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 ).

However, towards the end of his reign Manuel's achievements in the east were compromised by a serious defeat at Myriokephalon, which in large part resulted from his arrogance in attacking a well-defended Seljuk position.

After Manuel's death, the empire drifted into anarchy, and it was never again in a position to mount a major offensive in the east.

Amalric cemented his alliance with Manuel by marrying Manuel's niece Maria Komnene in 1167, and an embassy led by William of Tyre was sent to Constantinople to negotiate a military expedition, but in 1168 Amalric pillaged Bilbeis without waiting for the naval support promised by Manuel.

William does not mention exactly what happened during these embassies, but he probably discussed the Byzantine alliance with Jerusalem, and Manuel's protectorate over Antioch, where, due to pressure from Rome and Jerusalem, the emperor was forced to give up his attempts to restore a Greek patriarch.

Some of them assert that the great power he wielded was not his own personal achievement, but that of the dynasty he represented ; they also argue that, since Byzantine imperial power declined catastrophically after Manuel's death, it is only natural to look for the causes of this decline in his reign.

The first test of Manuel's reign came in 1144, when he was faced with a demand by Raymond, Prince of Antioch for the cession of Cilician territories.

There was no attempt at a systematic conquest of territory, but Manuel's army defeated the Turks at Acroënus, before capturing and destroying the fortified town of Philomelion, removing its remaining Christian population.

At this time, there were still members of the Byzantine court who remembered the passage of the First Crusade, which was a defining event in the collective memory of the age and one which had fascinated Manuel's aunt, Anna Komnene.

Yet Manuel's attention was to be drawn to Antioch again in 1156, when Raynald of Châtillon, the new Prince of Antioch, claimed that the Byzantine emperor had reneged on his promise to pay him a sum of money, and vowed to attack the Byzantine province of Cyprus.

Fittingly, John's close friend John Axouch, although he is recorded as having tried hard to persuade the dying emperor that Isaac was the better candidate to succeed, was instrumental in ensuring that Manuel's assumption of power was free from any overt opposition.

In 1157 he sent Humphrey of Toron to negotiate with Emperor Manuel, and it was decided that Baldwin should marry Theodora, Manuel's niece.

In spite of its small size and population in comparison to the great land powers of Europe, it was able to acquire an overseas empire of vast proportions during Manuel's reign.

Manuel's mother was the granddaughter of King John I of Portugal ; his father, Prince Fernando, was the second surviving son of King Edward of Portugal, thus the younger brother of King Afonso V of Portugal.

Manuel succeeded in 1495 his first cousin King John II of Portugal, who was also his brother-in-law, being married to Manuel's sister, Leonor.

In Manuel's reign, royal absolutism was the method of government.

Manuel's next wife, Maria of Aragon, was his first wife's sister, but not the oldest surviving one.

The inspiration for the " Amadis de Gaula " appears to be the blocked marriage of Infanta Constanza of Aragon with Henry of Castile in 1260 ( See Juan Manuel's Libro de las Armas of 1335 ), as blocked was also Oriana's marriage to Amadis.

When Manuel came to Antioch later that year to meet with Baldwin III, King of Jerusalem, Raynald was forced to lead Manuel's horse into the city.

Shahinshah, who was Manuel's vassal, and the Danishmend emirs fled to the protection of Byzantium.

The Byzantine army was divided into a number of divisions, which entered the pass in the following order: a vanguard, largely of infantry ( the other divisions being composed of a mix of infantry and cavalry ); the main division ( of eastern and western Tagmata ); then the right wing ( largely composed of Antiochenes and other Westerners ), led by Baldwin of Antioch ( Manuel's brother-in-law ); the baggage and siege trains ; the Byzantine left wing, led by Theodore Mavrozomes and John Kantakouzenos ; the emperor and his picked troops ; and finally the rear division under the experienced general Andronikos Kontostephanos.

An important facet of Manuel's dispositions was that the vanguard was composed of infantry.

Her Latin origins and culture however led to creeping resentment from her Greek subjects ( who felt insulted enough by the late Manuel's Western tastes, let alone being ruled by his Western wife ), building up to an explosion of rioting that almost became a full civil war.

In particular, Robertson insists he did his best to coax Manuel into writing or co-writing more songs, only to see Manuel's talents overtaken by addiction.

Christian writers in Medieval Spain translated many works from Arabic, mainly philosophy and mathematics, but also Arab fiction, as is evidenced by Juan Manuel's story collection El Conde Lucanor and Ramón Llull's The Book of Beasts.

In the late 11th century the Byzantine Empire entered a period of marked military and political decline, which had been arrested and largely reversed by the leadership of Manuel's grandfather and father.

Alfonso and his love affairs are mentioned in poems by many troubadours, including Guillem de Berguedà ( who criticized his dealings with Azalais of Toulouse ) and Peire Vidal, who commended Alfonso's decision to marry Sancha rather than Eudokia Komnene that he had preferred a poor Castilian maid to the emperor Manuel's golden camel.

Birkenmeier believes that the army contained 25, 000 Byzantine troops and the rest included an allied contingent of Hungarians sent by Manuel's kinsman Béla III of Hungary and tributary forces supplied by the Principality of Antioch and Serbia.

) He left the captive in his brother Boniface's care and went to Constantinople to be rewarded by the Emperor, returning to Italy shortly after Manuel's death in 1180.

However, Manuel's ambassadors heard the rumours that Melisende ( and Raymond himself ) might have been fathered by someone other than Raymond II, and the marriage was called off ; Manuel married Maria instead.

Their subsequent affair angered both Bohemond and Manuel, as Philippa was the sister of Manuel's wife and thus the relationship was considered incestuous by the church.

The same year, Manuel's mother secured his entrance into the Instituto Nacional ( National Institute ), where he also would serve as rector later in life ( 1835 – 40 ), though he could only afford the fees by tutoring other students.

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.

In 1927, the club was threatened with eviction by Toronto General Trust which represented Manuel's estate at that time.

Juan Manuel's work is marked by a great preoccupation both with the practical and the spiritual life, and is directed not only to the nobility, but also to lower estates, since much of his work speaks not only of the duties of lords, but of their vassals as well.

Manuel's cousin Andronikos Komnenos, who had been exiled during Manuel's reign, was invited back by the porphyrogenita Maria, and marched on Constantinople in 1182.

Manuel's line marriage is said to be over 100 years old.

:" They separated the girls who were 15 to 20 years old from this group, and took them to Guillerma Grave Manuel's house ; they raped them ; they broke their arms and legs, and then they killed them … The children were smashed against the floor, and then thrown into the flames together with their parents … At 8 p. m., he was able to enter his own home and saw that his wife and three of his children were dead.

Next he married another princess of Spain, Maria of Aragon ( his first wife's sister ), then Eleanor of Austria, a niece of his first two wives who married Francis I of France after Manuel's death.

The former Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, who had been deposed from the Brazilian throne on the day of Manuel's birth, attended the ceremony.

An early literary antecedent appears in Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, Chapter XII, " Of that which happened to a Dean of Santiago, with Don Illan, the Magician, who lived at Toledo ", in which a life happens in an instant ( 1337 ).

Humphrey himself later married Philippa, sister of Bohemund III of Antioch, who had previously had an affair with future Byzantine emperor Andronicus I Comnenus, Manuel's cousin.

The actor Carmelo Gómez's plays the cowardly Manuel Iriguíbel in the Carlist Wars, Manuel's son Ignacio in 1905, and eventually, the matured photographer, Peru Mendiluze, who returns the Basque region at the onset of the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

It was likely not an abduction ; Andronikos was already married, and had already had an affair with Philippa, a sister of Prince Bohemund II of Antioch and of Manuel's wife Maria of Antioch, and he was likely trying to escape persecution by Manuel, who did not approve of these incestuous affairs.

An early literary antecedent appears in Don Juan Manuel's Tales of Count Lucanor, Chapter XII, " Of that which happened to a Dean of Santiago, with Don Illan, the Magician, who lived at Toledo ", in which a life happens in an instant ( 1337 ).