After his father's death, Guy entered the service of his erstwhile enemy, Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. According to the emperor's daughter, Anna Komnene, he was drawn to Byzantine service by certain promises made by Alexios. At the Byzantine court, Guy became one of Alexios' most trusted councilors and was rewarded with the rank of sebastos. In August 1096, he helped negotiate between the Alexios and the leaders of the First Crusade, even serving as a hostage for the emperor's good faith during the dealings with Godfrey of Bouillon. Guy was with the Byzantine army campaigning in Asia Minor when, at Philomelium around 20 June 1098, it was met by the nominal leader of the Crusade, Stephen, Count of Blois, who reported that the siege of Antioch was going very badly.[1]
In 1108, Guy was with his half-brother, Bohemond, when the latter attacked Byzantine Dyrrachium. Defeated, Bohemond sued for peace and during the negotiations Guy was entrusted with keeping the Byzantine hostages. He returned to Italy shortly after and died there on 5 July 1108, as recorded in the necrology of the Cathedral of San Matteo in Salerno.[1]
Georgiou, Stavros G. (2022). "Guy de Hauteville, A Norman Noble in the Service of Alexios I Komnenos (1081–1118)". Aiônos: Miscellanea di Studi Storici. 22: 73–97. doi:10.53136/97912218082784.
Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus, was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Inheriting a collapsing empire and faced with constant warfare during his reign, Alexios was able to curb the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the Komnenian restoration. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Seljuk Turks were the catalyst that sparked the First Crusade. Although he was not the first emperor of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power and initiated a hereditary succession to the throne.
Bohemond I of Antioch, also known as Bohemond of Taranto or Bohemond of Hauteville, was the prince of Taranto from 1089 to 1111 and the prince of Antioch from 1098 to 1111. He was a leader of the First Crusade, leading a contingent of Normans on the quest eastward. Knowledgeable about the Byzantine Empire through earlier campaigns with his father, he was the most experienced military leader of the crusade.
Robert Guiscard, also referred to as Robert de Hauteville, was a Norman adventurer remembered for his conquest of southern Italy and Sicily in the 11th century.
Nikephoros Bryennios was a Byzantine general, statesman and historian. He was born at Orestias (Adrianople) in the theme of Macedonia.
The Principality of Antioch was one of the Crusader states created during the First Crusade which included parts of Anatolia and Syria. The principality was much smaller than the County of Edessa or the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It extended around the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, bordering the County of Tripoli to the south, Edessa to the east, and the Byzantine Empire or the Kingdom of Armenia to the northwest, depending on the date.
The Treaty of Deabolis was an agreement made in 1108 between Bohemond I of Antioch and Byzantine Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, in the wake of the First Crusade. It is named after the Byzantine fortress of Deabolis. Although the treaty was not immediately enforced, it was intended to make the Principality of Antioch a vassal state of the Byzantine Empire.
The Battle of Dyrrhachium took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria. The battle was fought outside the city of Dyrrhachium, the major Byzantine stronghold in the western Balkans, and ended in a Norman victory.
The Alexiad is a medieval historical and biographical text written around the year 1148, by the Byzantine princess Anna Komnene, daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. It was written in a form of artificial Attic Greek. Anna described the political and military history of the Byzantine Empire during the reign of her father, thus providing a significant account on the Byzantium of the High Middle Ages. Among other topics, the Alexiad documents the Byzantine Empire's interaction with the Crusades and highlights the conflicting perceptions of the East and West in the early 12th century. It does not mention the schism of 1054 – a topic which is very common in contemporary writing. It documents firsthand the decline of Byzantine cultural influence in eastern and western Europe, particularly in the West's increasing involvement in its geographic sphere. The Alexiad was paraphrased in vernacular medieval Greek in mid-14th century to increase its readability, which testifies to the work's lasting interest.
The Komnenian restoration is the term used by historians to describe the military, financial, and territorial recovery of the Byzantine Empire under the Komnenian dynasty, from the accession of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081 to the death of Andronikos I Komnenos in 1185. At the onset of the reign of Alexios I, the empire was reeling from its defeat by the Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The empire was also being threatened by the Normans of Robert Guiscard, who were invading the Balkans from their base in southern Italy. All this occurred as the empire's military institution was in disarray and had grown increasingly reliant on mercenaries. Previous emperors had also squandered the large gold deposits of Constantinople, so the defense of the empire had broken down, and there were few troops to fill the gaps.
The Byzantine Empire was ruled by emperors of the Komnenos dynasty for a period of 104 years, from 1081 to about 1185. The Komnenian period comprises the reigns of five emperors, Alexios I, John II, Manuel I, Alexios II and Andronikos I. It was a period of sustained, though ultimately incomplete, restoration of the military, territorial, economic and political position of the Byzantine Empire.
Nikephoros Melissenos, Latinized as Nicephorus Melissenus, was a Byzantine general and aristocrat. Of distinguished lineage, he served as a governor and general in the Balkans and Asia Minor in the 1060s. In the turbulent period after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, when several generals tried to seize the throne for themselves, Melissenos remained loyal to Michael VII Doukas and was exiled by his successor Nikephoros III Botaneiates. In 1080–1081, with Turkish aid, he seized control of what remained of Byzantine Asia Minor and proclaimed himself emperor against Botaneiates. After the revolt of his brother-in-law Alexios I Komnenos, however, which succeeded in taking Constantinople, he submitted to him, accepting the rank of Caesar and the governance of Thessalonica. He remained loyal to Alexios thereafter, participating in most Byzantine campaigns of the period 1081–1095 in the Balkans at the emperor's side. He died on 17 November 1104.
The Byzantine–Norman wars were a series of military conflicts between the Normans and the Byzantine Empire fought from c. 1040 to 1186 involving the Norman-led Kingdom of Sicily in the west, and the Principality of Antioch in the Levant. The last of the Norman invasions, though having incurred disaster upon the Romans by sacking Thessalonica in 1185, was eventually driven out and vanquished by 1186.
John Komnenos was a Byzantine aristocrat, the nephew of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos and governor (doux) of the strategically important city and theme of Dyrrhachium from 1091 to c. 1106.
Isaac Kontostephanos was a Byzantine admiral during the reign of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos, marked by his incompetence in the wars against the Normans.
Roger, the son of Dagobert, was a Norman magnate who deserted to the Byzantine Empire where he entered the service of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. He is the founder of the noble Byzantine family of Rogerios.
Alexios Gidos was a senior Byzantine general of the late 12th century. He is the first attested member of the Gidos family, which rose to some prominence in the Byzantine Empire at the end of the 12th and the beginning of the 13th centuries.
The Battle of Larissa was a military engagement between the armies of the Byzantine Empire and the Italo-Norman County of Apulia and Calabria. On 3 November 1082, the Normans besieged the city of Larissa. In July of the following year, Byzantine reinforcements attacked the blockading force, harassing it with mounted archers and spreading discord among its ranks through diplomatic techniques. The demoralized Normans were forced to break off the siege.
Alexios Komnenos was a Byzantine aristocrat and nephew of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos. Promoted to the rank of sebastos, he served as doux of Dyrrhachium from 1106 until after 1108. During this time, he led the successful resistance to a siege of Dyrrhachium by Bohemond I of Antioch, leading to the Treaty of Devol.
The siege of Dyrrhachium took place from November 1107 until September 1108, as the Italo-Normans under Bohemond I of Antioch besieged the Adriatic port city of Dyrrhachium, now known as Durrës. Dyrrhachium was held for the Byzantine Empire by its doux Alexios Komnenos, a nephew of the reigning Byzantine emperor, Alexios I Komnenos.
The timeline of the Latin Empire is a chronological list of events of the history of the Latin Empire—the crusader state that developed on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire after the Fourth Crusade in the 13thcentury.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
