曼努埃尔被希腊人誉为大帝，因為人们愿意向其效忠而声名远播。在其大臣約翰·金納莫斯的历史作品里，曼努埃尔不仅是一代英杰，也是美德的典范。十字军诸国在与曼努埃尔的联系中也受到他影响，他在西方天主教世界一些地区享有“最受上帝祝福的君士坦丁堡皇帝”（the most blessed emperor of Constantinople）称号。[1] 然而，现代历史学家却对他缺乏热情。他们中的一些人认为，曼努埃尔所掌握的强权并非完全是他个人成就，而是来源于科穆宁王朝的强盛。此外，曼努埃尔去世后，帝国的国力严重衰退，与其统治期间的一些问题不无关联。[2]
约翰二世之死与曼努埃尔一世的即位，13世纪推尔的威廉历史手稿。现藏于法国国家图书馆。
曼努埃尔·科穆宁是约翰二世与皇后匈牙利的伊琳娜第四子(幼子)，所以他似乎不可能继承皇位。他的外祖父是匈牙利国王圣拉斯洛一世。因为曼努埃尔在他父亲对抗塞尔柱突厥人的战争中表现卓越，亦或是其它原因，所以1143年他被临终的约翰二世选为继承人，而不是他脾气易怒的兄长伊萨克·科穆宁。1143年4月8日约翰二世去世后，曼努埃尔被军队拥立为皇帝。[3]然而曼努埃尔的继位并非四平八稳，他的父亲死在远离君士坦丁堡的奇里乞亚荒野，他认为应该尽快返回首都。但他仍然要处理好他父亲的葬礼，还要按照传统在他父亲去世的地方组织建立一座修道院。他立即派父亲的挚友，大统领约翰·阿克苏赫（英语：John Axouch）在他之前前往首都，去逮捕他最危险的潜在竞争对手——他的兄长伊萨克，因为伊萨克正居住在大皇宫，并且可以立即掌控皇帝登基的礼服与大量财富。阿克苏赫在皇帝去世的消息传到首都之前便抵达，他迅速确保首都对曼努埃尔的忠诚，曼努埃尔于1143年8月进入首都。之后他被新任命的宗主教米海尔二世（英语：Michael II of Constantinople）所加冕。几天后，在确保皇位不会有更多的威胁后，曼努埃尔下令释放伊萨克。[4]然后他下令赠予君士坦丁堡每一位户主两个金币，并且为教会捐赠200磅黄金（包括每年捐赠200枚银币）。[5]
曼努埃尔采取有力方式来回应他对此事的愤怒。1158-1159年冬，他在他的庞大军队到达之前来到奇里乞亚；他急速推进（曼努埃尔只率领500骑兵在主力部队的前方急速行军）是为惊吓奇里乞亚亚美尼亚王国的索罗斯二世（英语：Thoros II, Prince of Armenia），他们曾经参与十字军对塞浦路斯的入侵。[20]索罗斯闻后，遂遁入群山之中，奇里乞亚便迅速落入曼努埃尔之手。[21]
罗杰二世于1154年去世后，由威廉一世继位，他将面对西西里和阿普利亚大批反对他统治的叛乱者，这也导致许多的阿普利亚难民投靠到拜占廷一方。康拉德三世的继任者，腓特烈一世发动一系列对抗诺曼人的战役，但他的远征却停滞不前。但这些动态鼓励曼努埃尔趁机利用意大利半岛上的动荡局势。[26]1155年，他派出两位获得“至尊者（英语：Sebastos）”头衔的米海尔·帕列奥略（英语：Michael Palaiologos (general)）和约翰·杜卡斯二位将军，率领拜占廷军队以及十艘船只并携带大量的黄金去入侵阿普利亚。[27]二位将军被指示去谋求腓特烈的援助，但腓特烈却因為他的军队翻越阿尔卑斯山后士气低落而拒绝。然而，在当地贵族（包括Loritello的伯爵罗伯特三世（英语：Robert III of Loritello））的帮助下，曼努埃尔的远征军很快便在整个南意大利取得惊人成绩，还聚集大批反对西西里王室以及威廉一世的叛乱者。[14]在武力的逼迫和金钱的诱惑下，许多的城堡放弃抵抗，远征军们取得辉煌的胜利。[23]
控制埃及是耶路撒冷王国几十年来的梦想，并且耶路撒冷国王阿马尔里克一世对埃及军事干预的政策，需要军事和财政上的全力援助。[48]阿马尔里克也知道如果他想追求控制埃及的梦想，他可能不得不离开安条克，寻求花费十万第纳尔去为博希蒙德三世赎身的曼努埃尔援助。[49][50]1159年，曼努埃尔的第一任皇后苏尔茨巴赫的贝莎（英语：Bertha of Sulzbach）去世；1161年，曼努埃尔和阿玛尔里克的表亲安条克的玛丽成婚。1165年，他派使者到君士坦丁堡的宫廷中向皇帝提出婚约。[51]1167年，在长达两年的等待之后，阿玛尔里克迎娶曼努埃尔侄孙女玛利亚·科穆宁娜（英语：Maria Komnene, Queen of Jerusalem），并且“他立下和他的哥哥鲍德温一样的誓约”。[f]两国正式结盟于1168年，两国的领袖也为共同占领和瓜分埃及做好安排，曼努埃尔将会取得埃及沿海地区，阿马尔里克则取得内陆。1169年秋，曼努埃尔派遣一支远征军同阿马尔里克共同入侵埃及：一支拜占庭军队与一支由20艘大型战舰、150艘战舰以及60艘运输船组成的舰队在拜占廷海军大将军安德洛尼卡·康多提斯法诺斯的指挥下在阿什凯隆同阿马尔里克会师。[51][52]在推尔的威廉记载中，联军中用于运输骑兵的巨大运输船给他非常留下深刻印象。[53]
十年后，又一场论战因基督所说“我的父亲比我更伟大”而展开，这是属于他的神性，还是他的人性，又或是两者的联合？[72]兰佩的德米特里厄斯，一位刚刚从西方返回的拜占庭外交官，嘲讽西欧那里对神学的理解，他们认为基督在人性上高于他的父亲，但却在神性上低于他。另一方面，曼努埃尔察觉到这或许是一个推动东西教会联合的一个契机，他找到一个合情合理的方案，并在1166年3月2日所举办的宗教会议上得到多数支持并将此问题解决，在会议上他得到君士坦丁堡普世宗主教鲁喀（英语：Luke Chrysoberges）和未来的宗主教米海尔三世（英语：Michael III of Constantinople）支持。[73]那些拒绝顺从宗教会议研究决定的教士要么财产被充公，要么则被流放。[g]从政治层面上，这场论战反映主要对皇帝教旨持反对意见的人是他外甥阿莱克修斯·康多提斯法诺斯。[74]
1180年曼努埃尔去世时的拜占庭帝国表面上依然强大，他在去世前不久，还举办他儿子阿莱克修斯二世与法国国王路易七世的女儿阿格尼斯（英语：Agnes of France (Byzantine empress)）的订婚庆典。[97]归功于阿莱克修斯一世、約翰二世和曼努埃尔一世在外交和军事上的努力，此时的帝国国力才会如此强大，经济上是如此的繁荣，边疆是如此的稳定；但盛世背后也存在严重的问题。在内部，拜占庭皇室中需要一位强有力的领袖去使他们团结起来，越来越多挑战来自于日益膨胀的皇室内部，但曼努埃尔的去世大大危害帝国内部稳定性。帝国的一些外敌潜伏在侧翼，等待进攻的时机，尤其是安纳托利亚的突厥人——曼努埃尔最终也没能彻底击败的敌人，还有诺曼西西里人——他们已经多次入侵帝国，但最终以失败告终。甚至还有威尼斯人，拜占庭最重要的西方盟友，在1180年曼努埃尔去世时，与帝国关系恶劣。鉴于这种情况，帝国需要一位强大帝王来确保能够对抗面临的外敌威胁，之后重建帝国枯竭的国库。但曼努埃尔的儿子还未成年，并且他不受欢迎的摄政政府最终被一场政变所推翻。拜占庭国家实力正是依赖于王朝的团结与稳固，而这一动荡的继承削弱这一点，好战邻国们和野心勃勃臣属们看到他们的机会。[97]
注释
^a: The mood that prevailed before the end of 1147 is best conveyed by a verse enconium to Manuel (one of the poems included in a list transmitted under the name of Theodore Prodromos in Codex Marcianus graecus XI.22 known as Manganeios Prodromos), which was probably an imperial commission, and must have been written shortly after the Germans had crossed the Bosporus. Here Conrad is accused of wanting to take Constantinople by force, and to install a Latin patriarch (Manganeios Prodromos, no 20.1).[98]
^b: According to Paul Magdalino, one of Manuel's primary goals was a partition of Italy with the German empire, in which Byzantium would get the Adriatic coast. His unilateral pursuit, however, antagonized the new German emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, whose own plans for imperial restoration ruled out any partnership with Byzantium. Manuel was thus obliged to treat Frederick as his main enemy, and to form a web of relationships with other western powers, including the papacy, his old enemy, the Norman kingdom, Hungary, several magnates and cities throughout Italy, and, above all, the crusader states.[97]
^c: Magdalino underscores that, whereas John had removed the Rupenid princes from power in Cilicia twenty years earlier, Manuel allowed Toros to hold most of his strongholds he had taken, and effectively restored only the coastal area to imperial rule. From Raynald, Manuel secured recognition of imperial suzerainty over Antioch, with the promise to hand over the citadel, to instal a patriarch sent from Constantinople (not actually implemented until 1165–66), and to provide troops for the emperor's service, but nothing seems to have been said about the reversion of Antioch to direct imperial rule. According to Magdalino, this suggests that Manuel had dropped this demand on which both his grandfather and father insisted.[20] For his part, Medieval historian Zachary Nugent Brooke believes that the victory of Christianity against Nur ad-Din was made impossible, since both Greeks and Latins were concerned primarily with their own interests. He characterises the policy of Manuel as "short-sighted", because "he lost a splendid opportunity of recovering the former possessions of the Empire, and by his departure threw away most of the actual fruits of his expedition".[99] According to Piers Paul Read, Manuel's deal with Nur ad-Din was for the Latins another expression of Greeks' perfidy.[17]
^d: Alexios had been ordered to bring soldiers, but he merely brought his empty ships to Brindisi.[31]
^e: In 1155 Hadrian sent legates to Manuel, with a letter for Basil, Archbishop of Thessaloniki, in which he exhorted that bishop to procure the reünion of the churches. Basil answered that there was no division between the Greeks and Latins, since they held the same faith and offered the same sacrifice. "As for the causes of scandal, weak in themselves, that have separated us from each other", he added, "your Holiness can cause them to cease, by your own extended authority and the help of the Emperor of the West."[100]
^f: This probably meant that Amalric repeated Baldwin's assurances regarding the status of Antioch as an imperial fief.[51]
^g: According to Michael Angold, after the controversy of 1166 Manuel took his responsibilities very seriously, and tightened his grip over the church. 1166 was also the year in which Manuel first referred in his legislation to his role as the disciplinarian of the church (epistemonarkhes).[101]
Jeffreys, Elizabeth; Jeffreys, Michael (2015) "A Constantinopolitan Poet Views Frankish Antioch". In: Chrissis, Nikolaos G.; Kedar, Benjamin Z.; Phillips, Jonathan (eds.) Crusades, Ashgate, ISBN 978-1-472-46841-3, vol. 14, p. 53
Z. N. Brooke, A History of Europe, from 911 to 1198, 482 * P. Magdalino, The Empire of Manuel I Komnenos, 67 * J. H. Norwich, A short history of Byzantium
M. Angold, Church and Society under the Komneni, 99
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