page_title: Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty
section_title: Alexios I Komnenos
hierarchical_section_title: Byzantine Empire under the Komnenos dynasty / Alexios I Komnenos
caption_attribution_description: English: Alexius I Comnenus. 1081-1118. EL Histamenon Nomisma (4.48 gm, 6h). Thessalonica mint. Struck 1081-1082. +KE RO ALEZ', IC XC across field, facing bust of Christ, nimbate, raising hand in benediction, holding Gospels [DIMITI] to left, D EC PO TH T to right, Saint Demetrius, nimbate, standing right, presenting labarum to Alexius, wearing crown and loros, standing facing, each grasping labarum. DOC IV 4; SB 1904. According to DOC, this issue was the very brief first coinage of the Thessalonica mint, which Alexius opened as he passed through in September 1081 on his way to confront the invading Normans under Robert Guiscard. Hendy presumes this type was discontinued in 1082, when the significantly debased type with patriarchal cross replacing the labarum was introduced. However, since DOC IV was written numerous examples of this previously extremely rare type have come out of the Balkans, in fineness ranging from gold-colored electrum to nearly pure silver. Hendy notes an alternate chronology, with the labarum issue being struck during the entire span of the Norman incursion into Greece, through 1084, but dismisses this longer time span based on the sequence of types at Constantinople. Perhaps when the total number of extant specimens is tallied the militant labarum bearing type could be re-dated to the period of the Norman war, 1081-1084. Coin from CNG coins, through Wildwinds.
context_page_description: The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the Komnenos dynasty for a period of 104 years, from 1081 to about 1185. The Komnenian period comprises the reigns of five emperors, Alexios I, John II, Manuel I, Alexios II and Andronikos I. It was a period of sustained, though ultimately incomplete, restoration of the military, territorial, economic and political position of the Byzantine Empire.
  Byzantium under the Komnenoi played a key role in the history of the Crusades in the Holy Land, while also exerting enormous cultural and political influence in Europe, the Near East, and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. The Komnenian emperors, particularly John and Manuel, exerted great influence over the Crusader states of Outremer, whilst Alexios I played a key role in the course of the First Crusade, which he helped bring about.
  Moreover, it was during the Komnenian period that contact between Byzantium and the 'Latin' Christian West, including the Crusader states, was at its most crucial stage.
context_section_description: After Manzikert, a partial recovery was made possible due to the efforts of the Komnenian dynasty. This is sometimes referred to as the Komnenian restoration. The first emperor of this royal line was Alexios I Komnenos (whose life and policies would be described by his daughter Anna Komnene in the Alexiad). Alexios's long reign of nearly 37 years was full of struggle. At his accession in 1081, the Byzantine Empire was in chaos after a prolonged period of civil war resulting from the defeat at Manzikert.
  At the very outset of his reign, Alexios had to meet the formidable threat of the Normans under Robert Guiscard and his son Bohemond of Taranto, who took Dyrrhachium and Corfu, and laid siege to Larissa in Thessaly (see Battle of Dyrrhachium). Alexios led his forces in person against the Normans, yet despite his best efforts his army was destroyed in the field. Alexios himself was wounded, but the death of Robert Guiscard in 1085 led to the Norman danger receding for a time.
  However, Alexios's problems were only just beginning. At a time when the Emperor urgently needed to raise as much revenue as possible from his shattered empire, taxation and the economy were in complete disarray. Inflation was spiralling out of control, the coinage was heavily debased, the fiscal system was confused (there were six different nomismata in circulation), and the imperial treasury was empty. In desperation, Alexios had been forced to finance his campaign against the Normans by using the wealth of the Eastern Orthodox Church, which had been put at his disposal by the Patriarch of Constantinople.
  In 1087, Alexios faced a new invasion. This time the invaders consisted of a horde of 80,000 Pechenegs from north of the Danube, and they were heading for Constantinople. Without enough troops to repel this new threat, Alexios used  diplomacy to achieve a victory against the odds. Having bribed the Cumans, another barbarian tribe, to come to his aid, he advanced against the Pechenegs, who were caught by surprise and annihilated at the Battle of Levounion on 28 April 1091.
  With stability at last achieved in the west, Alexios now had a chance to begin solving his severe economic difficulties and the disintegration of the empire's traditional defences. In order to reestablish the army, Alexios began to build a new force on the basis of feudal grants (próniai) and prepared to advance against the Seljuks, who had conquered Asia Minor and were now established at Nicaea.
  Despite his improvements, Alexios did not have enough manpower to recover the lost territories in Asia Minor. Having been impressed by the abilities of the Norman cavalry at Dyrrhachium, he sent ambassadors west to ask for reinforcements from Europe. This mission was deftly accomplished – at the Council of Piacenza in 1095, Pope Urban II was impressed by Alexios's appeal for help, which spoke of the suffering of the Christians of the east and hinted at a possible union of the eastern and western churches. Pope Urban was concerned with increasing restlessness of the martial nobility in Western Europe, who, currently deprived of major enemies, were causing chaos throughout the countryside. Alexios's appeal offered a means not only to redirect the energy of the knights to benefit the Church, but also to consolidate the authority of the Pope over all Christendom and to gain the east for the See of Rome.
caption: This electrum histamenon was struck by Alexios during his war against Robert Guiscard. The catastrophic financial situation of the Empire after 1071 had led to large-scale debasement of its coinage.
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