Was Manuel komnenos a good emperor?

A generation after his death, Choniates referred to him as “the most blessed among emperors”, and a century later John Stavrakios described him as “great in fine deeds”. John Phokas, a soldier who fought in Manuel’s army, characterised him some years later as the “world saving” and glorious emperor.

Why did the Byzantine Empire shrink?

The disintegration of the Byzantine Empire’s traditional military system, the ‘theme’ system, played a role in its decline. Under this arrangement, which was in its heyday from circa 650 to 1025, the empire was divided into several regions which contributed locally raised troops to the imperial armies.

Why was Constantinople established as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire quizlet?

EQ #1 Why was Constantinople established as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire? The capital of the Eastern Roman Empire was changed to Constantinople to provide political, economic, and military advantages.

Why is Constantinople important?

Constantinople was important for the expansion of the Ottoman Empire. When the Ottoman Turks took the city, it was a symbol of the rise of Islam and the fall of the center of Christianity, making the Ottoman Empire the most powerful in all of South Eastern Europe and marking the end of the Eastern Roman Empire.

What made the Byzantine Empire rich and successful for so long?

What made the Byzantine Empire rich and successful for so long, and why did it finally crumble? Constantinople sat in the middle of a trade route,sea and land. Its wealth came from trade and its strong military. Constantinople remained secure and prosperous while cities in western Roman empire crumbles.

What were the strengths and weaknesses of the Komnenian Empire?

The Komnenian Empire was greatly centralized by the standards of the age and it had all the functions of a fully developed pre-industrial state: standing army and navy, elaborate bureaucracy and monetary taxation. Yet it also had weaknesses unique to this period of Byzantine history.

How were titles granted in the Komnenian Empire?

The Komnenian Empire was essentially a dynastic state; while previous emperors would also use some of their relatives in the imperial administration, in Komnenian times titles were granted to imperial relatives and graded by degree of kinship to the Emperor and according to the seniority of the kinsman within each degree.

How did the Normans affect the Komnenoi Empire?

Large parts of Anatolia fell to Turkish control while southern Italy was conquered by the Normans, who had a base from which to launch raids on the Balkan peninsula. The first two Komnenoi emperors, Alexios and John, had to deal with this situation.

What was life like for the Komnenian aristocracy?

Many members of the Komnenian aristocracy were serving in civilian or military offices, while a lot of them married with other influential aristocratic families such as the Kamateroi. As already stated above, the stability of Byzantium depended on the cohesion of the imperial family and this became even more the case during Manuel’s reign.