| John II Komnenos | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans | |||||
 Mosaic of John II at the Hagia Sophia | |||||
| Byzantine emperor | |||||
| Reign | 15 August 1118 – 8 April 1143 | ||||
| Coronation | 1092 as co-emperor | ||||
| Predecessor | Alexios I Komnenos | ||||
| Successor | Manuel I Komnenos | ||||
| Co-emperor | Alexios the Younger | ||||
| Born | 13 September 1087 Constantinople, Byzantine Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey) | ||||
| Died | 8 April 1143 (aged 55) Cilicia, Byzantine Empire (now Mediterranean Region, Anatolia, Turkey) | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | Irene of Hungary | ||||
| Issue | Alexios the Younger Maria Komnene Andronikos Komnenos Anna Komnene Isaac Komnenos Theodora Komnene Eudokia Komnene Manuel I Komnenos | ||||
| |||||
| Dynasty | Komnenian | ||||
| Father | Alexios I Komnenos | ||||
| Mother | Irene Doukaina | ||||
| Religion | Eastern Orthodox | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
John II Komnenos or Comnenus (Greek: Ἱωάννης ὁ Κομνηνός, romanized: Iōannēs ho Komnēnos; 13 September 1087 – 8 April 1143) was Byzantine emperor from 1118 to 1143. Also known as "John the Beautiful" or "John the Good" (Greek: Καλοϊωάννης, romanized: Kaloïōannēs), he was the eldest son of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and Irene Doukaina and the second emperor to rule during the Komnenian restoration of the Byzantine Empire. As he was born to a reigning emperor, he had the status of a porphyrogennetos. John was a pious and dedicated monarch who was determined to undo the damage his empire had suffered following the Battle of Manzikert, half a century earlier.
John has been assessed as the greatest of the Komnenian emperors.[1] This view became entrenched due to its espousal by George Ostrogorsky in his influential book, History of the Byzantine State, where John is described as a ruler who, "... combined clever prudence with purposeful energy ... and [was] high principled beyond his day."[2] In the course of the quarter-century of his reign, John made alliances with the Holy Roman Empire in the west, decisively defeated the Pechenegs, Hungarians and Serbs in the Balkans, and personally led numerous campaigns against the Turks in Asia Minor. John's campaigns fundamentally changed the balance of power in the east, forcing the Turks onto the defensive; they also led to the recapture of many towns, fortresses and cities across the Anatolian peninsula. In the southeast, John extended Byzantine control from the Maeander in the west all the way to Cilicia and Tarsus in the east. In an effort to demonstrate the Byzantine ideal of the emperor's role as the leader of the Christian world, John marched into Muslim Syria at the head of the combined forces of Byzantium and the Crusader states; yet despite the great vigour with which he pressed the campaign, John's hopes were disappointed by the evasiveness of his Crusader allies and their reluctance to fight alongside his forces.
Under John, the empire's population recovered to about 10 million people.[3] The quarter-century of John II's reign is less well recorded by contemporary or near-contemporary writers than the reigns of either his father, Alexios I, or his son, Manuel I. In particular little is known of the history of John's domestic rule or policies.[a]
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