KOMNENOS, name of a noble lineage, deriving from the village of Komne, probably located somewhere in Anatolia. In the mid-11th century their estates were situated in the Kastamon region. The Komnenoi are known from the reign of Basil II onward: the protospatharios Nikephoros governed Vaspurakan, the patrikios Manuel Komnenos Erostikos was strategos autokrator of the East. His son Isaac (I) became emperor in 1057. In the 11th century Komnenoi were landowners and military commanders: John, Isaac I's brother, was domestikos ton scholon, as was his son Isaac; another son Manuel was protostrator; the third son, Alexios (I), became emperor in 1081. The Komnenoi were intermarried with aristocratic families (Dalassenoi, Doukai) and foreign dynasties -- Bulgarian and Georgian.
After the establishment of the Komnenian dynasty, the Komnenoi and families related to them by marriage acquired almost all of the highest military posts and were granted the highest dignities invented by Alexios I: according to a very approximate calculation, 90 percent of the topmost elite from 1118 to 1180 consisted of Komnenoi and their relatives. The Komnenoi were also active as provincial governors in Cilicia and the Balkans. Only rarely were they in the civil service: the parakoimomenos John reportedly administered "the state affairs" under John II; Stephen was megas droungarios; Alexios and Constantine served as imperial pinkernes. These civil servants were all distant relatives of the emperors. Only one relative was in the church hierarchy: Adrianos, Alexios I's nephew, who after a career as ruler of the "Chalybes," a tribe on the eastern frontier, became archbishop of Bulgaria in 1143 under the name of John; Hilarios, protos of Athos ca. 1110, who is called a relative of Alexios I, is a very obscure figure.
The role of the Komnenos family in cultural life was limited: Anna Komnene received her education against her parents' will; the only other writers in the family were a certain sebastokrator Isaac (or Isaac Porphyrogennetos), who composed several theological works, and Alexios I, who produced some poems. More important was the role of the Komnenoi as patrons, especially certain women, such as Anna an the sebastokratorissa Irene Komnene. Great landowners, they founded several churches and monasteries: Kosmosoteria at Bera, Kecharitomene, and Pantokrator in Constantinople. A 12th century epigram states that a John Komnenos, a son of a sebastokrator, built a monastery instead of a mansion. The pantostrator Alexios is called the founder of the Church of St. Nicholas in Manastir.
The role of the Komneos family declined in the late 12th century due to the anti-aristocratic policy of Andronikos I; his contemporary David Komnenos, governor of Thesssalonike in 1185, was treated by Eustathios of Thessalonike and Niketas Choniates as a symbol of cowardice and lack of martial prowess. Nonetheless, the name of Komnenos retained its spell and was broadly used as a sort of royal title by various dynasties from the late 12th century onward: Angeloi, Vatatzes, and the rulers of Trebizond (Grand Komnenoi) who claimed affinity with the Komnenoi. In the second half of the 12th century several members of the Komnenos family held relatively modest posts, for example, the megas domestikos Theodore Angelos Komnenos ca. 1287 and a sebastos George Doukas Komnenos. A branch of the family was established at this time in Ikonion.
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Last modified: Thurs Dec 10, 1998