Hello everyone and welcome to the history of Byzantium, Episode 237, Manoel and Andronicus.

We ended our last episode with Manoel at rest. The emperor had peace treaties in place

with every major rival in the Balkans and Anatolia and took a well and holiday. And I'm not

being flippant. Our historian John Kinamos literally says, since there was nothing to be seen

in any direction which threatened the Romans' realm, the emperor went to one of the villages near

Constantinople for relaxation. As promised I've been researching the emperor's personality, his

relationship with his wider family and how he organized his court church and capital. This

turned up so much information that I think will take a very quick end of the century-style tour

around Manoel's world before the narrative resumes. Don't worry though, each of these episodes

will be focused on things we need to know for the narrative going forward.

Today, let's talk about Manoel the person, his time on the throne so far, and what was going on

back home while he was away on all his campaigns. We'll then turn our attention to his great friend

and rival, his cousin Andronicus. I formally introduced Manoel back in episode 230, but let's

cover a little of the same ground again. Manoel was born in 1118, a few months after his grandfather

Alexius died. Manoel was the youngest of eight children and the fourth boy, so presumably,

no one really thought about him becoming emperor one day. Manoel was born into a crowded palace,

not just his seven siblings, but dozens of relatives from the extended imperial clan.

As you know, when Alexius took power, the dukeye and the comedy-noi intermarried in order to secure

their hold on power. To put a stop to the civil wars which had destroyed the empire, Alexius

kept marrying senior men into his family. Manlake, Nysephorus, Malacinos, George, Pallolojos,

and Nysephorus, Varyanios found themselves drawn into the imperial orbit through these unions,

and their children would then marry someone else from this growing aristocracy.

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