Alexios I Komnenos (, 1048 or 1056 – 15 August 1118),
Latinized as
Alexius I Comnenus, was
Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118. Although he was not the founder of the
Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. Inheriting a collapsing empire and faced with constant warfare during his reign against both the
Seljuq Turks in
Asia Minor and the
Normans in the western
Balkans, Alexios was able to halt the Byzantine decline and begin the military, financial, and territorial recovery known as the
Komnenian restoration. The basis for this recovery were various reforms initiated by Alexios. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the Turks were also the catalyst that likely contributed to the convoking of the
Crusades.