ALEXIUS II. (COMNENUS) (1167-1183), emperor of the
East, was the son of Manuel Comnenus and Maria, daughter of
Kaymund, prince of Antioch, and was born at Constantinople
on the 10th of September 1167. On Manuel's death, Maria,
who hid been immured in a convent under the name of Xene,
had herself proclaimed regent (1179-1180), and handing over
her son to evil counsellors, who encouraged him in every
vice, supported the government of Alexius the protosebastos
(nephew of Manuel), who was supposed to be her lover. The
young Alexius and his friends now tried to form a party
against the empress mother and the protosebastos; and his
sister Maria, wife of Caesar John, stirred up riots in
the streets of the capital. Their party was defeated (May
2, 1182), but Andronicus Comnenus took advantage of these
disorders to aim at the crown, entered Constantinople, where
he was received with almost divine honours, and overthrew the
regents. His arrival was celebrated by a barbarous massacre
of the Latins in Constantinople, which he made no attempt to
stop. He allowed Alexius to be crowned, but forced him to
consent to the death of all his friends, including his mother,
his sister and the Caesar, and refused to allow him the smallest
voice in public affairs. The betrothal in 1180 of Alexius
with Agnes, daughter of Louis VII. of France, a child of
nine, was quashed, and he was married to Irene, daughter of
Andronicus. The latter was now formally proclaimed as
co-emperor, and not long afterwards, on the pretext that
divided rule was injurious to the Empire, he caused Alexius
to be strangled with a bow-string (October 1183). (J. B. B.)
This article is from the 1911 edition of an
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