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Alexius I Comnenus
The Byzantine Emperor Alexius I Comnenus (b.1048-d.1118) was the most
influential and important Byzantine participant of the entire crusading
movement. It was his reported call for aid from the West against the forces of
Islam that may have either led to the calling of the First Crusade by Pope
Urban II, or at least provided additional justification in the West for the
expedition.
Alexius I was emperor during the turbulent years of 1081, when the disaster at
Mantzikert ten years earlier was still a source of concern for many Byzantines,
until 1118 by which the crusaders had established their presence in the East
through the founding of four crusader states at Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch,
and Tripoli. Alexius I understood the threat the Seljuk Turks posed to the
Byzantine Empire. He had served admirably
under the leadership of Romanus IV Diogenes in
various engagements against the Turks and
would have been well aware of the Empire's
precarious status. As a result, he took part in
negotiation with western leaders, perhaps
directly with Robert of Flanders and to Pope
Urban II through his ambassadors at the Council
of Piacenza in 1095, for assistance in their
conflict with the Turks.
There survives a supposed letter from Alexius I to
Count Robert of Flanders. Historians such as
Dana Carlton Munro have argued that the
surviving letter is likely a forgery, but may be
based on an original appeal from Alexius for
help. The account of devastation brought upon
Eastern Christians as described in the letter
provides much material very similar to some of the surviving accounts of Pope
Urban II's speech at the Council of Clermont. Alexius I's reign is well
documented by his daughter Anna Comnena, who in her work known as the
Alexiad, covers her fathers dealings with the crusaders during the First
Crusade. She details the shrewd political maneuverings of Alexius in dealing
with the massive crusader armies that passed through Constantinople and
other parts of her father's realm as they headed to the Holy Land.
Alexius made each of the crusade leaders swear an unexpected oath to him
with the promise of returning any lands to him that were retaken from the
Turks. Things did not go as expected beginning with the conquest of Antioch
during which Alexius did not provide the support he had promised and this led
to the crusader's argument that their agreement with Alexius was no longer
valid as he had not held up his end of the bargain. This does not mean that
Alexius I did not gain from his dealings with the crusaders. Overall he came
out on top, as Anna Comnena points out, by having the cities Nicaea, Chios,
Rhodes, Smyma, Ephesus, Philadelphia, Sardis, and most of Asia Minor
returned to his rule through the efforts of the crusaders.
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