Alexius I, Comnenus (1048–1118)

Byzantine emperor 1081–1118. With meagre resources, he dealt successfully with internal dissent and a series of external threats from the Turks and Normans. He managed the difficult passage of the First Crusade through Byzantine territory on its way to Jerusalem, and by the end of his reign he had, with the help of the Crusaders, restored much of Byzantine control over Anatolia. His daughter Anna Comnena chronicled his reign.

An able general and administrator, Alexius managed to hold the Empire together through a period of great turbulence. The Latin (Western European) Crusaders helped him repel Turkish invasions, and he devoted great skill to buttressing the threatened empire. With assistance from the Venetians, in 1085 and 1108 he repelled the Normans who were invading Albania, and in 1091 he destroyed the Pechenegs who had invaded the Balkans. His appeals for Western support against Turkish invaders in Anatolia helped stimulate the First Crusade.

Alexius reformed the army and administration as well as taxes and the coinage, which had become very debased under his predecessors. He was, however, unable to prevent an epidemic of conspiracies and revolts, although he survived them all.