Andronikos I Komnenos, Emperor of Byzantium

ANDRONICUS I COMNENUS, emperor of BYZANTIUM. — He belonged to a junior branch of the Comnenian dynasty, being the son of Isaac, the second-born son of Alexius I. Like his father, he was hostile to the ruling branch, and, after being held in prison for a long time by Manuel I Comnenus, went into exile in the East among Turkish princes, returning to his homeland shortly before Manuel’s death (1180). During the regency for the young Alexius II (1180–82), taking advantage of the conflicts that had arisen between the Byzantine population, which held xenophobic tendencies, and the Latin element influential at the imperial court, A. seized the government, having himself proclaimed co-emperor with Alexius II, of whom he soon afterward disposed, remaining sole master of the empire (1182). Then, after allowing xenophobia to rage against the Latins, he sought to strengthen his power by persecuting to the death the aristocracy bound to the memory of Manuel I; but he provoked increasingly serious disturbances and rebellions, and when the attack on Thessalonica took place in 1185, by a Norman-Sicilian expedition, his position became untenable. He fell victim to popular fury after the proclamation of Isaac II as emperor (12 September 1185). A. is portrayed as an educated, shrewd, and capable politician; but, lacking moral sense, instead of saving the Byzantine Empire, he aggravated its ills and thereby hastened its ruin.

Francesco Cognasso