The fourth son who won Byzantium because his father judged his temper
Manuel Komnenos was the fourth son of Emperor John II, with little claim to the throne. But two brothers died in 1142, and in 1143 his dying father passed over the older Isaac, citing Manuel's courage and willingness to listen against Isaac's short fuse and stubborn pride. Manuel then ruled for 37 years.
Securing the crown took speed and money. Manuel sent his general John Axouch racing ahead to Constantinople to detain Isaac, who lived in the Great Palace with access to the treasury and regalia. Axouch bought the clergy's backing with a promise of 200 silver pieces a year for Hagia Sophia. Once crowned in August 1143, Manuel gave two gold coins to every household in the city, and a few days later, feeling safe, set his brother free.
He had earned his father's trust in the field. Trained as a soldier rather than a scholar, the young prince once led his own attendants in a counterattack that turned a losing fight during the siege of Neocaesarea in 1140. John hailed him as saviour of the Romans, though he also scolded him for recklessness, a flaw that would return.
As emperor, Manuel chased the dream of a restored Mediterranean power. He steered the unruly armies of the Second Crusade through his lands, made the Crusader states of Outremer and the kingdom of Hungary Byzantine dependants, and joined the kingdom of Jerusalem in invading Fatimid Egypt. He also invaded Norman Sicily, the last eastern emperor to try to win back ground in the western Mediterranean, though the attempt failed. His secretary John Kinnamos wrote a history crediting him with every virtue, and parts of the Latin West called him the most blessed emperor of Constantinople.
The rashness his father noticed came back to haunt him. At Myriokephalon, he attacked a well-defended Seljuk position and suffered a serious defeat, ending Byzantine hopes of recovering inner Anatolia. He died on 24 September 1180, and the empire's rapid collapse afterwards has led some historians to look for its roots in his reign.
Source: Manuel I Komnenos
