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Birth:          ABT 1118 
Death:          12 Sep 1185 Constantinople
Cause of Death: murdered

Notes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andronikos_I_Komnenos
Andronikos I Komnenos (Greek: ??d??????? ?' ??µ?????, Andrónikos I Komnenós; 
c.?1118 – 12 September 1185), usually Latinized as Andronicus I Comnenus, was 
Byzantine Emperor from 1183 to 1185. He was the son of Isaac Komnenos and the 
grandson of the emperor Alexios I.
Biography[edit]

Early years[edit]

Andronikos Komnenos was born around 1118. He was handsome and eloquent, active, 
hardy, courageous, a great general and an able politician, but also licentious.[1] His 
early years were spent alternately in pleasure and in military service.

In 1141 he was taken captive by the Seljuq Turks and remained in their hands for a 
year. On being ransomed, he went to Constantinople, where he was held at the court 
of his cousin, the Emperor Manuel I Komnenos, to whom he was a great favourite. 
Here the charms of his niece, Eudoxia, attracted him and she became his mistress.[1] 
In 1152, accompanied by Eudoxia, he set out for an important command in Cilicia. 
Failing in his principal enterprise, an attack upon Mopsuestia, he returned but was 
again appointed to the command of a province. This second post he seems also to 
have left after a short interval, for he appeared again in Constantinople and narrowly 
escaped death at the hands of the brothers of Eudoxia.[1]

Exile[edit]

About 1153, a conspiracy against the Emperor in which Andronikos participated was 
discovered, and he was thrown in prison. After repeated unsuccessful attempts, he 
escaped in 1165.[1] After passing through many dangers, including captivity in Vlach 
territory,[2] he reached Kiev, where his cousin Yaroslav Osmomysl of Galicia held 
court. While under the protection of Yaroslav, Andronikos formed an alliance with the 
Emperor Manuel I, and with a Galician army he joined Manuel in the invasion of 
Hungary, assisting at the siege of Semlin.[1] The campaign was successful, and 
Andronikos returned to Constantinople with Manuel I in 1168; a year later, however, 
Andronikos refused to take the oath of allegiance to the future king Béla III of 
Hungary, whom Manuel desired to become his successor. Andronikos was removed 
from court but received the province of Cilicia.[1]

Still under the displeasure of the Emperor, Andronikos fled to the court of Raymond, 
Prince of Antioch. While residing here he captivated and seduced the beautiful 
daughter of the Prince, Philippa, sister of the Empress Maria. The Emperor was again 
angered by this dishonour, and Andronikos was compelled to flee.[1] He took refuge 
with King Amalric I of Jerusalem, whose favour he gained, and who invested him with 
the Lordship of Beirut. In Jerusalem he saw Theodora Komnene, the beautiful widow 
of King Baldwin III and niece of the Emperor Manuel. Although Andronikos was at that 
time fifty-six years old, age had not diminished his charms, and Theodora became the 
next victim of his artful seduction.[1] To avoid the vengeance of the Emperor, she fled 
with Andronikos to the court of Nur ad-Din, the Sultan of Damascus. Feeling unsafe 
there, they continued their perilous journey through the Caucasus and Anatolia.[1] 
They were well received by King George III of Georgia, whose anonymous sister had 
probably been the first wife of Andronikos.

Andronikos was granted estates in Kakhetia, in the east of Georgia. In 1173 or 1174, 
he accompanied the Georgian army on an expedition to Shirvan up to the Caspian 
shores, where George recaptured the fortress of Shabaran from the invaders from 
Darband for his cousin, the Shirvanshah Akhsitan I.[3] Finally, Andronikos and 
Theodora settled in the ancestral lands of the Komnenoi at Oinaion, on the shores of 
the Black Sea, between Trebizond and Sinope.[4] While Andronikos was on one of his 
incursions into Trebizond, his castle was surprised by the governor of that province, 
and Theodora and her two children were captured and sent to Constantinople. To 
obtain their release Andronikos in early 1180 made abject submission to the Emperor 
and, appearing in chains before him, besought pardon. This he obtained, and he was 
allowed to retire with Theodora into banishment at Oinaion.[1]

Emperor[edit]

In 1180 the Emperor Manuel died and was succeeded by his ten-year-old son Alexios 
II, who was under the guardianship of his mother, Empress Maria.[1] Her Latin origins 
and culture led to creeping resentment from her Greek subjects. They had felt insulted 
by the Western tastes of Manuel, and being ruled by his Western wife built tensions to 
an explosion of rioting that almost became a full civil war.[citation needed] This gave 
Andronikos the opportunity to seize the crown for himself, leaving his retirement in 
1182 and marching to Constantinople with an army that (according to non-Byzantine 
sources) included Muslim contingents.[5] The defection of the commander of the 
Byzantine navy, megas doux Andronikos Kontostephanos, and the general Andronikos 
Angelos, played a key role in allowing the rebellious forces to enter Constantinople.[6]

The arrival of Andronikos Komnenos was soon followed by a massacre of the city's 
Latin inhabitants,[1] who virtually controlled its economy, resulting in the deaths of 
thousands of Westerners. He was believed to have arranged the poisoning of Alexios 
II's elder sister Maria the Porphyrogenita and her husband Renier of Montferrat, 
although Maria herself had encouraged him to intervene; the poisoner was said to be 
the eunuch Pterygeonites.[citation needed] Soon afterwards Andronikos had the 
Empress Maria imprisoned and then killed — forcing a signature from the child Emperor 
Alexios to put his mother to death — by Pterygeonites and the hetaireiarches 
Constantine Tripsychos.[citation needed] Alexios II was compelled to acknowledge 
Andronikos as colleague in the empire in front of the crowd on the terrace of the 
Church of Christ of the Chalkè and was then quickly put to death in turn; the killing 
was carried out by Tripsychos, Theodore Dadibrenos, and Stephen 
Hagiochristophorites.[7]

In 1183, sixty-five year old Andronikos married twelve-year-old Agnes of France, [1] 
daughter of King Louis VII of France and his third wife Adèle of Champagne — Agnes 
had been betrothed to Alexios II.[citation needed] By November 1183, Andronikos had 
associated his younger legitimate son John Komnenos on the throne.[citation needed] 
In 1184, a Venetian embassy visited Constantinople, and an agreement was reached 
that compensation of 1,500 gold pieces would be paid for the losses incurred in 1171.
[citation needed]

The reign of Andronikos was characterized by his harsh measures. He resolved to 
suppress many abuses but above all things to check feudalism and limit the power of 
the nobles, who were rivals for his throne. The people, who felt the severity of his 
laws, at the same time acknowledged their justice and found themselves protected 
from the rapacity of their superiors,[1] who had grown corrupt under the safety and 
opulence of Manuel I's rule.[citation needed] Andronikos became increasingly 
paranoid and violent, however, and the Empire descended into a terror state.[citation 
needed]. In September 1185, he ordered the execution of all prisoners, exiles, and 
their families for collusion with the invaders. The aristocrats in turn were infuriated 
against him,[1] and there were several revolts.[citation needed]

The stories of chaos led to an invasion by King William of the Norman Sicilians.[1] 
William landed in Epirus with a strong force of 200 ships and 80,000 men, including 
5,000 knights,[citation needed] and marched as far as Thessalonica, which he took 
and pillaged ruthlessly (7,000 Greeks died).[1][citation needed] Andronikos hastily 
assembled five different armies to stop the Sicilian army from reaching Constantinople, 
but his forces failed to stand and retreated to the outlying hills. Andronikos also 
assembled a fleet of 100 ships to stop the Norman fleet from entering the Sea of 
Marmara. The invaders were finally driven out in 1186 by his successor, Isaac 
Angelos.[citation needed]

Death[edit]


 


 A medieval depiction of the death of Andronikos. Original in the Bibliothèque 
Nationale, France.
Andronikos seems then to have resolved to exterminate the aristocracy, and his plans 
were nearly successful. But on September 11, 1185, during his absence from the 
capital[1] Stephen Hagiochristophorites, his lieutenant, moved to arrest Isaac 
Angelos, whose loyalty was suspect.[8] Isaac killed Hagiochristophorites and took 
refuge in the church of Hagia Sophia. He appealed to the populace, and a tumult 
arose that spread rapidly over the whole city.[1]

When Andronikos arrived he found that Isaac had been proclaimed Emperor.[1] The 
deposed Emperor attempted to escape in a boat with his wife Agnes and his mistress, 
but they were captured (though some claim that Andronikos survived and managed to 
escape to the then-self-proclaimed Kingdom of Cyprus).[1] Isaac handed him over to 
the city mob and for three days he was exposed to their fury and resentment,[1] 
remaining for that period tied to a post and beaten. His right hand was cut off, his 
teeth and hair were pulled out, one of his eyes was gouged out, and, among many 
other sufferings, boiling water was thrown in his face, punishment probably associated 
with his handsomeness and life of licentiousness.[1] At last he was led to the 
Hippodrome of Constantinople and hung by his feet between two pillars. Two Latin 
soldiers competed as to whose sword would penetrate his body more deeply, and he 
was, according to the representation of his death, torn apart.[9] He died on September 
12, 1185.[1] At the news of the emperor's death, his son and co-emperor John was 
murdered by his own troops in Thrace.[9] Andronikos I was the last of the Komnenoi to 
rule Constantinople, although his grandsons Alexios and David founded the Empire of 
Trebizond in 1204. Their branch of the dynasty was known as the "Great Komnenoi" 
(Megaskomnenoi).[10]

Family[edit]

Andronikos I Komnenos was married twice and had numerous mistresses. By his first 
wife, whose name is not known, he had three children:[citation needed]
Manuel Komnenos (born 1145), the father of Alexios I and David Komnenos, the 
founders of the Empire of Trebizond
John Komnenos (apparently born 1159 or 1160), who was co-emperor with his father 
from 1183 to 1185 and was killed in that year
Maria Komnene

By his mistress Theodora Komnene, Andronikos I had the following children:
Alexios Komnenos (c. 1170–1199), an alleged forefather of the Georgian noble family 
of Andronikashvili.[11]
Eirene Komnene (born c. 1169), who was briefly married to Alexios Komnenos, a son of 
Emperor Manuel I Komnenos by Theodora Batatzina.[citation needed]

In popular culture[edit]
Andronikos is the main protagonist in Michael Arnold's Against the Fall of Night 
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday 1975), as well as Ange Vlachos' Their Most 
Serene Majesties (Vanguard Press, 1964).

He is mentioned in the Louis L'Amour medieval historical novel, The Walking Drum, 
with his gruesome death foreseen by the protagonist in a vision.

He is among the main characters of the historical novel Agnes of France (1980) by 
Greek writer Kostas Kyriazis (b. 1920). The novel describes the events of the reigns of 
Manuel I, Alexios II and Andronikos I through the eyes of Agnes. The novel ends with 
the death of Andronikos.

Andronikos was portrayed in the novel Baudolino by Umberto Eco, with much detail 
being given to his grisly end.

Parents
KOMNENOS Isaakios (16 Jan 1093 - AFT 1152)
----- Irene ()

Siblings
KOMNENOS Andronikos I (ABT 1118 - 12 Sep 1185)

Marriage To KOMNENE Theodora Kalusine (ABT 1146 - )
    m.  

Notes

Parents
KOMNENOS Isaac (ABT 1113 - )
DIPLOSYNADENE Eirene ()

Children by KOMNENE Theodora Kalusine ABT 1146 - 
KOMNENA Eirene (ABT 1164 - )

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