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.

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 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.

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.

To help pay for his campaigns, Alexios debased the currency during the first decade of his rule.

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

The crusade was a notable success for Byzantium, as Alexios now recovered a number of important cities and islands.

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.

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.

To compensate for this crime and to solidify his position as emperor, Alexios had to scatter money so lavishly as to empty his treasury, and to allow such licence to the officers of the army as to leave the Empire practically defenceless.

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.

The crusaders, whose objective had been Egypt, were persuaded to set their course for Constantinople before which they appeared in June 1203, proclaiming Alexios IV as Emperor and inviting the populace of the capital to depose his uncle.

Unfortunately for Constantinople, Alexios III's misgovernment had left the Byzantine navy with only 20 worm-eaten hulks by the time the Crusaders arrived.

Later, however, Alexios III arranged for his new son-in-law to be ambushed and blinded, making him ineligible for the imperial throne.

Brought back to Constantinople, Alexios V was condemned to death for treason against Alexios IV, and was thrown from the top of the Column of Theodosius.

Many historians maintain that the main concern of Pope Urban II, when calling for the First Crusade, was the threat to Constantinople from the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor in response to the appeal of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos.

Urban II's movement took its first public shape at the Council of Piacenza, where, in March 1095, Urban II received an ambassador from the Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asking for help against Muslim ( Seljuk ) Turks who had taken over most of formerly Byzantine Empire Anatolia.

While preparing for yet another offensive against Bulgaria in 1195, Alexios Angelos, the Emperor's older brother, taking advantage of the latter's absence from camp on a hunting expedition, proclaimed himself emperor, and was readily recognised by the soldiers as Emperor Alexios III.

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.

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.

The new Emperor, Alexios I Komnenos, appointed him " megas domestikos of All the West " and gave him many more properties in the Balkans.

Despite being a nun she had many ambitious suitors, but she chose another Alexios, the prōtosebastos and prōtovestiarios, a nephew of Manuel and uncle of Maria Komnene, former queen of Jerusalem, as an advisor and lover, causing a scandal among the Greek population.

As Augusta, a title bestowed upon her rather than the empress by her son, Alexios I Komnenos, she guided the empire during his many absences for long military campaigns against Turkish and other incursions into the Byzantine empire.

Although Isaac II bestowed many titles and honors upon his brother, Alexios seized the throne on April 8, 1195, deposing Isaac and proclaiming himself emperor.

Alexios ' long reign of nearly thirty-seven years was full of struggle.

During the last twenty years of his life Alexios lost much of his popularity.

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

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.

After eight years of captivity, he was raised from his dungeon to his throne once more after the arrival of the Fourth Crusade and the flight of Alexios III from the capital.

These were men who had been politically eclipsed during the ascendancy exercised by John's mother in the later years of the reign of Alexios I.

Very active persecution of the followers of the Paulician and Bogomil heresies characterised that last few years of the reign of Alexios I.

For the most part, however, it proved to be a successful union for forty years, and produced four children — Alexios Komnenos, John Doukas, Irene Doukaina, and Maria Bryennaina Komnene.

Alexios, however, had apparently not grasped how far the empire's financial resources had fallen during the previous fifty years.

Trebizond suffered a period of repeated imperial depositions and assassinations from the end of Alexios ' reign until the first years of Alexios III, ending in 1355.

Yet, through a combination of skill, determination and years of campaigning, Alexios, John and Manuel Komnenos managed to restore the power of the Byzantine Empire by constructing a new army from scratch.

Remarkably, Alexios ruled for 37 years, and his son John II ruled for 25, after uncovering a conspiracy against him by his sister, the chronicler Anna Komnene, and her husband Nikephoros Bryennios.

The last years of Manuel's reign were clouded by discord with his own son Alexios IV, although he had been associated in authority as despotes.

Her only son was Alexios II Komnenos, who succeeded Manuel in 1180, and died three years afterwards at the age of 14.

Furthermore, to aid the conspiracy Maria had adopted Alexios as her son, though she was only five years older than he.

Irene married Alexios in 1078, when she was still eleven years old.

Alexios ' mother Anna continued to live in the imperial palace and to meddle in in her son's affairs until her death 20 years later ; Maria of Alania may have also lived in the palace, and there were rumours that Alexios carried on an affair with her.