Alexios Komnenos Porphyrogennetos

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Alexios Komnenos Porphyrogennetos on a mosaic in Hagia Sophia

Alexios Komnenos , nickname Porphyrogennetos ("the purple-born"; Middle Greek Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός ὁ Πορφυρογέννητος ; * February 1106 in Balabista , Macedonia ; † August 2, 1142 in Attaleia ), was byzantine from 1122 until his death .

Life

Alexios Komnenos was the eldest son of Emperor John II (1118–1143) and his wife Piroska-Irene . His younger brothers were Andronikos , Isaak and the future emperor Manuel . He had a twin sister Maria and three other sisters named Anna, Theodora and Eudokia . Alexios was possibly married twice, with Eudokia-Dobrodeja ( Eupraxia ; † 1136), daughter of Grand Duke Mstislaw I of Kiev , and after her with Kata , daughter of the Georgian King David IV. His daughter Maria married the Pansebastos Alexios Axuch , son of Megas Domestikos Johannes Axuch .

In 1122, Alexios was crowned co-emperor (Symbasileus) by John II in a magnificent ceremony in the Great Palace of Constantinople ; his younger brothers were simultaneously elevated to sebastocrators . Otherwise little is known about his life, but he seems to have accompanied his father on his campaigns in Asia Minor against the Seljuks and Danishmends and to have carried out his own military operations, especially in 1137 when the Armenian principality of Cilicia was subjugated .

As the emperor's eldest son, Alexios was his designated successor all his life, but the crown prince succumbed to a brief and severe febrile illness on August 2, 1142, a year before his father's death, during a stay in Attaleia in Pamphylia . Andronikos Komnenos, who thus became heir to the throne, was supposed to transfer the body of his brother to Constantinople, but apparently also suddenly fell ill and died before the start of the voyage. Since Isaac had shown himself to be unsuitable for the office of ruler, John II installed his youngest son Manuel as emperor shortly before his death in April 1143.

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literature

  • Κωνσταντίνος Βαρζός: Η Γενεαλογία των Κομνηνών (= Βυζαντινά Κείμενα και Μελέται. Τ. 20α , ZDB ID 420491-8 ). Τόμος Α '. Κέντρο Βυζαντινών Ερευνών - ΑΠΘ, Θεσσαλονίκη 1984, pp. 339–348 No. 74, digitized version (PDF; 264 MB) .
  • Paul Magdalino: The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2002, ISBN 0-52-152653-1 , p. 422.
  • Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades, Volume 2: The Kingdom of Jerusalem and the Frankish East 1100-1187. Beck, Munich 1968 (reprint), ISBN 3-40-639960-6 , p. 222.
  • Mihail-Dimitri Sturdza: Dictionnaire historique et généalogique des grandes familles de Grèce, d'Albanie et de Constantinople. Self-published, Paris 1983, p. 276.

Web links

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personal data
SURNAME Alexios Komnenos Porphyrogennetos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ἀλέξιος Κομνηνός ὁ Πορφυρογέννητος (Greek)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Byzantine co-emperor (1122–1142), son of John II.
DATE OF BIRTH February 1106
PLACE OF BIRTH Balabista
DATE OF DEATH August 2, 1142
Place of death Attaleia