Editing Andronikos I Komnenos (section)

=== Regent in Constantinople ===
[[File:Manuel I, Maria and Alexios II (Vat.gr.1851 folio 7r).jpg|thumb|[[Alexios II Komnenos]] (left), depicted together with his parents Manuel (center) and [[Maria of Antioch|Maria]] (right){{efn|The identification of these three figures from Vat. Gr. 1851 as Alexios II and his parents is by Ioannis Spatharakis.<ref name=Spatharakis>{{cite book|last=Spatharakis |first=Ioannis|title=The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ4VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA210|year=1976|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|pages=210–230|isbn=9004047832 }}</ref> Other historians variously identify them as a young [[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Hennessy |first=Cecily|author-link=Cecily Hennessy |title=A child bride and her representation in the Vatican Epithalamion, cod. gr. 1851|year=2006|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|pages=177–183|doi=10.1163/9789004346239_010 }}</ref> or [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]] with their respective parents.<ref>{{cite book|last=Iacobini |first=Antonio|title=Arte profana e arte sacra a Bisanzio|year=1995 |publisher=Argos |isbn=9788885897496}}</ref>}}]]
With no military forces left to oppose Andronikos, the ''prōtosebastos'' was taken captive and taken across the Bosporus to Andronikos's camp,{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=128}} where he was [[Political mutilation in Byzantine culture|blinded]].{{Sfn|Kaldellis|2024|p=697}}  Andronikos then ferried his troops to the city and took control virtually without opposition.{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=128}} He almost immediately made his way to the [[Pantokrator Monastery]], apparently to pay his respects to the tomb of Manuel.{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=129}}

Soon after Andronikos gained control of Constantinople in April 1182, the [[Massacre of the Latins]] erupted in the city.{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=130}} Andronikos made no effort to stop the pogroms, instead referring to them as a "defeat of the tyranny of the Latins" and a "restoration of Roman affairs". There is no evidence that Andronikos was particularly anti-Latin on a personal level but the massacre was politically useful since anti-Latin sentiment had helped bring him to power and because many Latins in the city had supported Maria of Antioch's regency.{{Sfn|Kaldellis|2024|p=697}} The bulk of Constantinople's Latin population were either killed or forced to flee{{Sfn|Ducellier|1986|pp=506–508}} and the Latin quarters were plundered and set on fire.{{Sfn|Kaldellis|2024|p=697}} According to [[Eustathius of Thessalonica]], approximately 60,000 people were killed{{Sfn|Ducellier|1986|pp=506–508}}{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=208}} though this number is likely exaggerated.{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=208}} A papal delegate visiting Constantinople was decapitated and his head was tied to the tail of a dog.{{Sfn|Kaldellis|2024|p=697}}

In May, Patriarch Theodosios formally handed Constantinople over to Andronikos. The patriarch and Andronikos ensured that Alexios II was formally crowned as emperor on 16 May 1182. Andronikos carried the young emperor into Hagia Sophia on his shoulders and acted as a devoted supporter.{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=208}} Andronikos soon dealt with his political rivals as well as all major schemers during Maria of Antioch's regency, including those who had supported him. The blinded ''prōtosebastos'' was exiled to a monastery. Both Maria Komnene and Renier of Montferrat were poisoned within a few months.{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=129}} Andronikos Kontostephanos was suspected of conspiracy and blinded alongside his four sons in the summer of 1183.{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=129}} Maria of Antioch remained an obstacle since she was legally appointed as regent. Andronikos had Patriarch Theodosios agree on expelling her from the palace and then had her prosecuted for treason on the basis that she had asked her brother-in-law, Béla III of Hungary, for help.{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=208}} Found guilty, Maria was imprisoned{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=208}} and Andronikos had Alexios II sign a document condemning her to death.{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=209}} The empress was strangled to death and subjected to ''[[damnatio memoriae]]'', with her portraits in public places being replaced with imagery of Andronikos.{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=129}}

In the place of Manuel's officials, Andronikos raised up his own loyalists, such as [[Michael Haploucheir]] and [[Stephen Hagiochristophorites]].{{Sfn|Harris|2014|p=129}} The execution of Maria of Antioch left the young Alexios II without protection.{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=209}} Andronikos had some of the clergy formally absolve him of his oaths to Manuel and Alexios II{{Sfn|Kaldellis|2009|p=93}} and was crowned as co-emperor in September 1183.{{Sfn|Gregory|2010|p=309}} Soon thereafter, Alexios II was strangled and his body was thrown in the sea, encased in lead.{{Sfn|Garland|1999|p=209}} Just over a year after taking power as the young emperor's guardian, Andronikos had thus had him suppressed and killed{{Sfn|Kislinger|2019|p=77}} and now ruled in his own name.{{Sfn|Gregory|2010|p=309}}