Comneni
| Komnenos | |
|---|---|
| Country | Byzantine Empire, Empire of Trebizond |
| Titles | Byzantine Emperor, Emperor of Trebizond, Queen consort of Jerusalem*, Princess of Antioch*, Duchess of Athens*, Despot of Epirus¹ (*By marriage) |
| Founder | Manuel Erotikos Komnenos |
| Dissolution | 1185 (Byzantine rule), 1461 (Trapezuntine rule) |
| Cadet branches | Komnenos Doukas¹ |
Komnenos (Greek: Κομνηνός), Latinized Comnenus, plural Komnenoi or Comneni (Κομνηνοί, pronounced /komniní/), is the name of a noble family who ruled the Byzantine Empire from 1081 to 1185, and later, as the Grand Komnenoi (Μεγαλοκομνηνοί, Megalokomnenoi) founded and ruled the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461). Through intermarriages with other noble clans, notably the Doukai, Angeloi, and Palaiologoi, the Komnenos name appears among most of the major noble houses of the late Byzantine world.
Michael Psellos reports that the family originated from the village of Komne in Thrace—usually identified with the "Fields of Komnene" (Κομνηνῆς λειμῶνας) mentioned in the 14th century by John Kantakouzenos—a view commonly accepted by modern scholarship. The first known member of the family, Manuel Erotikos Komnenos, acquired extensive estates at Kastamon in Paphlagonia, which became the stronghold of the family in the 11th century. The family thereby quickly became associated with the powerful and prestigious military aristocracy (dynatoi) of Asia Minor, so that despite its Thracian origins it came to be considered "eastern".
The 17th-century scholar Du Cange suggested that the family descended from a Roman noble family that followed Constantine the Great to Constantinople, but although such mythical genealogies were common—and are indeed attested for the closely related Doukas clan—the complete absence of any such assertion in the Byzantine sources argues against Du Cange's view. The Romanian historian George Murnu suggested in 1924 that the Komnenoi were of Aromanian descent, but this view too is now rejected. Modern scholars consider the family to have been entirely of Greek origin.
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