George I, Emperor of the Romans

George I (1178-1235) was Roman Emperor from New Years Day 6721 (September 1st 1212) until February 1234, when he retired into a monastery for his final year, adopting the monastic name of Gregory. He was the first Emperor to come to power in a military rebellion since Isaac I Komnenos.

George was by origin a Genoan nobleman, who rose in the imperial service in the last years of the twelfth century. He led a small part of the imperial fleet that sacked Venice in 1204 and seven years later strongly supported the revolt of David Bringas, where he served as a junior commander. He was, however, a brave and dashing young man, and his physical courage earned him the undending loyalty of the soldiery, who unexpectedly raised him to be Emperor as the regime of Eirene Nafpliotissa collapsed. Following his coronation, George married Zoe Komnena, Eirene's youngest daughter.

The reign of George restored the Empire to stability following the calamities of Eirene's reign, but it ultimately foundered when Jurchen attacks began in earnest from 1229 onwards. The Jurchen were defeated at Abdyos in 1232, but further attacks on Cappadocia the following year seem to have broken the by now elderly Emperor, whose mental faculties began to quickly decline. A brief regency council followed, led by the Patriarch Theodotos II, before George's abdication to a monastery, where he died a year later. He was succeeded, after a brief interlude, by his only child, his daughter Theodora, and her husband Isaac III Palaiologos.