Komnenian Byzantine Army - Legacy

Legacy

The Komnenian Byzantine army was a resilient and effective force, but it was over-reliant on the leadership of an able emperor. After the death of Manuel II in 1180, first a child-emperor, Alexios II, then a tyrant, Andronikos I, who attempted to break the power of the aristocracy who provided the leadership of the army, and finally the rule of the incompetents of the Angeloi dynasty allowed the centifugal tendencies generated by the self-interests of the powerful aristocracy to fatally weaken the Empire and the army which served it. When Constantinople fell to the Fourth Crusade in 1204, the Byzantine successor states established at Epirus, Trebizond and especially Nicaea based their military systems on the Komnenian army. The success of the Empire of Nicaea in particular in reconquering former Byzantine territories (including Constantinople) after 1204 may be seen as evidence of the strengths of the Komnenian army model. However, there is reason to restrict the term Komnenian army solely to the period of the rule of the Komnenian emperors; the Byzantine army after the recovery of Constantinople in 1261 was sufficiently distinct from its earlier form to deserve a separate identity as the Palaiologan army.

The Byzantine Empire enjoyed a major economic and cultural renaissance during the 12th century, and the Komnenian army played a crucial part in providing the political and territorial stability which allowed this cultural flowering.