Editing Isaac I Komnenos (section)

=== Origin and early career ===
[[File:Map Byzantine Empire 1025-en.svg|thumb|upright=1.15|The [[Byzantine Empire]] in the first half of the 11th century.]]
Isaac was the son of [[Manuel Erotikos Komnenos]], who reportedly served as ''[[strategos autokrator]]'' of the East under Emperor [[Basil&nbsp;II]] and defended [[Nicaea]] against the rebel [[Bardas Skleros]] in 978.{{sfn|ODB|loc="Komnenos" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 1143–1144}}{{sfn|Varzos|1984|pp=38–39}} His mother's name was Maria, about whom nothing else is known.{{sfn|Varzos|1984|pp=39, 41}} Manuel's native language was [[Greek language|Greek]] and modern scholarship considers the family to have been of [[Byzantine Greeks|Greek origin]].{{sfn|Varzos|1984|p=26}} It is said that the family name was derived from the city of Komne, near [[Plovdiv|Philippopolis]] in Thrace.{{sfn|ODB|loc="Komnenos" (A. Kazhdan), pp. 1143–1144}} Isaac was born {{circa|1007}}.{{sfn|Varzos|1984|p=41}} 

As Maria had died early, on his deathbed in 1020, Isaac's father commended his two surviving sons Isaac and [[John Komnenos (Domestic of the Schools)|John]] to the care of Emperor Basil II. According to [[Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger]], the two children were raised with the utmost solicitude and the best tutors at the [[Stoudion]] monastery, with care taken to teach them military exercises and hunting.{{sfn|Gautier|1975|pp=74, 76}} As soon as they came of age, Isaac and his brother joined the imperial bodyguard, the ''[[Hetaireia]]''.{{sfn|Gautier|1975|p=76}}

At a young age, perhaps as early as 1025, Isaac married [[Catherine of Bulgaria]] (born {{circa|1010}}), a daughter of [[Ivan Vladislav of Bulgaria|Ivan Vladislav]] ({{reign|1015|1018}}), the last Tsar of the [[First Bulgarian Empire]].{{sfn|Varzos|1984|p=41}}{{sfn|ODB|loc="Isaac I Komnenos" (C. M. Brand, A. Cutler), pp. 1011–1012}} From {{circa|1042}} he held the post of ''[[stratopedarches]]'' of the East—likely denoting that he was ''[[domestikos ton scholon]]'', commander-in-chief, of the eastern field army, but this title is not explicitly attested{{sfn|Guilland|1967b|p=500}}—and the ranks of ''[[magistros]]'' and ''[[vestes]]''.{{sfn|Varzos|1984|p=41}} He was dismissed by Empress [[Theodora (11th century)|Theodora]] in 1054,{{sfn|Varzos|1984|p=41}} and replaced by her [[eunuch]] confidant, the ''[[proedros]]'' Theodore.{{sfn|Guilland|1967a|pp=452–453}}