Towards the end of his life, the emperor lost interest in politics and became interested in astrology instead, for which he was condemned by many church hierarchs and historians. John Kamatir dedicated the astrological didactic poem "On the Circle of the Zodiac" to the Emperor.

Manuel I fell ill in March 1180 and finally left the government. Having celebrated the wedding of his son Alexei II with the daughter of the French king, Manuel died in the presence of his son and the court. But before his death, he renounced astrological science and ordered to be tonsured as a monk under the name of Matthew. The ashes of the emperor were buried in the chapel of the Pantokrator monastery.

Personality

Fair-haired, like all Komnenos, and very handsome, he, the son of a Magyar princess, was distinguished by such dark skin that once the Venetians, after a quarrel with the Greeks during the siege of Corfu, mocking Manuel, put a Negro discharged under the emperor’s galley and drove him under the clownish doxology..

Manuel Komnenos was a representative of a new generation of emperors of Byzantium, who was a kind of symbiosis of two divergent cultures: Western European and Roman.

He was physically strong, organized and took part in knightly tournaments, which greatly surprised his subjects, and also had a cheerful disposition. The emperor was charming, attracted the sympathy of others. But at the same time, he had a literary education, considered himself an expert in theology, taking part in dogmatic disputes with pleasure.

Manuel Komnenos is described by Byzantine literary sources as a very courageous person. Tales about him, similar to European chivalric romances, mentioned his strength, dexterity and fearlessness. According to them, in the tournament he defeated two of the strongest Italian knights, and Renault of Antioch could not lift his spear and shield. In one battle, the emperor personally killed forty Turks, and in a fight with the Hungarians, he grabbed their banner, being the first to cross the bridge that separated his army from the enemy. On another occasion, Manuel made his way unharmed through five hundred Turks, having previously been ambushed when he was accompanied only by his brother Isaac and John Aksukh.

In addition to Byzantium, the figure of Manuel was also popular in medieval Russia. A host of epics and legends was dedicated to him. According to one of them, on August 1, 1164, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir defeated the Bulgars, and on the same day Manuel made a victorious campaign against the Saracens. Upon learning of such a coincidence, the rulers decided to establish a celebration of this date. In Veliky Novgorod, the basileus became the hero of the legend "On the miraculous vision of the Savior's image to Manuel, King of Greece" ("On the Savior Manuel"). According to him, the icon of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral of the Savior on the Throne was written by Manuel himself and showed him a miracle. Having punished the Greek priest for the inappropriate behavior, the emperor became a victim of the Savior, who commanded the angels to repay the emperor with the same coin. Having found wounds on his body in the morning and a punishing gesture on the icon, the basileus stopped interfering in church affairs.

Family

Wives and children

Manuel Komnenos was married twice. His first wife in 1146 was Bertha of Sulzbach, sister-in-law of Conrad III. She died in 1159, leaving two daughters:

• Maria Comnena (1152-1182), wife of Rainier of Montferrat.
• Anna Comnena (1154-1158).

The second wife, Mary of Antioch, daughter of Raymond and Constance of Antioch, married in 1161. She bore a son to Basileus:

• Alexei Comnenus, who succeeded to the throne in 1180.

The emperor also had illegitimate children:

From Theodora Vatatzina:

• Alexei Komnenos (born early 1160s), acknowledged by his father and given the title of sebastocrator. He was briefly married to Irina Komnenos, the illegitimate daughter of Andronicus Komnenos in 1183-1184. Then he was blinded by his father-in-law and lived until at least 1191. Known for Choniates.

From Maria Taronitissa, wife of Protovestiarius John Komnenos:

• Alexios Comnenos, a handsome man who fled from Constantinople in 1184 and later participated in the Norman invasion and siege of Thessalonica in 1185.

Two older brothers of Manuel died - Alexei and Andronicus, and in 1143 John II chose him as his heir, bypassing his older brother - Isaac. He earned this trust due to the fact that from childhood he accompanied his father in military campaigns against the Seljuks, where he proved himself to be a brave and determined warrior. After John II died on April 8, 1143 during a military campaign in Cilicia, Manuel was proclaimed emperor by his will. Only after organizing the funeral of his father, and according to tradition, ordering the foundation of a monastery near the place of his death, Manuel switched to strengthening his new status [ ] .

After the burial, Manuel sent the great domestic John Aksukh to the capital (English) with orders to arrest his two most dangerous relatives: an uncle (sevastokrator), and an older brother, both named Isaac. The latter lived in the Grand Palace and had access to the treasury and royal regalia. Aksuh arrived in the capital before the news of the death of the emperor and managed to quickly win the favor of the capital's elite. Arriving in August 1143, Manuel was crowned by the new Patriarch of Constantinople Michael II Okseit (English). A few days later, Manuel released his relatives from custody. In addition, he ordered that each householder in Constantinople be given 2 gold coins and 200 pounds of gold (including 200 silver coins) - the Byzantine church.

The empire inherited by Manuel Komnenos from the previous basileus has changed a lot since its founding in 395. During the reign of Justinian I (527-565), Byzantium acquired some provinces of the Western Roman Empire: Italy, Africa and part of Spain. But in the 7th century, the country suffered serious changes: the Arabs conquered Egypt, Palestine and Syria, and later, with the development of their expansion, they annexed North Africa and Spain. But even after that, the emperors ruled quite big state who occupied the territory of Asia Minor and the Balkans. At the end of the 11th century, the Byzantine Empire entered a period of political and military decline, which it was able to overcome for the most part with the help of grandfather and father Manuel. But still, by the beginning of his reign, Byzantium faced big problems. In Sicily, the Normans succeeded in driving out the Romans, the Seljuk Turks pursued a similar policy in Anatolia, while a new power existed in the Levant, the crusader states. Thus, the task of ensuring the security of the empire was more difficult than ever.

For the first time, Manuel had to take up foreign policy in 1144, when the ruler of the Principality of Antioch, Raymond, decided to expand his possessions at the expense of Byzantine Cilicia, where he had already managed to conquer several castles. By these actions, he brazenly violated the oath of allegiance he gave to John II in 1137.

The emperor sent to the front a fleet under the command of Dimitry Vran and an army led by Prosukh. The generals successfully completed the task: the ships devastated the coastal possessions of Raymond, and the soldiers drove the aggressor from Cilicia.

However, a year later, the crusader's neighbor - the County of Edessa - was captured by the soldiers of the Mosul emir Imad ad-Din Zangi. The prince realized that the eastern threat was becoming a reality, and assistance from Western Europe would not be enough. As a result, Raymond made a visit to Constantinople, where, after taking an oath, he received guarantees of protection from Manuel.

In 1146, the emperor gathered an army at the military base of Lopadia, from where the expedition to the Sultanate of Konya began. The reason for the hostilities was that Sultan Masud I was raiding western Anatolia and Cilicia. Although the goal of this campaign was not conquest, Manuel's warriors defeated the Turks at Akroin, and also destroyed the fortified city of Philomilia. Approaching Konya, the Romans only plundered the outskirts of the capital, after which they began to retreat [ ] .

This can be explained by several reasons: Sultan Masud sent a significant detachment to the rear of the Byzantines, Manuel needed a campaign to demonstrate his own military prowess to his wife, Manuel received a letter from the French king Louis VII, who reported on the advance of the crusaders [ ] .

Komnenos had to leave the eastern border, as the interests of the empire required his presence in the Balkans. In 1147, he granted the right to pass through his possessions to two crusader armies led by the German emperor Conrad III and the French king Louis VII.

At this time, members of the imperial court were still alive, who remembered the participants in the first crusade, whose arrival was also described by Anna Komnena. Many Byzantines were skeptical of the crusade, whose participants are remembered for their looting and acts of violence during their passage through the empire. The Roman troops followed the foreigners in order to protect the local population and the subsequent protection of the capital. However, this did not help to avoid conflicts: the crusaders complained about the late delivery of supplies and fodder, receiving in response accusations of robbery. Expecting this, Manuel prudently prepared for the reception: he repaired the city walls and entered into a defensive alliance with his former enemy, the Konian sultan.

Conrad's army was the first to pass through the lands of Byzantium in the summer of 1147, and in the records of local authors it was given more attention than the French. The Germans chose the route through Dorilei, Iconium, Heraclius. At the battle of Dorilei, their army was defeated by the Turks, and the survivors returned with the king to Nicaea, where they waited for the French. Those, while in Constantinople, believed the rumors that Conrad was victorious over the infidels. Having crossed the Bosporus, the French learned about the true share of their allies, after which they decided to continue their journey with them.

After graduation crusade relations between Manuel and Conrad III improved: the basileus married a relative of the emperor, Bertha Sulzbach (his former sister-in-law), and an alliance was also concluded against the Sicilian king Roger II. But in 1152, Conrad III died, and mutual understanding with his successor, Frederick Barbarossa, could not be reached.

Basileus again had to turn his eyes towards Antioch in 1156: the new ruler of the principality, Renaud de Châtillon, accused him of not paying the promised amount of money and promised to attack Byzantine Cyprus. During the attack on the island, the Crusaders captured the governor John Comnenus (Manuel's nephew) and Michael Vranu, who commanded the local army. The Latin historian William of Tire greatly regretted this attack, describing the atrocities committed during it. After plundering the island, Reno's warriors forced the survivors to buy back their property at inflated prices, after which they sailed home. The prince of Antioch sent several mutilated locals to Constantinople to demonstrate his independence and contempt for Manuel.

The answer was not long in coming. In the winter of 1158-1159, Roman troops unexpectedly invaded the Kingdom of Cilicia, whose ruler Thoros II openly supported Renaud de Chatillon. The emperor led his troops, being in the vanguard with 500 cavalry. The population of Cilicia quickly recognized the rule of Byzantium, and its former owner took refuge in the mountains.

He was on a horse, in royal ceremonial attire, with a scepter in his hands and with a stemma on his head. The bridle of his horse and his stirrup were held by Prince Reynald and Latin princes and knights. At the gates of the city, the procession was met by the patriarch and the clergy, from where it went along the decorated streets to the cathedral church. For eight days in Antioch, brilliant festivities followed one another, tournaments took place and amusements were given to the people. The tsar did not spare money for gifts to the nobles and for distribution to the people and took a personal part in the holidays.

News of the Byzantine successes reached Antioch. Realizing that his soldiers would be defeated in battle, Renault also understood that there was nowhere to wait for help (Baldwin III of Jerusalem had recently married Theodora, the daughter of the Sevastokrator Isaac Comnenus, and had a negative attitude towards the raid of his neighbor). Abandoned by everyone, the prince of Antioch appeared to Manuel in Mopsuestia, with his head uncovered, barefoot, with bare hands and with a rope around his neck, holding a sword in his hands with the point towards him. The emperor at first defiantly refused to accept him, continuing to communicate with the courtiers. William of Tire wrote that this scene went on for so long that it ended up "disgusting" for everyone and "made the Latins despised throughout Asia". As a result, Manuel forgave Renault on the condition that Antioch became a vassal territory of Byzantium and was obliged to supply soldiers for service in the Byzantine troops.

On April 12, 1159, the triumphal entry of the Roman army into Antioch took place. In May, at the head of the united army, Manuel began a campaign against Edessa. But he soon abandoned this, as the Emir of Syria, Nur ad-Din, freed 6,000 Christian captives who had languished in his prisons since the Second Crusade.

On the way back to Constantinople, Manuel made his way through the possessions of the Iconian sultan, and near Cotiae, in the valley of Thembris, the Turks attacked his army. But the unexpected attack was repulsed, and the enemy fled, although the Romans suffered serious losses. The following year, the emperor led a campaign against the Seljuks in Isauria.

In 1147, Manuel first encountered Roger II, whose fleet began to plunder the coasts of Illyria, Dalmatia and southern Greece (Corinth, Euboea and Thebes), and also captured Corfu, while entering into an alliance with African Muslims. However, despite the Polovtsian raid on the Balkans, in 1148 the basileus entered into an alliance with Conrad III and the Venetian Republic, whose powerful flotilla defeated the Normans. In 1149, the island of Corfu was retaken, and Roger II sent George of Antioch with 40 ships to raid Constantinople in retaliation. Meanwhile, Manuel had already agreed with Conrad on joint military operations in southern Italy and Sicily. An alliance with the Holy Roman Empire was for him the most important goal in foreign policy, although after the death of Conrad, relations between states gradually cooled.

In February 1154, the Sicilian king died and was succeeded by William I. His accession, marked by uprisings against his rule in Sicily and Apulia, and Frederick Barbarossa's failure to negotiate with the Normans, pushed Manuel to launch an invasion of the Italian Peninsula. He sent two generals with the rank of sebast (English)- Michael Paleolog (English) and John Dooku (English)- with an army and a fleet of 10 ships, as well as a large amount of gold, which arrived in Apulia in 1155. They were tasked with supporting Barbarossa, whose army was south of the Alps, but the emperor turned back, yielding to the desire of his own troops. But even without the support of an ally, the Romans were able to achieve great success: all of Southern Italy rebelled against the Normans, the local nobility opposed William, and among them Robert III Loritello (English). In addition, many fortresses came out of the power of the Sicilian crown - both by force and through gold [ ] .

Southern Italy towards the end of 1155. Areas occupied by the Byzantines are marked in red, areas controlled by Pope Adrian IV in gray, those remaining loyal to William in green

Encouraged by such successes, Manuel began to dream of restoring the Roman Empire, albeit at the cost of the union of the Orthodox and Catholic churches, which the envoys of the papal state insisted on for an alliance. The popes constantly did not get along with the Normans, excluding the threat of direct hostilities, and therefore having a “civilized” Eastern Roman Empire as a neighbor on their southern borders was clearly preferable for them. Pope Adrian IV was interested in a possible alliance that would increase his influence on Orthodox Christians. Manuel also promised a large sum of money to supply the troops of the Holy See, asking for the Pope's recognition of Byzantine authority over the three coastal cities in exchange for help in expelling the Normans from Sicily. Manuel also promised to pay 5,000 pounds of gold to Hadrian personally and to the papal curia. Negotiations quickly ended, and the alliance was concluded.

At this point in the hostilities began a turning point. Michael Palaiologos was recalled from a leadership position in Constantinople due to the demands of the local nobility, especially Robert Loritello, who refused to speak to him. With his departure, the initiative passed into the hands of Wilhelm. At the Battle of Brindisi, the Sicilians counterattacked by sea and land. As they approached, the Byzantine mercenaries demanded payment of gold, but after refusing, they left their former owners. Local barons also lost their former enthusiasm, and soon Ioann Doukas was left in the minority. The arrival of Alexios Comnenus Bryennios did not improve the situation, and in a naval battle the Sicilians captured the commanders of the Roman army. Manuel sent John Axuch to Ancona to direct the new army, but by then William had recaptured all of Apulia [ ] .

The defeat at Brindisi ended Byzantine rule in southern Italy; in 1158 the imperial army left it and never returned. Nikita Choniates and Kinnam believed that the conditions of the concluded peace allowed Manuel to get out of the war with dignity, although in 1156 the Sicilian fleet of 164 ships (and ten thousand troops) raided Euboea and Almira [ ] .

During the war in southern Italy, and later, Manuel proposed to the Holy See the union of the Eastern and Western churches. In 1155, Pope Adrian supported this idea, but then the allies ran into a number of problems. Adrian IV, like his successors, demanded recognition of their religious authority by all Christians, including the Byzantine emperor, who was not supposed to repeat the policy of his western neighbor. Manuel wanted recognition of his secular power in the East and West. Outgoing demands did not satisfy either side. If the pro-Western emperor would have accepted the terms of the union, the Greek population and the clergy of the empire would have said their firm “no”, which happened almost three hundred years later. Despite his friendship with the Pope, Manuel was not awarded the title August. Twice (in 1167 and 1169) an embassy sent to Pope Alexander III, proposing the unification of churches, ran into a refusal on his part, because he was afraid of the consequences of such a decision [ ] . As a result, the union did not take place, the Orthodox and Catholic churches remained separated.

The Italian campaign was not a triumph for Komnenos. Ancona became a Byzantine base, the Sicilian Normans received serious damage, because of which peace with them lasted until the death of Manuel. Although the strength of the empire was demonstrated, the money spent on the war (about 2,160,000 hyperpyre or 30,000 pounds of gold) never paid off.

In the new political environment, Byzantium's goals changed. Manuel decided to organize resistance to the attempts of the Hohenstaufen to annex Italy. When the confrontation between Frederick Barbarossa and the northern cities of Italy began, the basileus actively helped the Lombard League with money. The walls of Milan, destroyed by the Germans, were rebuilt with money from the Byzantine emperor. The defeat of Frederick at the Battle of Legnano on May 29, 1176 strengthened the Roman position. According to Kinnam, Cremona, Pavia, and a host of other Ligurian cities treated Manuel with respect; Genoa, Pisa, but not Venice, began to treat him better. On March 12, 1171, the Byzantine government ordered the arrest of all Venetians who were in the territory of the empire (20,000 people), as well as the confiscation of their property. The Republic of St. Mark, in response, sent a flotilla of 120 ships, which, due to the epidemic and the opposition of 150 Roman ships, returned back. Manuel decided to confirm all the previous rights for Venice with an increase in compensation to the victims only in 1175, afraid of the unification of the republic with the Normans.

In 1177, in Venice, the ambassadors of the German emperor and his Italian opponents signed a peace treaty. After that, the Byzantine policy in this direction was at an impasse, since the empire no longer had anyone to rely on.

Byzantium sought to annex Hungary not only by force, but also by diplomacy. The heir Bela III, the younger brother of the Hungarian King Stephen III, was sent to Constantinople to receive education at the court of Manuel, who wanted to marry his own daughter Maria to him (English) and make him his own heir, under whose authority both states would be. In the capital, Bela received the name Alexei and the title despot, which was called only the Byzantine emperor. However, the plan was not destined to come true. In 1169, the wife of the emperor, Maria of Antioch, gave birth to Manuel's son Alexei, who instantly became his heir, and in 1172, with the death of Stephen, Bela went home. But before leaving, he swore to Manuel that he would always "take into account the interests of the emperor and the Romans." Bela III kept his word: while Manuel reigned, he did not try to return Croatia.

Manuel Comnenus sought to win over the Russian princes to his side in conflicts with Hungary and, to a lesser extent, Sicily. In the late 1140s for power in Kievan Rus three princes fought: the prince of Kiev Izyaslav Mstislavich, associated with the Hungarian king Geza II, was hostile to the empire; Prince of Rostov-Suzdal Yuri Dolgoruky was an ally of Manuel ( symmachos), while the Galician prince Vladimir Volodarevich (Vladimirko) was considered a vassal of the basileus ( hypospondos). Located in the north and northeast of Hungary, Galicia played important role during the wars between Byzantium and Hungary. With the deaths of Izyaslav and Vladimirko, the situation changed: Yuriy captured Kiev, and the new Galician prince Yaroslav became an ally of the Hungarians [ ] .

In 1164-1165, Manuel's cousin, Andronicus Komnenos, escaped from Byzantium, finding himself at the court of Yaroslav of Galicia. This situation created a serious threat to the imperial throne, and Manuel decided to pardon his cousin, allowing him to return to Constantinople (1165). WITH prince of Kiev Rostislav concluded an agreement on the deployment of a military detachment for the needs of the empire, and Yaroslav agreed to return under Roman guardianship. The Galician prince later helped Byzantium with his participation in the war with the Cumans.

Friendship with Galicia was beneficial to Manuel, who in 1166 sent two armies on a campaign against the Hungarians. The first army entered the kingdom through the Southern Carpathians, while the second, with the help of Yaroslav, advanced through the Carpathians. Since the enemy concentrated his troops near Strem and Belgrade, the Byzantines completely devastated Transylvania.

With this campaign, Manuel sought to maintain a balance of power in the Middle East, since control over Egypt in the struggle between the crusaders and Muslims played an important role in this region. A successful attack gave Byzantium an advantage: these lands had been important exporters of grain since the time of the Roman Empire, some of which was sent to Constantinople until the Arab conquest of Egypt in the 7th century. Expected revenues beckoned conquerors, and this war also laid the foundation for a long-term alliance between the Romans and the Crusaders.

Despite the setback, Amaury tried to repeat the campaign and continued to maintain good relations with Byzantium. In 1171, he arrived in Constantinople, when Egypt came under the rule of Saladin. Manuel organized a reception for the king, demonstrating his vassal dependence on the empire. In 1177, a fleet of 150 ships went to Egypt, but returned back, as part of the nobility of the kingdom of Jerusalem was against new war.

Between 1158-1161, the Byzantines conducted a series of military campaigns against the Seljuk Sultanate of Konya, which ended with the conclusion of a peace treaty in 1162. According to it, some border regions, including Sivas, came under the rule of the empire in exchange for cash payments. However, Sultan Kylych-Arslan II fulfilled the terms of the agreement in his own way: he refused to surrender the cities, while pushing the Greek population to the shores of the Black Sea and the Bosphorus with raids by the Turkmen cavalry. It is worth noting that Manuel observed the peace treaty with chivalrous nobility, which was highly unusual in Byzantine diplomacy. During this time, Arslan was able to defeat the remaining rivals. Only in 1176, the emperor decided to teach his treacherous neighbor a lesson and gathered an imperial army to capture the capital of the Sultanate - Konya. To do this, he decided first to recapture the cities of Dorilei and Suvlei, from where the invasion was to begin.

The campaign began in a hot summer, although spring would have been a better time. The Byzantine army, numbering 35,000 people, was very cumbersome, in a letter to the English king Henry II Manuel reported that the length of his army is 16 kilometers. The route passed through Laodicea, Coele, Apollonia and Antioch (Phrygian). Not far from Miriokefal, the army was met by the ambassadors of the Sultan, who offered peace on the terms of previous treaties. The old generals advised to take advantage of this favorable opportunity and make peace with the Sultan. But the younger courtiers persuaded the emperor to give a decisive answer that only under the walls of Iconium would he agree to enter into negotiations.

During the campaign, Manuel made a number of tactical mistakes, for example, by not ordering reconnaissance of the further route. Because of this, on September 17, 1176, the Byzantines were defeated by the Seljuks of Kılıç-Arslan, having been ambushed while crossing a narrow mountain pass. According to Roman authors, Manuel was ready to leave his soldiers, but Andronicus Kontostefan managed to persuade him to stay in the camp. After the battle, the emperor could not forget this defeat until his death.

Arslan agreed to provide an escape route on the following terms: destroy the fortifications of Dorilei and Suvlei. However, Manuel's warriors only destroyed the last fortress, since the sultan himself did not comply with the terms of the peace of 1162. Nevertheless, the Myriokefal defeat had a negative impact on the prestige of Byzantium. The Komneni did much to overcome the lessons of the battle of Manzikert, but even after 105 years the Romans were defeated by the Seljuks. In Western Europe, after this, Manuel began to be called not the emperor of the Romans, but the king of the Greeks.

However, Miriokefal did not inflict such damage on the empire, as it seemed to Manuel and the Europeans. The Byzantine army was not completely destroyed. The right wing suffered the most losses, where the allies were located: the Hungarians, Serbs, the soldiers of Renault of Antioch, as well as the convoy, which was the main target of the attack. Therefore, a year later, John Vatatz was able to repulse the Seljuk invasion with the help of the capital and local troops. After this victory (English) Manuel himself, at the head of a small detachment, drove the enemy out of the city of Banaz, south of Kutahya. However, military operations continued with varying degrees of success.

In the country itself, Manuel continued the policy, whose foundation was laid by his grandfather and father. During his reign, foreign knights actively arrived in Byzantium, who wanted to earn gold and glory in the service of the empire. In addition, foreign merchants flooded Constantinople, mostly from Venice, Genoa and Pisa.

The Komneni relied on large landed nobility, and Manuel adhered to this tactic. In 1143, he published a short story, according to which a ban was introduced on the transfer of land granted by the emperor to persons who did not belong to the senatorial and military estates. It was very important for the basileus, and he repeated it in 1155 and 1170. With its help, the system of pronias, the Byzantine analogue of feudal fiefs, was strengthened.

Under Manuel, the farming system reached its peak. Rulers and administrators were sent to the province along it, receiving payment for their services at the expense of the local population. It goes without saying that corruption and lawlessness flourished from this, but the aristocrats who received these positions became the staunchest supporters of Comnenus. In addition, the emperor often transferred free citizens to wigs, who became servants and employees of private individuals [ ] .

At the same time, in 1158, a khrisovul was issued, confirming the rights to land for most monasteries, but also forbidding the acquisition of new ones. Thus, the emperor fought against the increase in the power of the church, which in the past had a very strong influence on the life of the state.

During the reign of Manuel Komnenos there were three theological discrepancies. In 1156-1157, the question arose whether Jesus offered himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world in the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit, or also the Logos (i.e., in the name of himself). The Council of Constantinople in 1157 ruled that Jesus sacrificed himself for the sake of the Holy Trinity, although such a compromise interpretation was protested by the Patriarch of Antioch, Sotirich Pantevgen, who was deposed for this.

After 10 years of controversy, the phrase of Christ caused: “My Father is greater than Me,” whether it refers to His Divine nature, to human nature, or to their combination. Demetrius of Lamps, a Byzantine diplomat who returned from the West, ridiculed the interpretation adopted there that Christ was inferior to His Father in humanity, but was equal to Him in Divinity and the unity of the Divine nature as the Only Begotten Son. However, Manuel, who did not rule out the possibility of a church union at that time, considered this formula sound and found support from Patriarch Luke Chrysoverg and the future Patriarch Michael of Anchialus. On March 2, 1166, the Council of Constantinople spoke out in favor of this position. Those who refused to recognize the conciliar decision were exiled with confiscation of property. Among the opponents of the imperial concept was his nephew - Alexei Kontostefan.

The third religious question arose in 1180, when the basileus spoke out against the formula of renunciation, which was pronounced by the newly converted Muslims. The anathema was directed at the Muslim concept of God and included the 112th sura of the Koran in the Byzantine translation:

However, the emperor considered that the true God was thus anathema. Manuel convened a council, expecting to receive approval from the bishops and the patriarch for the removal of the wording from the catechumens of all churches. However, church hierarchs met this proposal negatively. As a result, a compromise was adopted, in which, instead of the withdrawn formula, a new anathema was added against Muhammad and his teachings.

Towards the end of his life, the emperor lost interest in politics and became interested in astrology instead, for which he was condemned by many church hierarchs and historians. John Kamatir dedicated an astrological didactic poem "On the circle of the zodiac" to the emperor [ source unspecified 335 days] .

Fair-haired, like all Komnenos, and very handsome, he, the son of a Magyar princess, was distinguished by such dark skin that once the Venetians, after a quarrel with the Greeks during the siege of Corfu, mocking Manuel, put a Negro discharged under the emperor’s galley and drove him under the clownish doxology. .

Manuel Komnenos was a representative of a new generation of emperors of Byzantium, who was a kind of symbiosis of two divergent cultures: Western European and Romaic [ ] .

He was physically strong, organized and took part in knightly tournaments, which greatly surprised his subjects, and also had a cheerful disposition. The emperor was charming, attracted the sympathy of others. But at the same time, he had a literary education, considered himself an expert in theology, taking part in dogmatic disputes with pleasure.

Manuel Komnenos is described by Byzantine literary sources as a very courageous person. Stories about him, similar to European chivalric romances, mentioned his strength, dexterity and fearlessness. According to them, in the tournament he defeated two of the strongest Italian knights, and Renault of Antioch could not lift his spear and shield. In one battle, the emperor personally killed forty Turks, and in a fight with the Hungarians, he grabbed their banner, being the first to cross the bridge that separated his army from the enemy. On another occasion, Manuel made his way through five hundred Turks unharmed, having previously been ambushed when he was accompanied only by his brother Isaac and John Aksukh.

In addition to Byzantium, the figure of Manuel was also popular in medieval Russia. A host of epics and legends was dedicated to him. According to one of them, on August 1, 1164, Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir defeated the Bulgars, and on the same day Manuel made a victorious campaign against the Saracens. Upon learning of such a coincidence, the rulers decided to establish a celebration of this date. In Veliky Novgorod, the basileus became the hero of the legend " On the miraculous vision of the Spasov Icon to Manuel, King of Greece» (« About Spas Manuel"). According to him, the icon of the Novgorod St. Sophia Cathedral Spas on the throne, married in 1161. She bore a son to Basileus:

Manuel sought to restore with the help of the army the former greatness of the Byzantine Empire in the Mediterranean. When he died in 1180, 37 years had passed since his father in Cilicia had proclaimed him the future emperor. The past tense Manuel was busy with wars with all his neighbors. His father and grandfather did a lot to make the Romans forget the humiliation of Manzikert, and thanks to them he received the state in the best condition for the entire XII century. Although it is clear that he used what he received to the full, it is not clear how effectively he did it.

Manuel Komnenos showed himself to be an energetic sovereign, whose optimistic outlook shaped foreign policy. However, despite the military talent of the basileus, he was never able to restore the prestige of his homeland. Some historians have criticized Manuel for unrealistic ideas, citing his Egyptian campaign as an example, with which he wanted to show the power he had achieved. His biggest campaign, against the Seljuk Sultanate of Konya, ended in a humiliating truce. The emperor's diplomatic efforts also came to nothing when Pope Alexander III made peace with Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa [ ] .

Nikita Choniates reproached Manuel Komnenos for the increase in taxes, the income from which he spent generously. Greek and Latin chronicles note that the emperor spent money in all areas and was ready to save on one, sending money to another. Manuel did not skimp on the army, navy, diplomacy, ceremonies, the construction of palaces, his family and those who sought his patronage. All his expenses were a heavy burden on the Byzantine economy, for example, the costs of the Italian wars, gifts to the crusaders and the financing of the failed expeditions of 1155-1156, 1169 and 1176 [ ] .

These losses, however, were successfully leveled by policy in the Balkans, where the basileus was able to expand the borders of the empire and ensure the security of Greece and Bulgaria. With more luck, he would rule not only the rich agriculture regions of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Adriatic, but would also control the trade routes of this region. But even without this, his wars with the Hungarians gave control over the coast of Dalmatia and the trade route along the Danube River from Hungary to the Black Sea. Balkan campaigns brought a large number of trophies, slaves and cattle; Kinnam was impressed by how many weapons the Romans took from the slain Hungarians in 1167. Even the failed wars against the Turks were paid off by the captured property.

Thanks to this, the economic rise of the western provinces, which started under Alexios Comnenus, continued until the end of the 12th century. Active construction was noted in the country, old cities destroyed by the Seljuks were restored, and new ones were built. Trade also flourished, and the population of Constantinople - the largest commercial center of the empire - under Manuel was between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people, making it the largest in Europe. The main source of the emperor's wealth was commerce- Customs duty levied on import and export goods. This collection gave Komnenos 20,000 hyperpyre everyday .

In addition, the Byzantine capital underwent European migration. The very cosmopolitan nature of the city explained the presence of Italian merchants, as well as the presence of crusaders who sought to reach the Holy Land. The Venetians, Genoese and other merchants began to use the Aegean ports for trade, bringing goods from the Crusader state and Egypt to the west, while trading in Constantinople in parallel. Basileus was remembered in France, Italy and the crusader states as the strongest ruler in the world. The Genoese author noted: " With the death of Mr. Manuel, the most blessed emperor of Constantinople ... great ruin and harm was inflicted on the whole Christian world." William of Tire called Manuel "a generous man of incomparable energy." For the knight Robert de Clary, "the emperor was truly a valiant man and the richest of all Christian sovereigns who have ever been in the world, and the most generous."

A reminder of Byzantine influence in the Middle East is the church Holy Mother of God in Bethlehem. In the 1160s, the building was decorated with mosaics depicting the patrons of the building, which included Manuel. On the south wall, an inscription in Greek reads: "The present work was completed by the monk Ephraim, artist and mosaicist, during the reign of Manuel the Porphyrogenetic Comnenus and during the time of the great king of Jerusalem, Amori." The mention of Manuel was the first to symbolize the public recognition of his leadership in the Christian world. He also acted as a defender of Orthodox and Christian shrines. Komnenos was the initiator of the construction and decoration of the basilicas and Orthodox monasteries of the Holy Land, including the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where, thanks to his efforts, the Byzantine clergy were allowed to hold their daily liturgies. All these steps strengthened the status of Byzantium as the suzerain of the crusader states, and its hegemony in Antioch and Jerusalem was agreed with the local rulers - Reno and Amory. Manuel became the last emperor able, thanks to his military and diplomatic successes, to call himself "the ruler of Dalmatia, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Hungary", that is, all the countries of the Balkan Peninsula.

Roman power looked impressive when Manuel died. The empire gained power, economic prosperity, and secure borders during the reigns of Alexios, John, and Manuel Komnenos. However, serious problems remained in the state. The Byzantine court demanded strong leader able to keep him in line. The Normans in Sicily and the Turks in Anatolia had no intention of maintaining peace with Byzantium, and only thanks to strong emperors could the state repel their attacks. The Venetians, who had been an ally of the empire for a long time, revised their position after 1180 [ ] .

Based on the foregoing, the state needed a strong ruler capable of keeping external enemies in check and replenishing the impoverished imperial treasury. But Manuel's son was still a child, and his mother's unpopular regency government was quickly overthrown. These events weakened the ruling dynasty, and with it the entire Byzantine Empire.

We would compare the empire of Manuil's time with a beautiful-looking estate, in which the economy is run brilliantly and on a grand scale, but all this brilliance is bought with borrowed money, as a result of which, with the death of the owner, complete bankruptcy immediately sets in, in which the heirs do not know how sort out .

In the 19th century, the attitude towards Manuel Comnenus did not change. The German historian F. Wilken had a neutral attitude towards the emperor, educated and physically strong, who favored the Latins and collected large taxes from his own people. His French colleague de Segur considered the absence of a moral core to be the main crime of the monarch, which is why intrigue and depravity flourished in Byzantium. G.F. Herzberg considered Manuil to be the successor to the policy of his father and grandfather, who managed to achieve many successes, but "boundless dreams" about the greatness of the empire undermined the strength of both the sovereign and his homeland.

Representatives of the Russian school of Byzantology treated Manuel with a restrained feeling. A. A. Vasiliev considered Manuil’s complete inattention to the eastern border to be a miscalculation, in return he directed forces and resources to an unsuccessful policy in Italy and Hungary. In addition, the active involvement of foreigners subsequently played a sad role in the further fate of Byzantium.

In contrast to Vasiliev, German historians positively assessed the Westernization of Manuel Komnenos. They pointed to his knightly nature, although they recognized the impossibility of restoring the former greatness of the empire. For example, K. Dietrich supports the reforms carried out by Basileus internal management, as well as the recruitment of Europeans

Manuel I. Hyperpyron, gold.

Manuel I Komnenos - Byzantine emperor from April 5, 1143, the emperor's youngest son John II and a Hungarian princess. Born about 1123 in Constantinople, died September 24, 1180, ibid. He relied on the Komnenos family, as well as on provincial small and medium landowners and provincial cities. He contributed to the strengthening of feudal land ownership: according to the decrees of 1158 and 1170, only members of the synclite and stratiots could acquire land. Attracted to the service of foreigners, including Turkish, warriors. In 1158 he banned temples and monasteries expand their holdings. He freed the empire from the dominance of the Venetian merchants, carrying out mass arrests of Venetian merchants in March 1171; entered into an alliance directed against Venice with Genoa in 1169 and Pisa in 1170. Manuel I unsuccessfully tried to restore Byzantine rule in Italy and Egypt. Supported Yuri Dolgoruky in the struggle for the throne of Kiev. He led successful wars that led to the recognition by Hungary in 1164 and Serbia in 1172 of Byzantine sovereignty. On September 17, 1176, he was defeated by the Seljuks at Miriokefalon in Asia Minor, after which he was forced to cede to them the fortresses of Dorilei and Sublei. This emperor had great interest in predicting the future and even personally wrote a treatise in defense of astrology, loved feasts and entertainment in a Western manner. The favorite pastimes of the Byzantine court in his time were jousting, hunting, and playing polo. In his personal life, Manuel was intemperate in relations with women; he was indifferent to his first wife, Irina (Berta), and did not honor her with any honors and virtues. The second marriage was combined with Mary Xenia of Antioch. At the same time, he maintained intimate relations with his niece Theodora, who gave birth to a son from him, had many novels with other beautiful ladies of his court.

Byzantine Dictionary: in 2 volumes / [ comp. Tot. Ed. K.A. Filatov]. St. Petersburg: Amphora. TID Amphora: RKhGA: Oleg Abyshko Publishing House, 2011, v. 2, p.21-22.

Manuel I Komnenos (1118-1180). John II left his fourth son, Manuel, to succeed him. It was a good choice: Manuel, not forgetting the need for rapprochement with the West (he married two Latin princesses in succession), at the same time pursued an active policy in the East. In 1159 he solemnly entered Antioch. Having subjugated and charmed the rulers of the Latin states of the East, he became the protector of the king of Jerusalem. However, Manuel forgot about the existence of the Turkish Iconian Sultanate, and when he finally decided to do this in 1176, he was defeated at Myriokephalon. He also tried to weaken the dominance of the Venetians, ordering in 1171 to carry out their arrests throughout the empire. The brilliance of his policy, the intellectual outburst in the capital and some cities of the province, could not hide the fact that after the death of Manuel in 1180, the empire was significantly weakened.

Byzantium / Michel Kaplan. - M. : Veche, 2011. p. 401.

Manuel I Komnenos (Manoynl o Komnnnos; 1123 - 24.IX.1180) - Byzantine emperor from 1143. He relied on provincial small and medium feudal lords and on provincial cities; distributed land and peasants to feudal lords, including foreign knights. He tried to limit church land ownership and the excursion of monasteries. He sought to stop the penetration of the Venetian merchants into Byzantium (mass arrests of Venetian merchants on March 12, 1171); in the fight against Venice, he concluded an alliance with Genoa (1169) and Pisa (1170). Manuel unsuccessfully tried to restore Byzantine power in Italy and Egypt, supported Yuri Dolgoruky in the struggle for the throne. He forced Hungary (1164) and Serbia (1172) to recognize the sovereignty of Byzantium, but in the East he was defeated by the Seljuks at Miriokefalon on September 17, 1176.

A. P. Kazhdan. Moscow.

Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 9. MALTA - NAKHIMOV. 1966.

Manuel I Komnenos Byzantine emperor, who ruled from 1143-1180. A son John II .

Genus. OK. 1118 + 24 sects. 1180

Manuil's childhood and youth were spent in military campaigns, in which he participated with his father. He was the youngest of the four sons of the emperor and could hardly count on the throne. But it so happened that his two older brothers died of a fever, and the next after them - Isaac - suffered from shameful cowardice and was afraid of any noise. Manuel, on the contrary, was a brave warrior, undaunted in dangers, and resolute in battles. His face was pleasant and attractive. Therefore, no one was surprised that, dying under Anazarv, John, bypassing Isaac. handed over the throne to his younger son (Choniates: 2; 1; 1-2).

According to Choniates, the emperor was a good-natured man, had a simple soul and an ingenuous heart. He easily gave himself into the hands of the eunuchs who were at the women's quarters, and flawlessly fulfilled all their requests. When time called him to work, he endured hardships with extraordinary patience, endured the cold and withstood the heat. When he was free from war, he liked to live for his own pleasure. He was eloquent and did not shy away from theological studies (Choniates: 2; 7; 3.5). He had a very sharp mind. Kinnam writes that in conversations with the sovereign, he often offered him many of the most difficult Aristotelian questions and saw that he solved them easily and naturally. Similarly, much that Aristotle's writings remained unrevealed, he explained with surprising simplicity (Kinnam: 6; 13). In the first years of his reign, Manuel seemed to be a sea of ​​generosity, an abyss of mercy, he was accessible and friendly. But with age, he began to manage affairs himself, and treated his subordinates not as free people, but as wage-slaves. Over the years, he greatly reduced the flow of charity and did this primarily because military spending increased. His reign was filled with countless campaigns: since the time of Justinian the Great, the empire had not waged so many wars of conquest. Soon after his accession, Sultan Masut ravaged the eastern regions of the empire. Manuel opposed him, defeated the Turks, who were devastating Thraces, and drove them all the way to Nikonia. The emperor was then distracted by Western affairs.

In 1147, the crusaders passed through the lands of the empire for the second time. Relations between them and the Romans were even more hostile than in the time of Alexei 1. Manuel himself tried to harm the knights and ordered his subjects to inflict all kinds of evil on them (Choniates: 2; 1; 3-5). Then the war began with the Sicilian king Roger. The Normans captured Corfu, plundered Corinth and Thebes, devastated Euboea. Manuel, having gathered a fleet of almost a thousand ships and countless troops, wanted to attack the invaders (Choniates: 2; 2; 1). But when he reached Philippolis, he heard that the Polovtsy had crossed the Danube and were plundering everything that they met on the way. Manuel turned his troops to the Danube, and ordered his fleet to sail there. The Polovtsy had already managed to leave the empire with rich booty, but the Romans overtook them across the Danube and won a brilliant victory (Kinnam: 3; 1). Following this, Manuel, as he had intended, arrived in Corfu and, after a stubborn siege, took possession of the fortress there. With the whole army, he crossed to Avlon, and from there he appointed a campaign to Sicily. The abundance of troops gave hope for the success of the expedition, but the Roman fleet was stopped by strong winds and a terrible storm. In deep darkness, the ships scattered in different directions. Then Manuel refused for a while from the expedition to Sicily and decided with a small part of the army to start a war against the Serbs. He assumed that they would not dare to oppose him. But the Serbs, having received help from the Hungarians, fought courageously, and the victory did not go to the Romans without bloodshed. The emperor himself fought with the archizhupan Vakhin and took him prisoner. When success was achieved here, Manuel went against the Hungarians, invaded their borders, took many prisoners, captured rich booty, and returned in triumph to Constantinople. Meanwhile, in 1154, Michael Palaiologos landed in southern Italy. He captured Vari and in a short time conquered almost all of Apulia and Calabria. But soon he died. Other commanders who took command after his death began to suffer one setback after another. The attempt of the Romans in 1157 to seize Brundisium ended in complete failure. Since huge expenses devastated the treasury, Manuel considered it best to make peace with the Normans (Choniates: 2; 2; 5-8). Thus, although the war in Italy reminded the European peoples of the former power and greatness of the Romans, it did not bring any benefit to the empire. After making peace with Roger, Manuel announced a campaign against Hungary, but peace was soon concluded here too.

In 1158 the emperor went to the East. Having terrified Thorus, the ruler of Cilician Armenia, Manuel approached Antioch (Choniates: 2; 3; 1): To avert danger from himself, Prince Renald went out to meet the emperor barefoot, with a bare head and a rope around his neck. Manuel was touched by his appearance and forgave all sins (Kinnam: 4; 18). The alliance with the crusaders was soon sealed by marriage: in 1161, Manuel married the daughter of the former prince of Antioch, the young and beautiful princess Mary (Choniates: 2; 3; 5).

Then the Hungarian war resumed. Manuel moved towards Zeugmin. The Hungarians, lining up on the high bank of the Danube, tried to prevent the crossing of the Romans, but the arrows and heavy infantry drove them out of the coastal places. The emperor besieged Zevgmin and, in order to arouse jealousy in his subordinates, the first drove up to the gate and plunged a spear into them. With huge stones fired from stone-throwers, the Romans destroyed the wall and, bursting inside, took possession of the city (Choniates: 2; 4; 3). In July 1167, Andronicus Kondostefan utterly defeated the Hungarians in a big battle near Zemlin. According to the peace treaty, all the disputed territories in Croatia and Dalmatia with many rich cities went to the empire. Then the Serbian zhupan Stefan Neeman was pacified. Manuel could be proud - the Roman state had not known such power for many centuries. But just as in the time of Justinian, foreign policy successes were achieved through excessive exertion of internal forces (Choniates: 2; 5; 1-3). The Romans, according to Choniates, showered ridicule on Manuel because he proudly harbored unrealizable desires, stretched out his eyes to the ends of the earth, and did what only a hothead could dare to do. He really went far beyond the boundaries set by the former sovereigns, and wasted the money he collected, exhausting his subjects with unusual taxes and requisitions. He not only ruined the provinces, but also upset the army, as he was very sparingly allocating money for soldiers (Choniates: 2; 7; 2, 4). Military failures that began to haunt the emperor in last years his reign, further broke the forces of the state.

In 1168, immoderate love of popularity prompted Manuel, in alliance with the Jerusalem king Amalrich, to start a war against Egypt. But the siege of Damietta ended in nothing, and the Romans retreated, abandoning all their siege engines (Choniates: 2; 5.4). In 1176, Manuel launched a grandiose campaign against the Turks. Having rebuilt the fortresses of Dorivlei and Suvlei, he ordered the army to move straight to Iconium. His path lay through the Ivritsky gorges. It was an elongated valley running between high mountains. Assuming to advance such a dangerous road, Manuel did not take care in advance to clear this passage for the army. When his army deepened into the valley, and some detachments had already passed it, the Turks, descending from the peaks, attacked the Romans' marching column in large numbers, tore it apart in many places and staged a terrible massacre. The emperor rushed to the enemies with a few soldiers who were with him, and left everyone else to save himself, as best they could. Covered with many wounds, in broken armor, with a shield into which about 30 arrows were stuck, he alone made his way through the enemy line and left the gorge. A cataphract who met by chance brought Manuel to the camp of Laparda, who with his regiments managed to pass through the gorge before the attack of the Turks. Choniates writes that, having finally reached his own, the emperor scooped up water from the river and drank a few sips. Noticing that the water mixed with the blood of the dead, he wept and said that, unfortunately, he had tasted Christian blood. One of the nearby Romans exclaimed in response: “Not only now and not for the first time, but for a long time and often, and to the point of intoxication, and without admixture, you drink the cup of Christian blood, plucking and plucking your subjects, as they pluck a field or pluck a vine” . Manuel endured this blasphemy so indifferently, as if he had not heard anything and as if he had not been offended. When night fell, he decided to run away, leaving the army. But as soon as he expressed his plan to the nearest commanders, they were horrified, especially Kondostefan. The emperor remained, although he understood the helplessness of his position. Indeed, the Turks surrounded the camp and could complete the defeat of the Romans, but the Sultan, touched by the misfortune of Manuel, offered peace on the terms of the destruction of Dorilea and Suvlei. Having signed a peace treaty and having reached his possessions, Manuel destroyed Suvlei, and left Dorilea intact. When the sultan sent an embassy to remind him of the conditions of peace, the emperor replied that he paid little attention to the words spoken out of necessity and did not want to hear about the destruction of Dorilea. Then the Turks resumed the war and began to terribly devastate the Asian lands to the sea. Finally, Manuel attacked them while crossing the Menander and inflicted a heavy defeat (Choniates: 2; 6; 1-7).

Towards the end of his life, the emperor lost interest in politics and became interested in astrology instead (Dashkov: ""). Before his death, he took the vows as a monk (Choniates: 2; 7; 7).

All the monarchs of the world. Ancient Greece. Ancient Rome. Byzantium. Konstantin Ryzhov. Moscow, 2001.

Dashkov S.B. "anuel Komnenos"

Manuel I Komnenos (c. 1118 - 1180, imp. from 1143)

Vasilevs Manuel I, who raised and then destroyed the power of the Roman Empire, was an outstanding person already outwardly. Fair-haired, like all Komnenos, and very handsome, he, the son of a Magyar princess, was distinguished by such dark skin that once the Venetians, after a quarrel with the Greeks during the siege of Corfu, mocking Manuel, put a Negro discharged under the emperor’s galley and drove him under the clownish doxology.

Manuel I was an outspoken "Westernizer", in character and habits more reminiscent of a knight than a Greek basileus. A lover of cheerful feasts, tournaments, music, a gourmet and a gallant cavalier, he seemed to people who knew him superficially, an aimless waster of life.

From a young age, Manuel Komnenos was distinguished by unusual militancy, but in battle he was better at controlling his spear than an entire army. An unpretentious man, he could sleep on the ground and eat on a par with the warriors the most unrefined food.

Physically, he was quite strong. Once, invited to participate in a tournament in Antioch, the emperor with a blow of a spear knocked a knight out of the saddle with such power that he, having flown out, knocked down another from his horse, to the considerable surprise of the crusaders. Another time, already in a real battle, Manuel caught a Turkish archer by the hair by the hair and brought him to the camp.

Komnenos was good at not only the sword, but also the pen, wrote a treatise in defense of astrology, knew surgery well. At the end of the 60s. In the 12th century, when planning a church union (this idea failed due to the general hostility of the Greeks to the "schismatic" Latins), Manuel argued in public disputes with Patriarch Michael III. At the court of Vasileus in honor were learned people- such as Metropolitan of Athens Michael Choniates, his brother historian Nikita, Metropolitan of Thessaloniki (Thessalonica) Eustathius and others.

In the capital, the emperor built many majestic buildings.

Manuel dreamed of the revival of the great Roman Empire. At the same time, dreams did not prevent him from being a sober politician and diplomat. Widely attracting Western merchants to Byzantium (after the death of Basileus, there were about sixty thousand Catholics in Constantinople) and mercenaries, Manuel never forgot about their danger to the empire. 1) . “He was very afraid of numerous Western peoples. These, he said, are arrogant, indomitable and eternally bloodthirsty people ”(Khon.,). Perhaps it was precisely the desire to prevent the onslaught of the Western powers that explained his stubborn attempts to subjugate Italy.

Vasilevs transformed the courts and the army. Manuel's cataphracts in armament approached the western knights, whom he preferred to the Romans and compared with "steel cauldrons", as opposed to the Greeks - "clay pots".

Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveler who visited Constantinople about that time, made the most unflattering description of the armed forces of Byzantium: “For the war with the Turkish sultan, they [Greeks] hire people from various nations, since they do not have military courage: they are like women, who lack the power of military resistance. Nikita Choniates wrote with displeasure about the pro-Niarist squads of Manuel and the methods of recruiting and maintaining them: “It is customary for the Romans ... to give salaries to the soldiers and make them frequent reviews to see if they are well armed and take proper care of the horses , and people who re-enter military service should be tested in advance whether they are healthy and strong in body, whether they know how to shoot and wield a spear, and then add them to the military lists. But this king collected all the money that was supposed to go to the maintenance of the soldiers to his treasuries, like water to a pond, and quenched the thirst of the troops with the so-called gift offerings of the townsfolk, taking advantage of a business invented by former kings and only occasionally allowed for soldiers, who often smashed the enemies. Through this, without noticing it himself, he weakened the army, and transferred the abyss of money into idle wombs, and led the Roman provinces into a bad position. With this order of things, the best warriors lost the competition in danger, because what prompted them to show military prowess was no longer, as before, something special ... but became available to everyone. And the inhabitants of the provinces, who previously dealt with only the state treasury, suffered the greatest oppression from the insatiable greed of the soldiers, who not only took away their silver and obols, but also took off their last shirt ... That's why everyone wanted to be among the soldiers [proniari. - S.D.], and some, having said goodbye to the needle, because it hardly delivered meager means of subsistence, others, having given up going after horses, others, having washed brick dirt, and others, having cleaned the blacksmith's soot from themselves, came to recruiters and, having presented them with a Persian horse or a few gold coins, they were enlisted without any test in the regiments, immediately supplied with royal letters and received tithes of irrigated land, fruitful fields and taxable Romans, who were supposed to serve them as slaves. However, another contemporary of the emperor, Eustathius of Thessalonica, praised his military innovations, and describing the diplomatic skills of Manuil (who followed the traditional Roman principle of “divide and conquer”), did not hide admiration: “Who knew how to crush the enemies of one by means of another with such inimitable art, to prepare for us an undisturbed peace and a longed-for silence. .. so the tsarist policy raised the Turk against the Turk and we sang the solemn anthem of the world; so the Scythians destroyed the Scythians, and we enjoyed peace ... Language cannot name a people that it would not use to our advantage. Some settled in our land as colonists, while others, taking advantage of the gracious grants abundantly squandered by royal generosity, entered the service of the state because of the salary and began to consider foreign land as their fatherland ... He transferred to the Roman state, for the sake of protecting it, many military people from among our inveterate enemies, instilled our gentleness in their savagery and formed such a suitable fruit that could only grow in God's garden.

With the transfer of power to Manuel, Byzantium seemed to have returned to the policy of the sword, memorable from the time of John Tzimisces and Basil the Bulgar Slayer. Moreover, in internal affairs, this emperor largely followed their path. Fearing the centrifugal aspirations of large provincial magnates, he twice - in 1158 and 1170 - forbade anyone to acquire land, except for the stratiotes and members of the synclite. In 1158, the action was resumed famous short story Nicephorus Foki against the increase in monastic lands. The church, terrified by the sovereign's temper (only in the first ten years of his reign, Manuel replaced five patriarchs), did not even try to protest.

Manuel's foreign policy was extremely aggressive. Vasilevs the knight did not miss the opportunity to show the neighbors the power of Byzantium, sometimes not even caring about the pretext. The first to feel the consequences of the imperial wrath was the prince of Antioch, Raymond. In 1143, he organized an attack on the rich cities of Cilicia, hoping that the young king, who did not even have time to be crowned, would save, and the prince would get away with the raid. But the hastily sent legions of the empire thwarted all attempts by the Antiochians to establish themselves in the disputed area. Raymond, obeying the demand of the basil, went to Constantinople and repented of his unsuccessful adventure over the tomb of John II.

In 1147, the Polovtsy crossed the Danube and occupied the Demnichik fortress. Manuel sent a Byzantine fleet upriver, but the nomads left. The Greeks overtook them not far from the Galician land and defeated them. The steppe people learned a good lesson, and now only the rumor about the approach of Manuel's army forced the Polovtsy to turn back their carts and hide in the endless steppes of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, and after 1160 their raids stopped altogether.

The II Crusade, which was then underway, prevented the emperor from finally destroying the Polovtsian threat. This time the soldiers of Christ were led by the French king Louis VII and the German emperor Conrad III. As before, the crusaders, moving through Thrace, devastated and plundered the Greek lands, and came to open clashes with the troops of the Byzantine emperor. Manuel offered Conrad, who was ahead of Louis, to cross the Hellespont, bypassing Constantinople, but the obstinate German chose the path through the Bosphorus. The French followed him. Not wanting to endure the concentration of Western knights in the capital, the Greeks started a rumor about the alleged victories of the Germans in Asia Minor, and Louis and his barons, fearing to be late for the division of booty, hurried to the East. In fact, the Germans suffered several defeats, followed by the French. The crusade ended in 1149 with an unsuccessful attempt by Conrad, together with the knights of Jerusalem, to take Damascus. The mistakes of the crusaders strengthened the position of Manuel, and he managed to get several fortresses to be transferred from the Turks to Byzantium.

In 1147, as a result of a major popular uprising, the island of Corfu was set aside from the empire. For two years, the combined Byzantine-Venetian fleet tried unsuccessfully to take possession of the island. Quarrels between the allies led to armed clashes between the Greeks and Italians. Only the arrival of the emperor himself after the defeat of the Polovtsy, who managed to smooth out the contradictions, made it possible in August 1149 to suppress the rebellion and subordinate the island to the throne of Constantinople.

From the 50s. In the 12th century, Vasilevs began to pay the most attention to Europe. First, he brought the Serbs, who had lost the habit of control from Constantinople, to the obedience, and then the emperor, in whose veins Hungarian blood flowed, started a war against King Geyza II of Hungary. Manuel's intervention in the affairs of this state did not stop for a decade and a half. On July 8, 1167, the commander of the empire Andronicus Kondostefan won a decisive victory over the "Ugrians" near Zemlin. As a result, the disputed territories - Croatia and Dalmatia with many cities - fell under the rule of the Romans for several decades.

In 1154 Komnenos began fighting in Italy. But the strategist Constantine Angel, who led the campaign on the Apennine Peninsula, was captured, and the German king Frederick Barbarossa, contrary to earlier agreements, was not going to raise his sword against the Normans. Left without an ally, Manuel began to act at his own peril and risk. In 1156 - 1157. Byzantine commanders Michael Palaiologos and John Doukas, using weapons and bribery in equal measure, took many cities from the Normans, including Bari and Trani. However, appointed after the death of Palaiologos, Alexei Bryennius lost several battles, and soon he himself was captured by the Normans, along with John Doukas. The domestik Aleksei Aksukh, sent to Italy, failed to achieve an advantage; in 1157, the attempt of the Greeks to seize Brindisi ended in failure.

The Italian campaign exhausted the treasury, huge human losses caused an increase in dissatisfaction with the emperor. Manuel abruptly changed course, reconciled with the Normans and even made an alliance with them against Frederick Barbarossa. Through diplomatic measures, Komnenos achieved significant success.

Leaving Italy, the emperor rushed to the East. In 1158-1159. he made a campaign in Armenian Cilicia, and its ruler recognized himself as a vassal of the empire. The Antioch prince Reno, as a sign of humility, appeared in the camp of Basileus with a rope around his neck, the Jerusalem king Baldwin III asked for Manuel's protection, and the latter's successor Amalrich declared Byzantium the suzerain of the kingdom. In 1161, the emperor sealed the treaties with the crusaders by his marriage to Mary, daughter of the late Raymond of Antioch.

In 1168 Andronicus Kondostefan and King Amalrich laid siege to Damietta. The hardships of the war, the disgusting supplies provided by the Jerusalemites, and their frank unwillingness to fight forced the Romans to lift the siege. Exhausted soldiers, barely hearing about the order, threw down their weapons, burned the siege engines and, sitting on the oars, without any formation and order, led the ships home through the stormy sea.

Manuil put on the throne of Raska zhupan Stefan Nemanya, and he ceded some disputed territories to the Romans. Five years later, he rebelled, but, subjugated, took an oath of allegiance to the emperor for the second time and remained faithful to her until the end of the latter's life.

At the beginning of 1176 the emperor started a campaign against the possessions of the Seljuks. Having rebuilt the fortresses of Dorilea and Suvlei, he ordered the army to move straight to Iconium. On September 17, Manuel's huge army marched past the ruins of Myriokefal Castle, heading east along the mountain roads. The column, which included a large convoy of supplies and siege equipment, stretched for many kilometers. The rearguard was separated from the avant-garde by four hours on foot. In the center, protecting the convoy, were mercenaries led by the imperial brother-in-law Baldwin and the best regiments of the Greek heavy cavalry. The forward detachments were led by John and Andronicus Angels, as well as one of the most successful generals of the Basil, the brave Andronicus Laparda. The rear was covered by the megaduk Kondostefan. In the middle of the day the army reached the klisura of Tsivritsa. The emperor, relying on the Turks' fear of such a powerful army, did not properly take care of reconnaissance. And then, quite unexpectedly, along the entire length of the Roman column from the tops of the surrounding rocks, the main forces of Kylich-Arslan hit from ambushes. Taken by surprise, the Greeks began to fight courageously.

The Turks cut Manuel's army into three parts. Kondostefan managed to turn back the rearguard, which was entrenched on the plain in front of the entrance to the gorge, and the head of the army under the command of Laparda managed to escape. The main part of the army, selected units, mercenaries, guards, headquarters and a huge number of unarmed workers of the convoy and vehicles were beaten in a narrow gorge, where it was impossible even to form detachments for battle. In vain Baldwin threw his western men-at-arms into desperate attacks - almost all of the mercenaries, along with the commander, perished under clouds of arrows. In vain did Manuel himself call in a loud voice to his banner of cataphracts - in the confusion all the threads of control of the dying army were lost. “And then the ox fell from the Persian arrow, and beside him the spirit and the driver gave up. The horse and the rider fell to the ground together ... Blood mixed with blood, the blood of people - with the blood of animals ”(Chon.,). The main blow was taken by the detachments of the basil's guard. The fighters kicked up clouds of dust, the battle on both sides turned into a dump. Unable to in any way influence the course of the battle in teams, the emperor fought like a simple cavalry. Before the eyes of the king, the army was destroyed, his relatives and best friends were dying.

By evening, the emperor was left alone, without a banner and bodyguards. Three dozen arrows stuck out in the shield of the basileus, with a frozen hand he squeezed a piece of a spear and was beaten with swords and clubs to such an extent that he could not independently correct the helmet that had moved to the side. Some Turk recognized Manuel by sight, seized his horse by the bridle and led him into captivity. The emperor woke up and hit the enemy on the head with the shaft so that he fell down dead. A cataphract who accidentally met brought the sovereign to the fortified camp of Laparda. Wanting to drink, the exhausted Manuel scooped up water from the stream, but after the first sips he vomited - the water flowed in half with blood. The emperor could not stand it and sobbed, cursing the day on which he happened to drink Christian blood. A certain warrior in response burst out with reproaches that he had been drinking the blood of the Romans for a long time, ruining them with wars, and now - retribution. Manuel didn't answer. Unprecedented courage Manuel was broken, he ordered a fresh horse and decided to flee. Hearing this, the warriors began to noisily revile the emperor, through whose fault they were trapped. Komnenos came to his senses and stayed.

The Byzantines sold their lives dearly: the Seljuks, completely drained of blood, could not continue the battle. In the morning, Kylich-Arslan agreed to peace, demanding only that the fortifications of Dorilea and Suvlei be demolished. In the afternoon, Manuel led the retreat to the site of yesterday’s battle: “The spectacle that presented itself to the eyes was worthy of tears, or, rather, the evil was so great that it was impossible to mourn: ditches filled to the top with corpses, whole hills of the dead in the ravines, mountains of the dead in the bushes ; all the corpses were scalped, and many had their reproductive parts cut out. They say that this was done so that it would be impossible to distinguish a Christian from a Turk, so that all the bodies seemed to be Greek, for many fell on the part of the Turks. No one passed without tears and groans, everyone sobbed, naming their dead friends and relatives by name ”(Khon.).

The defeat at Miriokefal, which carried away the flower of the army, undermined the dominance of the Byzantines in Asia Minor, the conquests of the first two Komnenos went to waste. On the eastern borders, the empire could now only defend itself.

On May 29, 1176, in the battle of Legnano, the combined army of the pope, the Sicilian king and the Italian cities defeated the forces of Frederick Barbarossa. The following year, a congress met in Venice, at which the embassies of the warring parties managed to reach an understanding. The disagreements on which the Byzantine emperor played for so many years no longer existed. The Italian policy of Byzantium was at an impasse, the Venetian congress dealt Manuel I a blow comparable to the defeat at Miriokefal.

After these two difficult events, Manuel I, Emperor of Hungary, Croatian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Khazar, Gothic (so many honorary titles he appropriated to himself in commemoration of the victories of Roman weapons), was broken. For so many years, his power has been straining its forces, spending money in difficult wars - and all in vain! Now it was no longer about the revival of the world empire, but about the salvation of the overstrained Byzantium.

Towards the end of his life, the emperor lost interest in politics and became interested in astrology instead of it to such an extent that somehow, while waiting for the calculated collision of two stars, he ordered, as a precaution, to remove the frames with glasses from the palace windows so that they would not break from the concussion. He died in Constantinople on September 24, 1180. “With the death of Basileus Manuel Komnenos,” Eustathius of Thessalonica mourned, “everything that remained intact among the Romans perished, and all our land was enveloped in darkness, as if during an eclipse of the Sun.”

Notes

1) Latins in the service of the empire under Manuel I, as a rule, did not occupy high positions either in the army or in civil administration.

Used materials of the book: Dashkov S.B. Emperors of Byzantium. M., 1997, p. 249-255.

Read further:

Patriarchs of Constantinople(biographical guide).

Nikita Choniates History beginning with the reign of John Komnenos. St. Petersburg, printing house of Grigory Trusov. 1860.

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos

(1123? - 1180), Byzantine emperor from 1143, from the Komnenos dynasty. Forced Hungary (1164), Serbia (1172) to recognize the sovereignty of Byzantium. In 1176 he was defeated by the Seljuks at Miriokefalon (in the west of Asia Minor).

MANUIL I Komnenos (1118 - September 24, 1180), Byzantine emperor from the Komnenos dynasty (cm. COMNINES), ruled from April 8, 1143. Manuel was the youngest son of John II (cm. JOHN II Komnenos) and his father chose him as his heir. His long reign saw the last rise in the glory and power of the Byzantine Empire on the eve of the catastrophe of 1204.
Manuel was an outstanding and versatile personality, distinguished by military prowess and a cheerful disposition, he knew how to attract the sympathy of people. Like all Komnenos, he was no stranger to literary education and liked to participate in theological disputes. At the same time, he gravitated toward Western culture, his court absorbed many Latin features, including the organization of tournaments, and among his inner circle there were many immigrants from the West.
Manuel was the first of the Komnenos to shift the center of gravity of Byzantine politics to the West. His initial plans included the conquest of southern Italy, but the plans of the emperor went much further, up to the unification of the East and West of the Christian world under his rule. These ideas determined relations with Western sovereigns, German emperors, and the papacy. The events of the Second Crusade (1147-49) caused Manuel a lot of anxiety, since some Western leaders saw the reasons for the failure of the campaign in opposition to the empire. The possible threat of the Latin world prompted Manuel to even more active actions in Europe. In 1159, he launched an invasion of Italy, actively intervened in the struggle of the German Empire and the northern Italian cities on the side of the latter, tried to achieve an alliance with the pope, for which the question of uniting the Churches was repeatedly raised in the capital. The position of Byzantium in the Balkans was significantly strengthened by the recognition of its sovereignty over Hungary and Serbia (1167). Equally high was the authority of Manuel at the courts of the crusading sovereigns of the Middle East, who recognized him as their lord.
The brilliant empire of Manuel Comnenus, however, was on the verge of a severe crisis. Distribution of pronia (cm. PRONIA), which at one time allowed the consolidation of the ruling strata to be achieved, by the end of his reign, increased the tendency towards decentralization. According to the decrees of 1158 and 1170, only members of the synclite and stratiotes could acquire land; monasteries were then forbidden to expand their possessions. At the same time, the Komnenos did not want the pronia to be turned into hereditary possessions and increased state taxes on them, causing dissatisfaction with the proniarii. A powerful stratum of archons, large landowners, who had grown up in the provinces, no longer aspired to dominance in Constantinople, preferring independence from it.
In the capital, the emperor was criticized for encouraging foreigners, showing them a clear preference over his own subjects. The long-standing trade privileges of the Venetians, on the one hand, increased the importation of cheaper Italian goods, on the other hand, facilitated the transition into their hands of the Eastern Mediterranean trade. Manuel tried to weaken the position of Venice by granting similar privileges to Genoa (1169) and Pisa (1170); the massacre of the Italians in Constantinople on March 12, 1171, which temporarily freed the capital from the dominance of foreigners in the economy, only exacerbated the crisis in relations between Byzantium and the West.
At the same time, the Iconian Sultanate was strengthening on the eastern borders of the empire. (cm. KONY SULTANATE). The policy of the first Komnenos, aimed at gradually ousting the Turks from the central regions of Asia Minor, was not a priority for Manuel due to his enthusiasm for Western affairs. Treaty concluded in 1161 with the Seljuks (cm. Seljuks), accompanied by the arrival of Sultan Kylych-Arslan to Constantinople, was rather beneficial to the Turks, since it gave them the opportunity to arrange and strengthen their state. The catastrophic defeat of Byzantium at Miriokefal (1176) was an inevitable consequence of allowing Turkish expansion in the East. Already a few years after the death of the emperor, the reality was such that it fully justified the words of the famous rhetorician Eustathius of Thessalonica: “it seems that in the Divine Council it was determined that with the death of Tsar Manuel the structure of the Roman kingdom would collapse, and that with the sunset of this sun an impenetrable haze would cover us” .

encyclopedic Dictionary . 2009 .

See what "Manuel I Komnenos" is in other dictionaries:

Wikipedia has articles about other people with the name Manuel. Manuel I Komnenos Greek. Μανουήλ Α Κομνηνός ... Wikipedia

Manuel II the Great Komnenos Μανουήλ Β΄ Μέγας Κομνηνός 11th Emperor of Trebizond 1232 Predecessor: Andronicus III the Great Komnenos ... Wikipedia

Byzantine emperor who ruled from 1143 to 1180. Son of John II. Genus. OK. 1118, d. 24 Sept. 1180 Manuel spent his childhood and youth in military campaigns in which he participated with his father. He was the youngest of four sons... ... All the monarchs of the world

- (1123? - 1180), Byzantine emperor c 1143, from the Komnenos dynasty. Forced Hungary (1164), Serbia (1172) to recognize the sovereignty of Byzantium. In 1176 he was defeated by the Seljuks at Miriokefalon (in the west of Asia Minor) ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Manuel 1 Komnenos

(or Emmanuel) - Byzantine emperor (1143-80). Having found finances and an army in excellent condition, he made two trips to Asia Minor to protect the Byzantine possessions from the attacks of the Iconian Turks, and made a favorable peace with the Turks. Upon returning imp. Conrad 3 from Palestine (after the 2nd crusade), Manuel Komnenos made an alliance with him for a joint struggle against the Sicilian king Roger II. The struggle with Roger, who devastated Corinth, Euboea and Thebes in 1147 and took possession of Corfu, ended with the return of Corfu and the defeat of the Norman fleet. After an unsuccessful attempt to attack Italy, M. was busy with wars with the Dalmatians and Serbs. Around 1150, the Serbs recognized themselves as vassals of Manuel Komnenos; the struggle with the Hungarians dragged on until the end of the sixties, leading to the conquest by the Byzantines of the Hungarian part of Dalmatia and several Hungarian cities. Resuming, after the death of Roger, the fight against the Sicilians, Manuel 1 subjugated a significant part of the southeast. Italy (Brindisi and Bari), but in 1156 the new Sicilian king William inflicted a terrible defeat on the Byzantines near Brindisi, which deprived Manuel of all his acquisitions in Italy. In an effort to acquire political supremacy in the west, M. took care of an alliance with the Italian maritime cities (Venice, Genoa, Pisa), conducted first diplomatic relations, and then fought with Frederick Barbarossa, defended Pope Alexander III against him and restored the latter to the papal throne. The pope, however, soon abandoned the alliance with M.; after several cases of apparent violation of the requirements of M. by the Venetians who lived in the empire, Manuel in 1170 ordered the arrest of all the Venetians who were in the empire and confiscate their property. Although the attempts of the Venetians to attack the islands of the Archipelago and provoke the Serbian great zhupan Stefan Peshan against Byzantium did not lead to significant results, nevertheless, in the mid-seventies M. - probably fearing an alliance concluded by the Venetians with the Sicilian king - entered into negotiations with Venice, returned her former trade privileges and paid a huge sum to compensate for the losses suffered by her from the confiscation. In the East, M., in alliance with the Jerusalem king, was going to conquer Egypt; the campaign undertaken for this purpose ended unsuccessfully. The broad plans of M., which had nothing to do with the urgent need of the empire - the protection of borders against the Slavs in Europe and the Turks in Asia - depleted the means of the empire, led to the strengthening of the influence of the "Latins" (i.e. e. app. immigrants) and caused by the end of the reign of M. strong displeasure and anti-Western reaction in Byzantium. In the autumn of 1176, M. moved against the Turks to Asia Minor, but at Miriokefal, not far from Iconium, in the gorges, where he entered without any caution, he suffered a terrible defeat; the Byzantines were "beaten like lambs in a barn", M. himself was wounded, almost captured and concluded a peace treaty with the Iconian sultan, by which he was obliged to tear down two fortresses that he had recently renewed in Asia Minor in order to restrain the onslaught of the Turks. Failure to comply with this obligation regarding one of the fortresses led to new attacks by the Turks, who devastated the valley of the river. Meander and went almost to the Archipelago. This further strengthened the negative attitude towards M. policy. knight, led to the complete depletion of the funds of the government and the people and to the complete insecurity of the state from external enemies. This explains the sharp turn in Byzantine politics that occurred after the death of M. See Komnenos.