Manuel Komnenos, Emperor of the Romans

Manuel Komnenos (December 7 1070- January 17 1152) was Roman Emperor from summer 1122 until his death just under thirty years later. Known in his own time as ὁ Μέγας ("the great"), Manuel's reign is thought to mark the pinnacle of the power of the Komnenoi.

Manuel was the son of Isaac Komnenos the Younger. At the time of Manuel's birth, his father was the eldest living male relative of the reigning Emperor, Isaac I Komnenos, but the Emperor passed over his namesake for the succession and instead named Manuel's uncle Alexios his co-Emperor and heir apparent. Isaac the Younger initially remained relatively loyal to his brother, but after 1092 was largely confined to Constantinople by a jealous Alexios.

Manuel largely grew up in Italy and with the departure of his father for Constantinople in spring 1092 he and his younger brother Stephen became virtual co-rulers of the imperial territories there, where they supervised the consolidation of Sicily and Sardinia, and attempted to contain German expansion. In 1096, Manuel was officially made Katepánō, or Viceroy, of Italy. In this period, he had two wives: firstly the noblewoman Sophia Bryennaina, who died childless in 1091, and secondly a much more passionate relationship with one Yvantia of Beneventum, which produced a son, Theodosios, and a daughter, Maria. This second marriage was later argued to be illegitimate: in any case, Yvantia died in 1101. Following the Battle of Savona, Manuel was recalled from Italy and married to his third wife, this time his cousin Styliane, daughter of the Emperor Alexios. Styliane produced a single child, Manuel's son John, and the marriage was not a particularly happy one. Between 1103 and 1105 Manuel governed the Chersonese, and seems to have participated in the Battle of Emesa in 1109. In 1114, he singlehandedly smashed the Greek rebellion of Theodosios Melissenos, and thereafter settled in Thessalonica to keep the restive region under control.

In 1117, the Emperor Alexios died, and the throne was seized by his elder brother Isaac, Manuel's father, who named Manuel as Domestikos tēs Dyseōs, supreme commander of the West. This perceived favouritism led to Manuel's younger brother Stephen joining a broader series of revolts against their father, which were only put down with some difficulty. In 1119, Manuel defeated his brother in battle and, despite Stephen's pleas, blinded him so brutally that Stephen died soon afterwards. Two years later, with the Empire at peace, Manuel became co-Emperor and took over effective governance from his ailing father, who died in 1122.

As Emperor, Manuel's reign was marked by a series of major foreign policy successes. Troubles in Serbia and the Chersonese were swiftly dealt with in the 1120s, and shows of power were arranged to cow the restive Armenians on the empire's eastern frontier. The 1120s and 1130s were a time of economic growth within the empire: several important cities were forced to raise new walls in the period to accommodate population rises, and the year 1135 saw more churches built than in any other of the twelfth century. This peace and plenty meant Manuel was deeply popular across the Empire, and later Roman writers (notably Philotheos of Thebes) make clear that his reign was considered unusually bountiful and blessed.

In 1148, despite his advanced age, Manuel returned to Italy to personally deal with German-directed religious disputes in the peninsula, leading to the crowning achievement of his reign: the Third Council of Nicaea in 1150. Third Nicaea did much to abolish the crowing doctrinal differences between the Patriarchates of Rome and Constantinople, in the process creating the modern Uniate Church.

Manuel declined drastically after his Italian trip, and was rarely seen in public in 1151. He died in January 1152, with the throne passing peacefully to his son John II Komnenos. The circumstances of John's accession are finally testimony to the great successes of Manuel, who fully deserves his status as the greatest of the Komnenid Emperors.