Andronikos Kontostephanos Andronikos Kontostephanos , Latinized Andronicus Contostephanus ( ) was a major figure in the Byzantine ( Eastern Roman ) Empire during the reign of Manuel I Komnenos ; he was a general , admiral , politician and a leading aristocrat . He was born after 1125 , when his parents married , and died after 1182 , when he is last mentioned in the sources . Background and family . Andronikos Kontostephanos was the youngest son of Stephanos Kontostephanos , who held the title " panhypersebastos " and the rank of " megas doux " , and the porphyrogenita princess Anna Komnene , daughter of the emperor John II Komnenos and his empress Eirene of Hungary , and thus the nephew of emperor Manuel I Komnenos . Andronikos had two brothers , John , also a prominent military commander , and Alexios , and a sister , Eirene . The Kontostephanoi were an old Byzantine family and were at the heart of Byzantine politics and power through their intermarrying with the imperial house of the Komnenoi for generations . Andronikos himself is believed to have married a member of the Doukas family , another clan with imperial connections . He had four sons . Military career . Andronikos was the leading Byzantine military figure during the reign of his uncle the emperor Manuel I Komnenos . Like his father he was appointed to the office of " megas doux " ( grand duke ) , the commander - in - chief of the Byzantine navy and governor of the provinces of Hellas , the Peloponnese and Crete . However , his greatest success was as a general rather than as an admiral . At some point , Andronikos was also appointed commander of the Varangian Guard . The earliest mention of Andronikos in high command was in 1144 - 5 when he was given a command , jointly with his brother John and a general named Prosuch , of a force sent to defend Cilicia from the depredations of Raymond of Antioch . As his parents married in 1125 he must have been under twenty years old at the time . Andronikos ’ father was killed at the siege of Corfu in 1149 , when he commanded the Byzantine forces attempting to expel the Normans of the Kingdom of Sicily . Andronikos too was present at the siege and assumed his father ' s command , but failed to defeat the Normans . The Hungarians had defeated the Byzantines on the Danube frontier in 1165 , and the following year Byzantine armies ravaged eastern Hungary in retaliation . In 1167 Manuel collected a very large army with the intention of ending the Hungarian threat to the empire ’ s Balkan possessions . Bad health prevented Manuel from taking to the field in person , and he entrusted his army to the command of Andronikos . The Byzantine army met the Hungarians in a pitched battle on the 8th of July near the fortified city of Zemun . Andronikos ’ skillful dispositions and the discipline of his troops gave the Byzantines a decisive victory at the Battle of Sirmium . The Hungarians sued for peace on Byzantine terms and recognised the empire ’ s control over the region around Sirmium , plus all of Bosnia , Dalmatia and the area south of the Krka River . Following the victory Manuel celebrated a triumphal entry into Constantinople with Andronikos Kontostephanos riding by his side . In 1169 , Andronikos was appointed commander of a fleet of 230 ships carrying a Byzantine army to invade Egypt in alliance with the forces of Amalric , King of Jerusalem , in what was to be the last of a series of Crusader invasions of Egypt . The combined armies laid siege to Damietta in the Nile delta . The Byzantines prosecuted the siege with vigour , but as they were about to assault the city Amalric undermined them by arranging a negotiated surrender of Damietta . Andronikos , disgusted with Amalric ’ s double - dealing and with his soldiers in state of starvation , evacuated Egypt . He returned with part of his army by land through the crusader states of Palestine and Syria . Half of the Byzantine fleet was lost in a series of storms on its return journey . Renewed friction between Venice and the Byzantines resulted in Manuel imprisoning all 20 , 000 Venetians in the empire and confiscating all of their property ( 1171 ) . The Republic of Venice retaliated by sending a fleet of 120 ships to capture and occupy Chios . Andronikos commanded a fleet of 150 ships dispatched to drive off the Venetians , a task he accomplished . Manuel attacked the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in 1176 , with the intention of taking its capital , Konya , and destroying Turkish power in Anatolia . The Seljuk sultan Kilij Arslan II ambushed Manuel ’ s impressively large army as it moved through the pass of Tivritze in mountainous border region between the two states . In the ensuing Battle of Myriokephalon parts of the Byzantine force were very badly mauled ; however , Andronikos Kontostephanos managed to get his division , bringing up the rear , through the pass with few casualties . He is credited with having persuaded his uncle the emperor , whose confidence had been severely shaken , to remain with his troops following the defeat . Through his influence with the emperor he was instrumental in facilitating the peaceful withdrawal of the Byzantine forces . The following year ( 1177 ) , Andronikos led a fleet of 150 ships in another attempt to conquer Egypt , but he returned home after landing at Acre . He was dissuaded from continuing with the expedition by the refusal of Count Philip of Flanders , and many important nobles of the Kingdom of Jerusalem , to actively co - operate with the Byzantine force . Political intrigues and an unfortunate fate . Following the death of Manuel in 1180 the succession fell to his son Alexios II Komnenos . As Alexios was a child , power devolved on his mother , the empress Maria of Antioch . Her rule proved very unpopular , especially with the aristocracy who resented her Latin ( Western ) origins . When Manuel ’ s cousin Andronikos Komnenos made a bid for power in 1182 the Grand Duke Andronikos Kontostephanos , together with the general Andronikos Angelos , played a key role in allowing his forces to enter Constantinople . However , once in power , Andronikos Komnenos proved that he had a tyrannical nature and had a vehement desire to break the power and influence of the Byzantine aristocratic families . Kontostephanos and Angelos reacted by plotting to overthrow Andronikos . The plot was discovered and Andronikos Kontostephanos was captured , whilst Angelos escaped . The Grand Duke Andronikos and his four sons were punished with blinding . Legacy . Due to his exploits , Andronikos is one of the few figures given heroic status in the works of the Byzantine historian Niketas Choniates .