Manuel I Comnenus, 1143-1180 AD. AE Tetarteron, ( 2.42 gm.; 20 mm.).
Obv.: Facing bust of the Virgin Orans, nimbate and wearing pallium and maphorium.
Rev.: Half length figure of Manuel facing, wearing crown and jewelled chlamys, and holding labarum and globe cr.
Sear 1970; R. 2153; BMC 71-4; D.O. 17.
Manuel was concerned early in his reign with Sicily. In 1143 he
considered an arrangement whereby King Roger II was to marry his son to
Manuel's daughter, but that came to nothing. During the Second Crusade,
Roger attacked Corfu, which is one reason why the Greeks were unable to
provide substantial help to the Crusaders. In fact, Manuel had to
enlist the help of Venice in his fight against Sicily, whereby Venice
gained further trading privileges in the Empire.
Manuel was able to drive Roger back in 1148, but only at great cost.
Part of the loot the Normans took away with them was a group of silk
weavers, bringing that skill to the West for the first time. Manuel
spent the next few years trying to assemble a counter-invasion of
Italy. He and his long-time ally King Conrad of Germany were planning
an expedition for 1152, but Conrad died that February and the plan fell
through.
Conrad was succeeded by Frederick Barbarossa, who was much less
friendly toward Byzantium. He played along from time to time, however,
so Manuel continued to hatch plots against Sicily. In 1155, the Greeks
actually invaded Apulia, but they did not get very far, and were
defeated at Brindisi. They continued to operate in southern Italy for a
few years, but Manuel came to terms with King William of Sicily in 1158
and withdrew the Byzantine troops from Italy.
After this, Manuel did not try open invasion against his old
enemies, but he continued to use diplomacy. His main effort was to ally
with the papacy, for the popes often regarded either Sicily or the
German Emperor, or both, as their principal enemy. One item he offered
was the prospect of a union of the Churches, a diplomatic prize that
would get offered almost any time the Byzantine emperor sought an
alliance with the papacy.
Manuel also sought allies among the Italian city-states, but this
ground was even more treacherous than southern Italy. Venice, Pisa and
Genoa were all rivals, but all had a significant trading presence in
the Empire. To ally with one would be to make enemies of the others.
Moreover, alliance with any of these meant trade concessions, and the
Greeks hated the Italian merchants who occupied whole sections of their
towns, including Constantinople itself. So, every move Manuel made in
this direction aroused the anger of his own people.
Manuel was close to Venice in the first part of his reign, but they
had a falling out in the 1160s. There had been quarrels and skirmishes
in Dalmatia (1166), arguments over the extent of privileges, and even
street fighting in Constantinople between Venice and Genoa. In 1169,
Manuel made a treaty with Genoa, and in 1170 he made one with Pisa.
Then, on March 12, 1171, Manuel ordered the arrest of all Venetians
everywhere within the Empire. All their goods were confiscated. The
Doge of Venice sent a fleet to attack cities in Dalmatia and some
desultory fighting resulted, but despite the dramatic gesture,
relations between Venice and the Empire were gradually restored. By
this time, Venice understood that Constantinople was a key to its
wealth and to its ability to compete against Genoa and Pisa; she could
not afford a pitched war. Conversely, a war with Venice would be more
expensive than the Empire could manage. Consequently, both sides
gradually backed down over the next decade and the situation in 1180
was much the same it had been in 1170. One legacy persisted, however:
bitterness. The Greeks still hated the Venetians, restored to their
former arrogance. And Venice was bitter over yet another example of
Greek duplicity and betrayal, this one having struck at the very heart
of the city's existence. They were never again more than uneasy allies.
Manuel was able to stabilize his northern frontier by a marriage
alliance with Hungary. Hungary and Byzantium had long been enemies,
clashing over the Serbian border territories. In 1164, Manuel agreed to
recognize Stephen III as King of Hungary, renouncing ancient Byzantine
claims, in exchange for which Stephen's son Bela would be married to
Manuel's daughter Maria. Bela would rule Dalmatia, Croatia, Bosnia, and
Sirmium while Manuel lived, and would succeed as emperor.
The arrangement was thrown over in 1169, though, with the birth of a
son to Manuel. Bela and Maria were betrothed but not yet married, so
that relationship was dissolved. Bela kept his lands but would no
longer succeed to the Empire. The Hungarian was eventually married to
Agnes of Châtillon, daughter of the infamous Reynauld and Constance of
Antioch, and with Greek help succeeded to the Hungarian throne in 1173.
Manuel was initially successful in the east, but then suffered a
dramatic reverse. He moved into Cilicia in 1158, reasserting Byzantine
authority there, and the following year inflicted a defeat on Reynald
of Antioch. He was so far successful in Syria that we was able to
restore a Greek patriarch at Antioch in 1165. He remained on good terms
throughout his reign with King Baldwin III of Jerusalem.
But when Manuel tried to move against the Turks in Anatolia,
disaster struck. He himself led a large Byzantine army in 1176 against
the Seljuks and Kilij Arslan II. His entire army was trapped in the
pass of Myriokephalon and was prevented from complete destruction only
because the sultan offered terms. He was forced to accept the Turks as
allies and to forswear aggression against them, as well as to pay a
huge sum of money. Myriokephalon marked the end of Manuel's military
activities and struck a severe blow to Byzantine prestige.
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