Editing Alexios I Komnenos (section)

===Wars against the Normans, Pechenegs, and Tzachas===
{{Further|Byzantine–Norman Wars}}

The thirty-seven year reign of Alexios was full of struggle. At the outset he faced the formidable attack of the Normans, led by [[Robert Guiscard]] and his son [[Bohemond I of Antioch|Bohemond]], who took [[Dyrrhachium]] and [[Corfu]] and laid siege to [[Larissa]] in [[Thessaly]].<ref name="EB1911"/> Alexios suffered several defeats before he was able to strike back with success. He enhanced his resistance by an agreement with the German king [[Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry&nbsp;IV]], who, in exchange for 360,000 gold pieces, did attack the Normans in Italy,<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 21</ref> which forced the Normans to concentrate on their defenses at home in 1083–84. He also secured the alliance of [[Henry, Count of Monte Sant'Angelo]], who controlled the [[Gargano Peninsula]] and dated his charters by Alexios' reign. Henry's allegiance would be the last example of Byzantine political control on peninsular Italy. The Norman military danger subsided with the death of Guiscard in 1085, and the Byzantines recovered most of their losses.<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 25</ref>

Alexios next had to deal with disturbances in [[Thrace]], where the heretical sects of the [[Bogomils]] and the [[Paulicians]] revolted and made common cause with the [[Pechenegs]] from beyond the [[Danube]].<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 101</ref> Paulician soldiers in imperial service likewise deserted during Alexios' battles with the Normans.<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 78</ref> As soon as the Norman threat had passed, Alexios set out to punish the rebels and deserters, confiscating their lands. This led to a further revolt near [[Plovdiv|Philippopolis]], and the commander of the field army in the west, Gregory Pakourianos, was defeated and killed in the ensuing battle. In 1087 the Pechenegs raided into Thrace, and Alexios crossed into [[Moesia]] to retaliate but failed to take Dorostolon ([[Silistra]]).<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 102</ref> During his retreat, the emperor was [[Battle of Dristra|confronted and defeated]] by the Pechenegs, who forced him to sign a truce and to pay protection money. In 1090 the Pechenegs invaded Thrace again,<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 104</ref> while [[Tzachas]], the brother-in-law of the Sultan of [[Sultanate of Rûm|Rum]], launched a fleet and attempted to arrange a joint siege of Constantinople with the Pechenegs.<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 26</ref> Alexios overcame this crisis by entering into an alliance with a horde of 40,000 [[Cumans]], with whose help he conquered the Pechenegs at [[Battle of Levounion|Levounion]] in Thrace on 29 April 1091.<ref>Norwich 1995, p. 27</ref>

This put an end to the Pecheneg threat, but in 1094 the Cumans began to raid the imperial territories in the Balkans. Led by a pretender claiming to be [[Constantine Diogenes (pretender)|Constantine Diogenes]], a long-dead son of the Emperor [[Romanos&nbsp;IV]],<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 86</ref> the Cumans crossed the mountains and raided into eastern Thrace until their leader was eliminated at [[Adrianople]]. With the Balkans more or less pacified, Alexios could now turn his attention to [[Asia Minor]], which had been almost completely overrun by the [[Seljuq Turks]].<ref>Finlay 1854, p. 108</ref>