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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Herberto, post: 2455659, member: 74222&quot;]I intend first to portray the historical background behind the coins. If you are not interesting in the history part then just skip down.&nbsp; This is not intended to be exhaustive or academic, and I could be wrong in some minor things.</p><p><br /></p><p>In 1071 the Byzantine Empire was on the edge of collapse. The later emperors had giving power to the aristocracy over the lands instead of supporting the farmers which was the backbone of the Theme-system(which was a reliable military system to sustain soldiers constructed in the second half of seventh century), and also the emperors sought mercenaries to fill their military ranks instead of using own men. The monetary system was also broken because the latter emperors made debasement of the gold content in their gold coins. In term of geography the Normans had take south Italy and intended to launch an attack on Byzantium as a Norman guy wanted to be Byzantine emperor. Balkan was attacked by two nomadic groups Pecheneges and Cumans, and in 1071 the Byzantines were inflected a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Manzikert which meant that most of Anatolia was floated by Seljuq Turks.</p><p><br /></p><p>To summarize it easily:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]513779[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>However in 1081 Alexius Comennus became the Byzantine emperor, and he launched what the historians today call “Komnenian Restoration”. First he allied himself with Venice and thus he neutralized the Normans. Then he turned his attention in Balkan and bribed/persuaded the Cumans to attack the Pechenegs in Balkan. And finally he called upon the Pope in Rome to receive some men in order to take Anatolia back. That was one of the reason for the first Crusade. A combined army of Byzantines and Crusaders repelled the Turks and took most of Anatolia back, especially the rich coastal areas, while the Crusader States were established in Levant. Alexius Comennus fixed the military system with a system called “Pronoia” in which I will not annoy with details, and also he initiated a new monetary system where Hyperpyron replaced the defunct Histamenon.</p><p><br /></p><p>So from being on the edge of collapsing as shown with the image above, the things turned completely different at the end of his reign:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]513778[/ATTACH]</p><p>Alexius Comennus practically gave the Byzantine state 100 more years as strong state. The Byzantine state was not as strong as under Macedonian Dynasty prior, but it was still the most powerful in the eastern Mediterranean world.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Now this leads to 3 coins I want to show from the Comnenus Dynasty. The first one I have shown before, but not the two next:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]513775[/ATTACH]</p><p>Alexius I Comnenus, defunct Histamenon(?), 4,32 gram, 31mm, sear 1893. That coin was before the reformation of the monetary system hence that Histamenon is practically silver rather than gold.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]513776[/ATTACH]</p><p>John II Comnenus, Hyperpyron, 4,28gram and 32mm, Sear 1938. That coin clearly has more content of gold, due to the monetary reform initiated by his father. Note the double face of Jesus, conclave coins are difficult to strike. There is usually a lot of earth on it so bear with it.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]513777[/ATTACH]</p><p>Manuel Comnenus, Asper, 2,6gram and 21mm, Sear 2601. Weird denomination minted In Trebizond.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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