he could get for his policy of military intervention in Egypt. By 1148 Manuel had seen the wisdom of securing an alliance with Conrad, whose sister-in-law Bertha of Sulzbach he had earlier married; he actually persuaded the German king to renew their alliance against Roger II of Sicily. Norwich, John Julius (1998). Bradbury, Medieval Warfare, 176 a b. Called ho Megas (, translated as " the Great by the Greeks, Manuel is known to have inspired intense loyalty in those who served him. His reign saw the last flowering of the. Brand, The Turkish Element in Byzantium, 12 *. In war he seemed ignorant of peace, in peace he appeared incapable of war." Edward Gibbon 84 Manuel had proven himself to be an energetic emperor who saw possibilities everywhere, and whose optimistic outlook had shaped his approach to foreign policy.
Even the Venetians, the single most important western ally of Byzantium, were on bad terms with the empire at Manuel's death in 1180. At this time, there were still members of the Byzantine court who remembered the passage of the First Crusade, a defining event in the collective memory of the age that had fascinated Manuel's aunt, Anna Komnene. 79 Manuel's second marriage was to Maria of Antioch (nicknamed Xene a daughter of Raymond and Constance of Antioch, in 1161. Day, Manuel and the Genoese,. "The Medieval Empire (7801204. 50 Amalric the Matrix of Employment also realised that if he were to pursue his ambitions in Egypt, he might have to leave Antioch to the hegemony of Manuel who had paid 100,000 dinars for the release of Bohemond III. Varzos, Genealogy of the Komnenian Dynasty, 155 Kadan-Epstein, Change in Byzantine Culture, 102. Furthermore, like Manzikert, the balance between the two powers began to gradually shift Manuel never again attacked the Turks, and after his death they began to move further west, deeper into Byzantine territory.
