Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos
Portrait of Emperor Alexios I, from a Greek manuscript
Emperor of the Byzantine Empire
Reign	1 April 1081 – 15 August 1118
Coronation	5 April 1081
Predecessor	Nikephoros III Botaneiates
Successor	John II Komnenos
Born	1048 or 1056
Died	15 August 1118 (age 62 or 70)
Spouse	Irene Doukaina
Issue	Anna Komnene Maria Komnene John II Komnenos Andronikos Komnenos Eudokia Komnene Theodora Komnene Isaac Komnenos Manuel Komnenos Zoe Komnene
Dynasty	Komnenoi
Father	John Komnenos
Mother	Anna Dalassena

Alexios I Komnenos (Greek: Ἀλέξιος Αʹ Κομνηνός, 1048 or 1056 – 15 August 1118), was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. Inheriting a collapsing empire and faced with constant warfare during his reign against both the Seljuq Turks in Asia Minor and the Normans in the western Balkans, Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. The basis for this recovery were various reforms initiated by Alexios. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks were also the catalyst that likely contributed to the convoking of the Crusades.

Alexios was the son of the Domestic of the Schools John Komnenos and Anna Dalassena, and the nephew of Isaac I Komnenos (emperor 1057–1059). Alexios' father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was thus succeeded by four emperors of other families between 1059 and 1081. Under one of these emperors, Romanos IV Diogenes (1067–1071), Alexios served with distinction against the Seljuq Turks. Under Michael VII Doukas Parapinakes (1071–1078) and Nikephoros III Botaneiates (1078–1081), he was also employed, along with his elder brother Isaac, against rebels in Asia Minor, Thrace, and in Epirus.