Johannes II Komnenos ^{2 3 4}

   Cause of his death was accidental poisoning by his own arrow during a wild-boar hunt on Mount Taurus.

   Another name for Johannes was John II Comnenus.

  General Notes:

Johannes fikk tilnavnet Calo-Johannes, "den Smukke" Han ble bysantisk keiser etter sin far 16.08.1118 og kronet i Sofia.

Han var rettskaffen og dyktig regent. Han kjempet med hell på rikets nordgrense mot petschenger, serbere og magyarer, men var mindre heldig mot venetianerne. Disse tvang ham til å gi dem tilbake endel handelsprivilegier som Johannes hadde berøvet dem i 1126.

Han vendte seg senere mot seldschukkerne i Lilleasien, hvor han gjorde store erobringer. Han hadde planer om å trenge inn i Syrien, helt ned til Jerusalem, men døde i Kilikien under et uhell på jakten.
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Also known as Kalo Ioannes (John the Beautiful), he was the eldest son of the emperor Alexius, whom he succeeded in 1118.

Byzantine emperor (1118-43) whose reign was characterized by unremitting attempts to reconquer all important Byzantine territory lost to the Arabs, Turks, and Christian crusaders.

A son of Emperor Alexius I Comnenus and Irene Ducas, John kept an austere court and spent most of his reign with his troops. He sought to strengthen Byzantine finances by ending Venetian trading privileges in the empire, but was forced to restore them after an unsuccessful war (1122). He thwarted Pecheneg, Hungarian, and Serbian threats during the 1120s, and in 1130 allied himself with the German emperor Lothair III. (1075-1137) against the Norman king Roger II. (1095-1154) of Sicily.

In the later part of his reign John focussed his activities on the East. In 1135 he defeated the Danismend emirate of Melitene. Two years later he reconquered all of Cilicia from the kingdom of Lower Armenia and later forced Raymond of Poitiers, prince of Antioch, to recognize Byzantine suzerainty. Though John and Raymond formed an alliance against the Turkish Atabegs of Syria, their campaigns were not particularly successful. In 1143 John returned to press his claims to Antioch. He died following a hunting accident after naming his fourth son, Manuel I. Comnenus (1122-1180), to succeed him.

  Noted events in his life were:

• He was an Emperor of Byzantium from 1118 to 1143.

Johannes married Piriska of Hungary, daughter of Laszlo I the Holy of Hungary and Adelheid of Rheinfelden, in 1104.¹ (Piriska of Hungary was born circa 1088 and died on 13 Aug 1133-1134.)

  Marriage Notes:

The marriage was intended as compensation for the loss of some territories to King Coloman of Hungary. John and Piroska had eight children:
- Alexius Comnenus, co-emperor, died 1142 ;
- Maria Comnena, twin to Alexius, married Ioannes Dalassenos Rogerios;
- Andronikos Comnenus (died 1142 );
- Isaakios Comnenus (died 1154 );
- Manuel I Comnenus (died 1180 );
- Anna Comnena, married Stephanos Kontostephanos;
- Theodora Comnena, married Manuel Anemas;
- Eudokia Comnena, married Theodoros Vatazes. ⁴