion celebrated by an anonymous court poet.
Like most of the Byzantine aristocracy, Alexios took part in the campaign that led to the disastrous Battle of Myriokephalon in September 1176. His brother John was one of the casualties of the battle, and Alexios, as the last remaining son of Manuel's brothers, succeeded him in his titles of prōtosebastos and prōtovestiarios. These titles raised Alexios, like John before him, to the pinnacle of the Byzantine court: as prōtosebastos, he was the most senior of the sebastoi—a group which since the days of Alexios I Komnenos denoted the most senior members of the court, usually close relatives or special favourites of the emperor —and as prōtovestiarios, he was the "titular head of the imperial household", with important ceremonial and diplomatic duties. His previous post of prōtostratōr went to another Alexios, son of Andronikos Komnenos Vatatzes. Soon after Alexios' promotion, his wife died, and his son Andronikos was mortally injured after falling from his horse. The poet Gregory Antiochos wrote a lament on the occasion.
In spring 1178, Alexios led an embassy to France. His first mission concerned the marriage of his cousin Eudokia—daughter of his paternal uncle Isaac—to Ramon Berenguer III, Count of Provence, brother of King Alfonso II of Aragon. The marriage was aborted due to the opposition of the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa, and Eudokia was married instead to William VIII of Montpellier. He then proceeded to Paris, to escort Agnes, a daughter of King Louis VII of France and the prospective bride of Manuel's son and heir Alexios II Komnenos, back to Byzantium. The embassy left Paris on Easter 1179, and returned via Italy to Constantinople, where Agnes and Alexios II were betrothed.

Rise to power

When Manuel died on 24 September 1180, his successor, Alexios II, born in 1169, was underage. Manuel had neglected providing for a regency, and power automatically passed to the hands of his widow, Maria of Antioch. Although she had become a nun, the Empress-dowager immediately became the focus of attention of ambitious suitors who sought to win her affection and supreme power along with it. Alexios quickly emerged as the winner in this competition for the Empress-dowager's favour, and alongside Maria became the de facto regent of the state. At the time, rumours spread that he also became Maria's lover. Although this was certainly widely believed at the time, modern scholars like Varzos are more doubtful; while the contemporary official and historian Niketas Choniates reports the rumours almost as fact, the 13th-century chronicler Theodore Skoutariotes appears to have considered them baseless.
Nevertheless, Alexios evidently exercised considerable power. As Choniates writes, "confident of his own power and his great influence over the empress", Alexios "had the emperor promulgate a decree that henceforth no document signed by the imperial hand would be valid unless first reviewed by Alexios and validated by his notation 'approved' in frog green ink", so that "nothing whatsoever could be done except through him". In addition, all revenue was channeled directly to the prōtosebastos and the Empress-dowager. Soon rumours began to circulate that the prōtosebastos planned to supplant the young emperor and "mount both the mother and the throne", as Choniates put it.
Whether Alexios intended to usurp the throne or not, his concentration of power alarmed the other imperial relatives, above all Emperor Manuel's daughter from his first marriage, the porphyrogennētē princess Maria Komnene. Maria's relations with her step-mother were already strained before Manuel's death, and according to Choniates, Maria was incensed at the thought of the prōtosebastos and the Empress-dowager sullying her father's bed. The opposition that began to coalesce around her included her husband, the Caesar Renier of Montferrat, Manuel's illegitimate son the sebastokratōr Alexios Komnenos, the prōtostratōr Alexios Komnenos, the Eparch of the City John Kamateros Doukas, Andronikos Lapardas, Maria's cousins Manuel and John, and many others. These leading aristocrats were driven by their exclusion from the share in power and wealth they had enjoyed under Manuel, and the fear that they themselves might be imprisoned.
Choniates, the contemporary archbishop Eustathius of Thessalonica, and William of Tyre report that, finding themselves ever more unpopular, the Empress-dowager and Alexios turned to the numerous Latin residents of Constantinople and Latin mercenaries for support, continuing and even augmenting Manuel's pro-Latin policies. Some modern historians, such as Charles Brand, have therefore viewed the contest between the prōtosebastos and the faction around Maria as that of pro-Latin and anti-Latin parties. Most modern historians stress that lines were not so clear cut, as the opposing aristocrats included Latins like Renier, and also recruited Latin mercenaries. According to this interpretation, the primary concern of the opposition was the prōtosebastos domination of the government, which had destroyed the previous arrangements under Manuel, where they had been "equal in power".

Revolt of Maria Komnene

According to Choniates, the conspirators planned to assassinate Alexios when he and the emperor were to visit the suburb of Bathys Ryax for the feast day of the martyr Theodore, "on the seventh day of the first week of Lent". The conspiracy was betrayed, however, by a soldier, and most of its members were arrested, tried by a tribunal under the dikaiodotēs Theodore Pantechnes—who succeeded Kamateros as Eparch—and imprisoned in the dungeons of the Great Palace. Andronikos Lapardas managed to escape, while the Caesarissa Maria and her husband sought refuge in the Hagia Sophia, where she soon gained the support not only of the Patriarch Theodosios Borradiotes, but also of the common people, who took pity on her plight and her imperial descent, and who were further won over due to her largesse in distributing coins to the crowd.
Emboldened by the popular support, the princess refused Alexios' offers of an amnesty, demanding not only the repetition of the trial of her co-conspirators, but also the immediate dismissal of the prōtosebastos from the palace and the administration. When the Empress-dowager and the prōtosebastos had Alexios II issue a warning to his half-sister that she would be evicted by force, she again refused, and despite the Patriarch's angry objections started posting her followers to keep watch over the entrances to the great church, recruiting even "Italians in heavy armor and stouthearted Iberians from the East who had come to the City for commercial purposes", as Choniates reports. To them were added the masses of the capital's people, who assembled and began publicly to sympathize with Maria and denounce the prōtosebastos and the Empress-dowager. Led by three priests, the populace was driven to rebellion, and over several days they not only demonstrated before the gates of the palace, but also ransacked several mansions of the nobility, including that of Pantechnes.
Matters finally came to a head on the seventh day of the uprising, as the prōtosebastos brought in troops from both Asia and Europe, under the command of Sabbatios the Armenian. Princess Maria's supporters in the meantime barricaded themselves behind the Augoustaion square between the Great Palace and the Hagia Sophia, after they razed the adjoining buildings. Moving forward at dawn, the imperial troops ascended the roof of the Church of St. John the Theologian, and then moved to cut off the Hagia Sophia and Maria's supporters in the Augoustaion from the rest of the city. After a fiercely contested battle, towards evening Maria and her followers were driven from the arches at the entrance of the Augoustaion and their positions on top of the Milion and the Church of Alexios into the open square. Protected by their fellows who fired missiles from the upper galleries of the Hagia Sophia, the rebels began to withdraw into the exonarthex of the Hagia Sophia, while the imperials were reluctant to follow "in fear of the temple's narrow passageways". At this point, the Caesar Renier rallied about 150 of his men from his own Latin bodyguards and his wife's servants and followers, gave a speech justifying their struggle, and led them forth against the imperial troops in the Augoustaion, who retreated hastily and in confusion. As Choniates writes, "the imperial troops no longer dared to enter the open court but preferred to fight by firing missiles". Renier returned to the Hagia Sophia, and with the fall of night, a stalemate ensued.
At this juncture, the Patriarch interceded with Empress Maria of Antioch to put an end to the fighting. In response, a delegation of the most distinguished nobles and officials, led by the megas doux Andronikos Kontostephanos and the megas hetaireiarchēs John Doukas were sent to the Caesarissa and Renier in the Hagia Sophia. There they "gave her pledges of good faith confirmed by oaths, assuring her that nothing unpleasant would befall her. She would not be deprived of her dignities and privileges by her brother the emperor, or her stepmother the empress, or the prōtosebastos Alexios, and full amnesty would be granted her supporters and allies". With this, the two sides disbanded their forces, and Maria and her husband returned to the Great Palace to meet the Empress-dowager and the prōtosebastos and confirm their reconciliation.
The dating of these events is disputed. Choniates records the date of the clash between the supporters of the Caesarissa and the imperial troops as 2 May on the 15th indiction, i.e. 2 May 1182, but as Varzos points out, this is clearly an error, as this was the date of the Massacre of the Latins. Many modern scholars have therefore interpreted the date as 2 May 1181, but this contradicts the indiction dating given by Choniates. Among the scholars who accept the dating of these events to 1181, several, including the English translator of Choniates, Harry Magoulias, place the date of the intended coup on 7 February, but as Choniates' German editor Jean-Louis Van Dieten points out, for the year 1181 the correct date of the feast described by Choniates was 21 February. According to this chronology, the condemnation of the conspirators took place on 1 March, and the clashes took place on 2 May. The historian Oktawiusz Jurewicz, in his study on Andronikos I Komnenos, placed the events in 1182. As other events took place soon after, he proposed that the uprising and reconciliation all took place in February 1182, with the date for the original, aborted coup on 13 February.

Downfall

Despite the failure of the revolt, the position of the prōtosebastos was weakened: on the one hand, his readiness to use force against fellow citizens even in the most hallowed of all churches in the Empire increased popular hostility, while on the other, the amnesty offered to Maria and her supporters strengthened the perception of the regime's weakness. The situation was exacerbated when Alexios turned against Patriarch Theodosios for the aid and shelter he had given the rebels. The Patriarch was confined in the Pantepoptes Monastery, and was saved from being dismissed only through the intervention of the Empress-regent and other members of the imperial family. At long last, the prōtosebastos was forced to consent to the reinstatement of the Patriarch. His triumphal return, with jubilant crowds lining the procession that led him back to the patriarchal palace near the Hagia Sophia, was another blow to the regime's authority.
of Andronikos I Komnenos
In the meantime, the ambitious Andronikos Komnenos, cousin of Emperor Manuel, watched affairs in the capital from the Pontus, where he had been appointed governor. His sons Manuel and John had participated in the revolt, and the leaders of the conspiracy were in contact with him. Andronikos sent many letters of his own to his nephew, the young Alexios II, to the Patriarch Theodosios, and others, bemoaning the usurpation of the young emperor's rights by the prōtosebastos, and the impropriety of the latter's alleged relationship with the Empress-regent. Relying on his oath to Emperor Manuel to uphold the rule of both Manuel and Alexios II—an oath occasioned more by his own, well-known ambitions—he even claimed to have been charged by the late Manuel to safeguard the rule of his son. Following the suppression of the uprising, his daughter Maria hastened to him at Sinope, bearing news; and soon more letters came from the capital urging him to intervene. In autumn 1181, Andronikos began his march against Constantinople, proceeding slowly so as to give the impression of a large and cumbersome force, and giving time for his propaganda to have an impact. Only the city of Nicaea under John Doukas and the Theme of Thrace, under the megas domestikos John Komnenos Vatatzes, rejected his claims and resisted his advance. Choniates accuses the prōtosebastos of lethargy and neglect in dealing with Andronikos, but these accusations are not repeated by Skoutariotes and are dismissed by modern scholars.
Nevertheless, the army sent by the government, under Andronikos Angelos was defeated at Charax near Nicomedia, even though it faced, according to Choniates, only "farmers unfit for warfare and a contingent of Paphlagonian soldiers". On his return to Constantinople, Angelos was faced with accusations that he had misappropriated money meant for the army's salary. Fearing accusations of pro-Andronikos sentiments, he barricaded himself and his family in their mansion, before fleeing the city altogether and joining Andronikos Komnenos in Bithynia. Emboldened by this defection, Andronikos Komnenos moved to Chalcedon, across the Bosporus from Constantinople. Again he put on an appearance of a large army and powerful navy, but the reality was far inferior. Passage was still blocked by the imperial fleet, and Alexios tried to bolster his position by manning as many ships as he could with Latins, who were loyal to him, but was forced to concede command of the navy to the megas doux Andronikos Kontostephanos. Alexios attempted to negotiate, and sent George Xiphilinos to Andronikos' camp, offering a pardon and high office. Xiphilinos however betrayed the prōtosebastos, and Andronikos rejected the offer, instead insisting that the prōtosebastos retire and be held accountable for his administration, and the Empress-dowager be confined to a convent. Within a few days, Andronikos Kontostephanos with the Byzantine-manned ships too defected to the rebels.
This was the final blow for the prōtosebastos; the supporters of Andronikos Komnenos now began to move openly, and even sailed across to visit him at his camp. Conversely, although he still held valuable hostages—including Andronikos' sons—Alexios appears to have become dejected and passively awaited events. In late April, a revolt in the city opened the prisons of the Great Palace and set free the opponents of the prōtosebastos. The latter's supporters and family were now arrested and thrown in the same cells. The prōtosebastos'' himself was arrested by German mercenaries, probably suborned by Andronikos, in the palace. Under cover of night he was moved to the House of Michaelitzes in the patriarchal palace. During his captivity there, his guards tortured him by preventing him from sleeping, despite the intercession of Patriarch Theodosios. After a few days he was led, seated on a pony and preceded by a reed flag in mockery of a banner, amidst the jeers and abuse of the populace, to a fishing boat and across to Chalcedon. There Andronikos Komnenos, in front of the assembled aristocrats, ordered his eyes gouged out. The Latin chronicler William of Tyre further reports that his genitals were also cut off as punishment for his affair with the Empress, but this is not corroborated by any other source.
The remainder of his life, and the date and circumstances of his death, are unknown. Likewise his children lived and died in obscurity.