The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 1143-1180The reign of Manuel I (1143-1180) marked the high point of the revival of the Byzantine empire under the Comnenian dynasty. It was however followed by a rapid decline, leading to the sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204. This book, the first devoted to Manuel's reign for over 80 years, reevaluates the emperor and his milieu in the light of recent scholarship. It shows that his foreign policy was a natural response to the Western crusading movement and the expansionism of the German emperor Frederick Barbarossa. It also shows that what he ruled was more than the impoverished rump of a once great empire, or a society whose development had been arrested by a repressive regime. The twelfth century is presented here as a distinctive, creative phase in Byzantine history, when the empire maintained existing traditions and trends while adapting to a changing world. |
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Contents
The Comnenian empire between East and West | 27 |
Constantinople and the provinces | 109 |
The Comnenian system | 180 |
Government | 228 |
The guardians of Orthodoxy | 316 |
The emperor and his image | 413 |
Epilogue | 489 |
The poems of Manganeios Prodromos | 494 |
Lay officials in synodal lists of the Comnenian period | 501 |
Magnate patrons under Manuel named in verse collections | 510 |
513 | |
536 | |
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Common terms and phrases
Alexios alliance Andronikos Anna Comnena Antioch Asia Minor Axouch Balsamon Basil Basilakes bishops Byzan Byzantine Byzantium campaign celebrated ceremonial Chon Christian chrysobull Church Cilicia clergy Comnenian Constantine Constantinople court Crusade Darrouzes Doukas ecclesiastical Eirene eleventh century emperor empire empire's encomia encomiasts encomium Eust Eustathios Euthymios Euthymios Malakes evidence father favour Frederick Gautier Glykas Greek Hist holy Hungarian imperial intellectual Isaac Italian Italikos Italy John John Doukas John Tzetzes Kamateros Kazhdan Kekaumenos Kinn Kinnamos Komnenos Latin literary logothete Macrides Magdalino magnate Mang Manganeios Manuel Manuel's reign marriage megas Michael Choniates Michael Glykas military monastery monks Nicholas Nikephoros Niketas official oration Orthodoxy palace pansebastos patriarch political Prod provincial Psellos rhetoric Roman Scor sebastokrator sebastokratorissa sebastos Second Crusade sources Styppeiotes Synod texts Theodore Prodromos Theophylact Thessalonica throne tion Turkish twelfth twelfth-century Tzetzes Varzos verse western William of Tyre Zonaras