Editing Alexios II Komnenos (section)

===Regency of Maria and Alexios===
[[File:Manuel I, Maria and Alexios II (Vat.gr.1851 folio 7r).jpg|thumb|Alexios II with his father [[Manuel I Komnenos]] and mother [[Maria of Antioch]], depicted in an illuminated manuscript, ca. 1179.{{efn|The identification of these three figures from Vat. Gr. 1851 as Alexios II and his parents is by Ioannis Spatharakis.<ref name=Spatharakis>{{cite book|last=Spatharakis |first=Ioannis|title=The Portrait in Byzantine Illuminated Manuscripts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AQ4VAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA210|year=1976|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|pages=210–230|isbn=9004047832 }}</ref> Other historians variously identify them as a young [[Andronikos IV Palaiologos]]<ref>{{cite book|last=Hennessy |first=Cecily|author-link=Cecily Hennessy |title=A child bride and her representation in the Vatican Epithalamion, cod. gr. 1851|year=2006|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|pages=177–183|doi=10.1163/9789004346239_010 }}</ref> or [[Andronikos II Palaiologos]] with their respective parents.<ref>{{cite book|last=Iacobini |first=Antonio|title=Arte profana e arte sacra a Bisanzio|year=1995 |publisher=Argos |isbn=9788885897496}}</ref>}}|left]]When Manuel I died in September 1180, Alexios II succeeded him as emperor. At this time, however, he was an uneducated boy with only amusement in mind. The imperial regency was then undertaken by the [[dowager]] empress and the ''[[protosebastos|prōtosebastos]]'' [[Alexios Komnenos (protosebastos)|Alexios Komnenos]] (a namesake cousin of Alexios II), who was popularly believed to be her lover.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Alexius II.|volume=1|page=577|first=John Bagnell|last=Bury|author-link=J. B. Bury}}</ref><ref name=odb/>{{rp|64}}

The regents depleted the imperial treasury by granting privileges to Italian merchants and to the Byzantine aristocracy. When [[Béla III of Hungary]] and [[Kilij Arslan II]] of [[Sultanate of Rum|Rum]] began raiding within the Byzantine [[Byzantine–Hungarian War (1180–1185)|western]] and eastern borders respectively, the regents were forced to ask for help to the pope and to [[Saladin]]. Furthermore, a party supporting Alexios II's right to reign, led by his half-sister [[Maria Komnene (daughter of Manuel I)|Maria Komnene]] and her husband the [[Renier of Montferrat|''caesar'' John]], stirred up riots in the streets of the capital.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=odb/>{{rp|64}}

The regents managed to defeat the party on April 1182,<ref name=odb/>{{rp|64}} but [[Andronikos I Komnenos|Andronikos Komnenos]], a first cousin of Manuel I, took advantage of the disorder to aim at the crown. He entered Constantinople, received with almost divine honours, and overthrew the government. His arrival was celebrated by a [[massacre of the Latins]] in Constantinople, especially the [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] merchants, which he made no attempt to stop.<ref name="EB1911"/><ref name=odb/>{{rp|64}}