Alexios I had stabilized the Byzantine Empire and overcame a dangerous crisis, inaugurating a century of imperial prosperity and success.

In the east the Empire was overrun by the Seljuk Turks ; from the north Bulgarians and Vlachs descended unchecked to ravage the plains of Macedonia and Thrace, and Kaloyan of Bulgaria annexed several important cities, while Alexios squandered the public treasure on his palaces and gardens and attempted to deal with the crisis through diplomatic means.

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

In 1074, the western mercenaries led by Roussel de Bailleul rebelled in Asia Minor, but Alexios successfully subdued them by 1076.

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.

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.

However, his mother consolidated the Doukas family connection by arranging the Emperor's marriage to Irene Doukaina, granddaughter of the Caesar John Doukas, the uncle of Michael VII, who would not have supported Alexios otherwise.

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

He also secured the alliance of Henry, Count of Monte Sant ' Angelo, who controlled the Gargano Peninsula and dated his charters by Alexios ' reign.

With the Balkans more or less pacified, Alexios could now turn his attention to Asia Minor, which had been almost completely overrun by the Seljuq Turks.

Alexios was able to secure much of the coastal regions by sending peasant soldiers to raid the Seljuq camps, but these victories were unable to stop the Turks altogether.

Alexios dealt with the first disorganized group of Crusaders, led by the preacher Peter the Hermit, by sending them on to Asia Minor, where they were massacred by the Turks in 1096.

This success is ascribed by Alexios ' daughter Anna to his policy and diplomacy, but by the Latin historians of the crusade to his treachery and falseness.

The crusaders believed their oaths were made invalid when the Byzantine contingent under Tatikios failed to help them during the siege of Antioch ; Bohemund, who had set himself up as Prince of Antioch, briefly went to war with Alexios in the Balkans, but was blockaded by the Byzantine forces and agreed to become Alexios ' vassal by the Treaty of Devol in 1108.

In spite of the success of the crusade, Alexios also had to repel numerous attempts on his territory by the Seljuqs in 1110 – 1117.

Alexios ' last years were also troubled by anxieties over the succession.

* John Komnenos, Alexios ’ nephew, governor of Dyrrachium, accused of a conspiracy by Theophylact of Bulgaria.

As a measure intended to keep the support of the Doukai, Alexios restored Constantine Doukas, the young son of Michael VII and Maria, as co-emperor and a little later betrothed him to his own first-born daughter Anna, who moved into the Mangana Palace with her fiancé and his mother.

In 1087 the Pechenegs raided into Thrace and Alexios crossed into Moesia to retaliate but failed to take Dorostolon ( Silistra ).

Transferring each contingent into Asia, Alexios promised to supply them with provisions in return for their oaths of homage.

By seeking close alliances with powerful noble families, Alexios put an end to the tradition of imperial exclusivity and coopted most of the nobility into his extended family and, through it, his government.

Instead, that night ( July 17 / 18 ), Alexios III hid in the palace, and finally, with one of his daughters, Eirene, and such treasures ( 1, 000 pounds of gold ) as he could collect, got into a boat and escaped to Debeltos in Thrace, leaving his wife and his other daughters behind.

Later Alexios V was blinded and deserted by his father-in-law, who fled from the crusaders into Thessaly.

The crusaders ' second attack proved too strong to repel, and Alexios V fled into Thrace on the night of 12 April 1204, accompanied by Eudokia Angelina and her mother Euphrosyne Doukaina Kamatera.

The Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.

As Alexios lay on his deathbed in the monastery of the Mangana on 15 August 1118, John, consorting with relatives whom he could trust, among whom was his brother, the sebastokratōr Isaac Komnenos, stole into the monastery and removed the imperial signet ring from his dying father.

After the death of Alexios, he refused to enter into the conspiracy set afoot by his mother-in-law Irene Doukaina and his wife Anna to depose John II Komnenos, the son of Alexios, and raise himself to the throne.

Several thousand went in the army of Alexios I Komnenos against the Norman, Robert Guiscard ; but, deserting the emperor, many of them ( 1085 ) were thrown into prison.

On July 18, 1203 the Crusaders launched an assault on the city, and Alexios III immediately fled into Thrace.

Emperor Alexios I Komnenos ( 1081 – 1118 ) established a new military force from the ground up, which was directly responsible for transforming the aging Byzantine Empire from one of the weakest periods in its existence into a major economic and military power, akin to its existence during the golden age of Justinian I.

The office was created by Alexios I Komnenos, when he amalgamated the remnants of the imperial and thematic fleets into a single imperial fleet.

The first Christian crusade started when Byzantine emperor Alexios I appealed to Pope Urban II for mercenaries to help him resist Muslim advances into territory of the Byzantine Empire.

He launched into open warfare against Alexios, but he was soon forced to surrender and negotiate with Alexios at the imperial camp at Diabolis ( Devol ), where the Treaty was signed.

In 1107, having organized a new army for his planned crusade against the Muslims in Syria, Bohemond instead launched into open warfare against Alexios, crossing the Adriatic to besiege Dyrrhachium, the westernmost city of the Empire.

Like his father however, Bohemond was unable to make any significant advances into the Empire's interior ; Alexios avoided a pitched battle and Bohemond's siege failed, partly due to a plague among his army.

Alexios and Irene's youngest daughter Theodora ensured the future success of the Angelos family by marrying into it: Theodora's grandsons were the emperors Isaac II Angelos and Alexios III Angelos.

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.

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.

Under one of these emperors, Romanos IV Diogenes ( 1067 – 1071 ), Alexios served with distinction against the Seljuq Turks.

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.

From there she negotiated with the emperor for the safety of family members left in the capital, while protesting her sons ' innocence of hostile actions ; under the falsehood of making a vesperal visit to worship at the church, she deliberately excluded the grandson of Botaneiates and his loyal tutor, met with Alexios and Isaac and fled for the forum of Constantine.

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.

Alexios suffered several defeats before being able to strike back with success.

Next, Alexios had to deal with disturbances in Thrace, where the heretical sects of the Bogomils and the Paulicians revolted and made common cause with the Pechenegs from beyond the Danube.

Paulician soldiers in imperial service likewise deserted during Alexios ' battles with the Normans.

As early as 1090, Alexios had taken reconciliatory measures towards the Papacy, with the intention of seeking western support against the Seljuqs.

Dalassena was the effective administrator of the Empire during Alexios ' long absences in military campaigns: she was constantly at odds with her daughter-in-law and had assumed total responsibility for the upbringing and education of her granddaughter Anna Komnene.

* Constantine Humbertopoulos, who had assisted Alexios in gaining the throne in 1081 conspired against him in 1091 with an Armenian called Ariebes.

Rare seal of Alexios I with a depiction of the Resurrection

By his marriage with Irene Doukaina, Alexios I had the following children:

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 ).

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.