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- BIOGRAPHY
Isaakios was born after 16 January 1093, the third son of Alexios I Komnenos, emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, and Eirene Doukaina. He was the brother of the historian Anna Komnene Doukaina. Isaakios was given the dignity of _Caesar_ by his father.
During and after the succession of Johannes II in 1118, Isaakios supported his elder brother against the intrigues of empress-dowager Eirene Doukaina and their sister Anna, who favoured the candidacy of Anna's husband Nikephoros Bryennios. In return, Johannes II raised Isaakios to the elevated dignity of _sebastokrator,_ which marked him as a near equal to the emperor. In contrast to his brother, who was chiefly engaged in warfare throughout his reign, Isaakios was also a scholar and patron of learning. He is known to have composed and compiled poetry, and is identified as the writer called 'Isaakios Komnenos the _porphyrogennetos'_ who composed three philosophical treatises based on Proclus and two commentary works on Homer.
Isaakios married Kata, a daughter of David IV 'the Builder', king of Georgia. They had two sons, Johannes and Andronicus, and two daughters, Anna and Helena, of whom Andronicus and Helena are recorded with progeny. It is now considered likely that Helena married Youri Dolgoruki, prince of Rostow and Suzdal, grand duke of Kiev.
By about 1130 (and possibly as early as 1122), Johannes and Isaakios had become estranged, and Isaakios was forced to flee Constantinople wth his sons for six years after an alleged conspiracy. Isaakios found refuge at the court of the Danishmendid emer Gümüshtigin Ghazi II ibn Danishmend at Melitene. During this time he also undertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. From his exile, Isaakios sought to create a broad alliance with other rulers against his brother, including the Seljuk Turks of Iconium, the independent prince Constantine Gabras of Trebizond, the Armenian kingdom of Cilicia and the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem. The coalition failed to materialise, however, and he was forced to seek reconciliation with his brother in 1136. Soon after, in 1139, Isaakios' eldest son Johannes again defected to the Turks. Either at that point or a little later, Isaakios was banished as a precaution to Heraclea Pontica.
Shortly before Emperor Johannes II died in 1143, he had designated his fourth and youngest son Manuel as his heir over his third (and oldest surviving) son, the _sebastokrator_ Isaakios. Consequently, Manuel's succession was not immediately secure. In this struggle for the throne, the elder Isaakios threw his support behind the younger Isaakios, but in the event, Manuel managed to seize the throne. Despite his failure, in 1145-1146, according to the contemporary Greek historian Joannes Kinnamos, Isaakios attempted to take advantage of Manuel's difficultires to usurp the imperial throne from him.
After 1150, Manuel forced his uncle to retire from public affairs, and in 1151-1152 Isaakios founded the cenobitic monastery of Kosmosoteira ('World-Saviour') at Pherae. The monastery was built as his residence ad final resting place; Isaakios wote the monastery's _typikon_ himself, leaving to it extensive estates, including entire villages and castles in Thrace. Isaakios is also depicted in the Chora Church in Constantinople, which he extensively rebuilt. The Chora Church was also the initial location of Isaakios' tomb, before he had it transferred to the Kosmosoteira monastery.
Isaakios died after 1152.
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