Editing Manuel I Komnenos (section)

==Accession to the throne==
[[Image:BN MS FR 2628 Folio134 Comnenus.png|thumb|left|200px|Death of John II Komnenos, and crowning of Manuel I Komnenos (from the Manuscript of [[William of Tyre]]'s ''Historia'' and ''Old French Continuation'', painted in [[Acre, Israel]], 13th century, [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]])]]

Born on 28 November 1118, Manuel Komnenos was the fourth son of [[John II Komnenos]] and [[Irene of Hungary]], so it seemed very unlikely that he would succeed his father.<ref name="Stone"/> His maternal grandfather was [[Ladislaus I of Hungary|St. Ladislaus]]. Manuel favourably impressed his father by his courage and fortitude during the unsuccessful Siege of [[Neocaesarea]] (1140), against the [[Danishmendid]] Turks. In 1143 John II lay dying as a result of an infected wound; on his deathbed he chose Manuel as his successor, in preference to his elder surviving brother [[Isaac Komnenos (son of John II)|Isaac]]. John cited Manuel's courage and readiness to take advice, in contrast to Isaac's irascibility and unbending pride, as the reasons for his choice. After John died on 8 April 1143,<ref>[[John Kinnamos]] ({{Circa}} 1118) [[iarchive:bub_gb_CSIAAAAAYAAJ/page/n55/mode/2up|''History'' I.10.]] [[Corpus Scriptorum Historiae Byzantinae]] '''XIII'''. "Ioannes post diebus moritus... octavo die mensis".</ref> his son, Manuel, was acclaimed emperor by the armies.<ref name="Gib72">Gibbon, ''The decline and fall of the Roman Empire'', 72</ref> Yet his succession was by no means assured: with his father's army in the wilds of [[Cilicia]] far from Constantinople, he recognised that it was vital he should return to the capital as soon as possible. He still had to take care of his father's funeral, and tradition demanded he organise the foundation of a monastery on the spot where his father died. Swiftly, he dispatched the ''[[megas domestikos]]'' [[John Axouch]] ahead of him, with orders to arrest his most dangerous potential rival, his brother Isaac, who was living in the [[Great Palace of Constantinople|Great Palace]] with instant access to the imperial treasure and regalia. Axouch arrived in the capital even before news of the emperor's death had reached it. He quickly secured the loyalty of the city, and when Manuel entered the capital in August 1143, he was [[coronation of the Byzantine emperor|crowned]] by the new [[Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople|patriarch]], [[Michael II Kourkouas]]. A few days later, with nothing more to fear as his position as emperor was now secure, Manuel ordered the release of Isaac.<ref name="NGS">Gibbon, ''The decline and fall of the Roman Empire'', 72<br/>* J. H. Norwich, ''A short history of Byzantium''<br/>* A. Stone, [http://www.roman-emperors.org/mannycom.htm Manuel I Comnenus]</ref> Then he ordered two golden pieces to be given to every householder in Constantinople and 200 pounds of gold (including 200 silver pieces annually) to be given to the Byzantine Church.<ref name="gold">J. Norwich, ''Byzantium: The Decline and Fall'', 87–88</ref>

The empire that Manuel inherited from his father was in a more stable position than it had been a century earlier. In the late 11th century, the Byzantine Empire had faced marked military and political decline, but this decline had been arrested and largely reversed by the leadership of Manuel's grandfather and father. Nevertheless, the empire continued to face formidable challenges. At the end of the 11th century, the [[Normans]] of [[Sicily]] had removed Italy from the control of the Byzantine emperor. The Seljuk Turks had done the same with central [[Anatolia]]. And in the [[Levant]], a new force had appeared—the [[Crusader states]]—which presented the Byzantine Empire with new challenges. Now, more than at any time during the preceding centuries, the task facing the emperor was daunting indeed.<ref name="PLBr">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Byzantium|encyclopedia=Papyros-Larousse-Britannica|year=2006}}</ref>