Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos
Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans
Portrait of Alexios within the Panoplia Dogmatica written by Euthymios Zigabenos
Byzantine emperor
Reign	1 April 1081[1] – 15 August 1118
Coronation	4 April 1081[2]
Predecessor	Nikephoros III Botaneiates
Successor	John II Komnenos
Co-emperor	Constantine Doukas (1081–87)
Born	c. 1057
Died	15 August 1118[3] (aged 61–62)
Spouse	Irene Doukaina
Issue	Anna Komnene Maria Komnene John II Komnenos Andronikos Komnenos Isaac Komnenos Eudokia Komnene Theodora Komnene Manuel Komnenos Zoe Komnene
Names Alexios Komnenos Αλέξιος Κομνηνός
Dynasty	Komnenian
Father	John Komnenos
Mother	Anna Dalassene
Religion	Eastern Orthodox

Alexios I Komnenos (Greek: Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός, translit. Aléxios Komnēnós, c. 1057 – 15 August 1118), Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Inheriting a collapsing empire and faced with constant warfare during his reign, Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Seljuk Turks were the catalyst that sparked the First Crusade. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power and initiated a hereditary succession to the throne.

The son of John Komnenos and a nephew of Isaac I Komnenos, Alexios served with distinction under three Byzantine emperors. In 1081, he led a rebellion against Emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates and took the throne for himself. He immediately faced an invasion of the western Balkans by the Normans under Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemond. Despite initial defeats, Alexios secured an alliance with Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV and drove back the Normans, recovering most of Byzantine losses by 1085. In 1091, he achieved a decisive victory over the Pechenegs at the Battle of Levounion in Thrace with the help of Cuman allies.

Later in the 1090s, Alexios directed his attention towards Asia Minor, most of which had fallen to the Seljuk Turks. Desiring western support, he took reconciliatory measures towards the Papacy, and in 1095 his envoys made a formal appeal to Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza. At the subsequent Council of Clermont, Pope Urban formally called the First Crusade, which began a year after and concluded with much of western Anatolia restored to Byzantine rule. On Alexios' death in 1118, he was suceeeded by his son John II Komnenos. Alexios' reign and campaigns were recorded by his daughter Anna Komnene in her Alexiad, a political and military history, which she named after her father.