* 1203 – Isaac II Angelos, restored Eastern Roman Emperor, declares his son Alexios IV Angelos co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.

However, this situation changed drastically when Alexios ' first son John II Komnenos was born in 1087: Anna's engagement to Constantine was dissolved, and she was moved to the main Palace to live with her mother and grandmother.

By him she was the grandmother of Emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos.

Alexios II Komnenos or Alexius II Comnenus () ( 10 September 1169 – 24 September 1183, Constantinople ), Byzantine emperor ( 1180 – 1183 ), was the son of Emperor Manuel I Komnenos and Maria, daughter of Raymond, prince of Antioch.

The Empire in 1180 A. D when Alexios II became EmperorOn Manuel's death in 1180, Maria, who became a nun under the name Xene, took the position of regent ( according to some historians ).

She excluded her young son from power, entrusting it instead to Alexios the prōtosebastos ( a cousin of Alexios II ), who was popularly believed to be her lover.

Friends of the young Alexios II now tried to form a party against the empress mother and the prōtosebastos ; Alexios II's half-sister Maria, wife of Caesar John ( Renier of Montferrat ), stirred up riots in the streets of the capital.

He allowed Alexios II to be crowned, but was responsible for the death of most of the young emperor's actual or potential defenders, including his mother, his half-sister and the Caesar, and refused to allow him the smallest voice in public affairs.

The betrothal in 1180 of Alexios II to Agnes of France, daughter of Louis VII of France and his third wife Adèle of Champagne and at the time a child of nine, had not apparently been followed by their marriage.

Andronikos was now formally proclaimed as co-emperor before the crowd on the terrace of the Church of Christ of the Chalkè, and not long afterwards, on the pretext that divided rule was injurious to the Empire, he caused Alexios II to be strangled with a bow-string ( October 1183 ).

The novel describes the events of the reigns of Manuel I, Alexios II and Andronikos I through the eyes of Agnes.

cs: Alexios II.

de: Alexios II.

nl: Alexios II Komnenos

ro: Alexios II Comnen

sv: Alexios II Komnenos

In 1195, while Isaac II was away hunting in Thrace, Alexios was acclaimed as emperor by the troops with the conniving of Alexios ' wife Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera.

Alexios IV Angelos, the son of the deposed Isaac II, had recently escaped from Constantinople and now appealed to the crusaders, promising to end the schism of East and West, to pay for their transport, and to provide military support to the crusaders if they helped him to depose his uncle and sit on his father's throne.

Isaac II, drawn from his prison and robed once more in the imperial purple, received his son, Alexios IV, in state.

His participation in the attempted usurpation of John Komnenos the Fat in 1200 had caused him to be imprisoned until the accession of Isaac II Angelos, who was restored to the throne after having been deposed and imprisoned by his brother Alexios III, and his son Alexios IV Angelos, who were placed on the throne by the intervention of the Fourth Crusade in July 1203.

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus (, 1056 – 15 August 1118 — note that some sources list his date of birth as 1048 ), was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power.

The title ' Nobilissimus ' was given to senior army commanders, the future emperor Alexios I Komnenos being the first to be thus honoured.

Inheriting a collapsing empire and faced with constant warfare during his reign against both the Seljuq Turks in Asia Minor and the Normans in the western Balkans, Alexios was able to halt the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration.

Alexios was the son of Ioannis Komnenos and Anna Dalassena, and the nephew of Isaac I Komnenos ( emperor 1057 – 1059 ).

Alexios ' father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was accordingly succeeded by four emperors of other families between 1059 and 1081.

Alexios was ordered to march against his brother-in-law Nikephoros Melissenos in Asia Minor but refused to fight his kinsman.

This did not, however, lead to a demotion, as Alexios was needed to counter the expected invasion of the Normans of Southern Italy, led by Robert Guiscard.

While the Byzantine troops were assembling for the expedition, Alexios was approached by the Doukas faction at court, who convinced him to join a conspiracy against Nikephoros III.

The mother of Alexios, Anna Dalassena, was to play a prominent role in this coup d ' état of 1081, along with the current empress, Maria of Alania.

Furthermore, to aid the conspiracy Maria had adopted Alexios as her son, though she was only five years older than he Maria was persuaded to do so on the advice of her own " Alans " and her eunuchs, who had been instigated to do his by Isaac Komnenos.

Anna then protested that the family was in fear for their lives, her sons were loyal subjects ( Alexios and Isaac were discovered absent without leave ), and had learned of a plot by enemies of the Komnenoi to have them both blinded and had, therefore, fled the capital so they may continue to be of loyal service to the emperor.

During this time, Alexios was rumored to be the lover of Empress Maria of Alania, the daughter of King Bagrat IV of Georgia, who had been successively married to Michael VII Doukas and his successor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, renowned for her beauty.

Alexios arranged for Maria to stay on the palace grounds, and it was thought that Alexios was considering marrying the erstwhile empress.

Alexios became estranged from Maria, who was stripped of her imperial title and retired to a monastery, and Constantine Doukas was deprived of his status as co-emperor.

This coin was struck by Alexios during his war against Robert Guiscard.

He admitted that he had violated the oath sworn in 1097, but refused to acknowledge that it had any bearing on the present circumstances, as Alexios, in Bohemond's eyes, had also violated the agreement by turning back from the siege of Antioch in 1098.

The Byzantine Emperor Alexios later forced Vukan to acknowledge Byzantine suzerainty in 1094.

Alexios III Angelos was the second son of Andronikos Angelos and Euphrosyne Kastamonitissa.

Together with his father and brothers, Alexios had conspired against Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos ( c. 1183 ), and thus he spent several years in exile in Muslim courts, including that of Saladin.

* Eirene Angelina, who married ( 1 ) Andronikos Kontostephanos, and ( 2 ) Alexios Palaiologos, by whom she was the grandmother of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

In spite of the resolution of problems in Europe, Andronikos II was faced with the collapse of the Byzantine frontier in Asia Minor, despite the successful, but short, governorships of Alexios Philanthropenos and John Tarchaneiotes.

Andronikos, now ( 1183 ) sole emperor, married twelve year old Agnes of France, previously betrothed to Alexios II.

Andronikos I was the last of the Komnenoi to rule Constantinople, although his grandsons Alexios and David founded the Empire of Trebizond in 1204.

The novel describes the events of the reigns of Manuel I, Alexios II and Andronikos I through the eyes of Agnes.

Michael VIII Palaiologos was the son of the megas domestikos Andronikos Doukas Komnenos Palaiologos by Theodora Angelina, the granddaughter of Emperor Alexios III Angelos and Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamaterina.

* Alexios Komnenos ( son of Andronikos I ), illegitimate son of Andronikos I Komnenos

She was the daughter of King Louis VII of France by his third wife Adèle of Champagne, and the sister of Philip II of France ; she had originally come to Constantinople to be betrothed to Alexios II Komnenos, but Alexios was murdered by his co-emperor and regent Andronikos I Komnenos in 1183.

* Alexios Komnenos ( son of Andronikos I )

Neither seems to have been very fit, as John was quite old, and Alexios had been blinded by order of Andronikos I.

Alexios Komnenos was a grandson of the last Komnenian Byzantine emperor, Andronikos I Komnenos, through that man's son Manuel Komnenos, who, in turn, had married Rusudan, daughter of George III of Georgia.

After Manuel I's reign the Komnenos dynasty fell into conspiracies and plots like many of their ancestors ( and the various contenders within the family sought power and often succeeded in overthrowing the preceding kinsman ); Alexios II, the first Komnenos to ascend as a minor, ruled for three years and his conqueror and successor Andronikos I ruled for two, overthrown by the Angelos family under Isaac II who was dethroned and blinded by his own brother Alexios III.

Their first ' emperor ', named Alexios I, was the grandson of Emperor Andronikos I.

Andronikos had Alexios II sign the order for his mother's execution, and appointed his own son Manuel and the sebastos George to execute her, but they refused.

Andronikos had himself crowned co-emperor, but Alexios II was soon murdered as well, and Andronikos took full control of the empire.

Andronikos was crowned co-ruler with Alexios ; then, in October of the same year, he had Alexios strangled.