Nikolaios I Kommenos

Summary


Nikolaois Komnenos (1092-1141) was Co-Emperor of the revitalized Byzantine Empire with his father Demetrious from (1109-1135), and sole Emperor following his death from (1135-1141). While commonly overlooked by many historians, Nikolaios spent the majority of his long Co-Emperorship managing the day-to-day affairs of the Empire, integrating many of his father's conquests into the Empire proper, and re-organizing the Imperial Bureaucracy to manage the vast swathes of new territory. In addition to his role as a consolidator, he was the primary establisher of the Komenos dynastic legacy, creating a cult of personality around his father the "Megas" that would endure for generations. In addition, he authored several historical works, including the incompleted Demetriad and Nikolaid. Unlike his father, however, no breathtaking expansion occurred during his 7 year long reign. Instead, his reign was characterized by his conflicts with his half brother Christophoros over the diadem, which lead ultimately to the War of the Brothers in 1140, which would cost Nikolaois his life during the Battle of Carthage.

Early Life (1092-1105)
Raised Mostly by his mother, The young emperor to be was educated greatly in manners of the state by his mother the Empress. Young Nikolaios was intrested greatly in the great mechanism of the state and greatly loved his mother while keeping a rather cool relationship with his father. Nikolaios did not have many interactions with many children his age and was often shutted inside the palace being tutored by his mother.

Exile & The Cuman War (1105-1109)
Upon Hajnal's botched attempt to place Nikolaios on the throne helped in no way by his attempts to stablize the empire after the deat of the Kaiser and the criplling of his father. With his mother's complicity to the known he was under scruitny and hence was exiled to a backwater in the levant to rule.

Co-Emperor (1109-1135)
He ascended to the postion of Co-Emperoer after his father's failure to gain a quick vivtory and his subsewquent capture in the first Cuman war. He was able to convince his father to hand him the control of state as well as the postion of Kaiser Most promeintly he also arranged his father's marriage to Berthe Capet whou would soon become mother of Manuel.