ALEXIUS COINXNUS, one of the ablest rulers of the Byzantine empire, was b. at Constantinople in 1048. He was the third son of Johannes Comnenus, the brother of the emperor, Isaac Comnenus. The family came originally from Italy, and settled in Asia Minor. His father having refused the purple on the abdication of Isaac, it was given to one Ducas, the son of a distinguished general. A. in his youth gave brilliant promise of the vigorous military genius which he afterwards manifested ; and at length, after a series of anarchic reigns of brief duration, his soldiers succeeded in elevating him to the throne, while the old and feeble Nicephorus Botaniates, his predecessor, was obliged to retire to a monastery. Gibbon graphically paints the position and achieve ments of A. in the 48th chapter of his Decline and Fall of the Roman. Empire. Everywhere he was encompassed with foes. The Scythians and Turks were pouring down from the north and north-east ; the fierce Normans, who had violently effected a lodgment in Sicily and Italy, were menacing his western provinces ; and, finally, the myriad warriors of the first crusade had burst into his empire on their way to Palestine, and had encamped around the gates of his capital. Yet he contrived to avoid all perils and disgraces by the wisdom of his policy, the mingled patience and promptitude of his character, his discipline in the camp, and his humanity on the throne. He reigned for 37 years ; and
if it had been possible to preserve the weak and corrupt Byzantine empire in its integrity, a ruler like A. might have done it. He could only delay its inevitable destruction. Undoubtedly, the great interest which attaches to A.. arises from his relation to the cru saders. Historians differ as to the purity and sincerity of his conduct towards them. His daughter Anna, who wrote his life, defends his "policy" with filial piety ; but it seems clear that he entertained a profound dread and suspicion of the half-civilized Franks, and, knowing the weakness of his own empire, was compelled to dissimulate. He certainly promised them help, and persuaded them to go off into Asia ; it is equally certain that he did not fulfill his promises, and that he simply used them as instruments to reconquer from the Turks the islands and coasts of. Asia Minor. Perhaps, however, little apology is needed for a monarch who "subdued the envy of his equals, restored the laws of public and private order, caused the arts of wealth and science to be culti vated, and transmitted the scepter to his children of the third and fourth generation." He died in 1118.