Great Bloodletting of Constantinople

The Great Bloodletting of Constantinople is the name given to an outburst of violent disorder that broke out within the imperial capital and imperial family itself in the spring of 1187. It resulted in the deaths of most living members of the Komnenid family, besides the Emperor Alexander III and his children, at the hands of Alexander's Empress, Eirene. The casualities included Alexander's nephew Michael VIII and his sons, his mother Theodora of Hungary, and several more distant relatives, notably Maria Komnena the Lombard. A large number of aristocrats and middle ranking courtiers were also either killed or exiled, notably Patriarch Andronikos II.