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Byzantine Empire
Anonymous Class
K
Bronze Follis 24mm (5.59
grams)
Struck during the reign of
Alexius I, Comnenus
Byzantine Emperor: 4 April 1081 – 15 August 1118 A.D.
Reference: Sear 1901
Bust of
Christ
facing , wearing a nimbus crown, pallium and colobium, and
raising right hand in benediction;
in left hand, book of Gospels; to left, IC; to right, XC; border of large pellets.
Three-qauarter length figure of the
Virgin orans
, nimbate and wearing pallium and maphorium;
on either side of nimbus, M – Θ or MP – ΘV; border of large pellets.
* Numismatic Note: Alexius I was the Byzantine emperor during the time of
the First Crusade.
For more than a century, the production of Follis denomination Byzantine coins
had religious Christian motifs which included included
Jesus Christ, and even Virgin Mary. These coins were designed to honor Christ
and recognize the subservient role of the Byzantine emperor, with many of the
reverse inscriptions translating to “Jesus Christ King of Kings” and “May Jesus
Christ Conquer”. The Follis denomination coins
were the largest bronze denomination coins issued by the Byzantine empire, and
their large size, along with the Christian motif make them a popular coin type
for collectors. This series ran from the period of Byzantine
emperors John I (969-976 A.D.) to Alexius I (1081-1118 A.D.). The accepted
classification was originally devised by Miss Margaret Thompson with her study
of these types of coins. World famous numismatic
author, David R. Sear adopted this classification system for his book entitled,
Byzantine Coins and Their Values. The references about this coin site Mr. Sear’s
book by the number that they appear in that work. The class types of coins
included
Class A1,
Class A2,
Class B,
Class C,
Class D,
Class E,
Class F,
Class G,
Class H,
Class I,
Class J,
Class K. Read more and see examples of these coins by reading the
JESUS CHRIST
Anonymous Class A-N Byzantine Follis Coins Reference.
Click here to see all the Jesus Christ Anonymous Follis coins for sale.
Click here to see all coins bearing Jesus Christ or related available for sale.
You are bidding on the exact
item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime
Guarantee of Authenticity.
The Icon
of Our Lady of the Sign (Greek:
Panagia
or Παναγία;
Old Church Slavonic
:
Ikona Bozhey Materi “Znamenie”;
Polish
:
Ikona Bogurodzicy “Znak” ‘) is the
term for a particular type of
icon of the
Theotokos
(Virgin Mary), facing the viewer directly, depicted either full length or half,
with her hands raised in the
orans
position, and with the image of the
Child Jesus
depicted within a round
aureole
upon her breast.
Our Lady of the Sign (18th century,
iconostasis
of the Transfiguration church,
Kizhi
monastery, Karelia, Russia).
The icon depicts the Theotokos during the
Annunciation
at the moment of saying, “May it be done to me according to your word.”(Luke
1:38). The image of the Christ child represents him at the
moment of his conception in the womb of the Virgin. He is depicted not as a
fetus, but rather vested in divine robes, and often holding a scroll, symbolic
of his role as teacher. Sometimes his robes are gold or white, symbolizing
divine glory; sometimes they are blue and red, symbolizing the two natures of
Christ (see
Christology
).
His face is depicted as that of an old man, indicating the Christian teaching
that he was at one and the same time both a fully human infant and fully the
eternal God, one of the Trinity. His right hand is raised in blessing.
The term Virgin of the Sign or Our Lady of the Sign is a
reference to the
prophecy
of Isaiah
7:14
:
“Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel
“.
Such an image is often placed in the
apse of the
sanctuary
of an Orthodox
church
above the
Holy Table
(altar).[2]
As with most Orthodox icons of Mary, the letters ΜΡ ΘΥ (short for ΜΗΤΗΡ
ΘΕΟΥ, “Mother
of God“) are usually placed on the upper left and right of the
head of the Virgin Mary.
This type of icon is also sometimes called the Platytéra (Greek:
Πλατυτέρα, literally wider or more spacious); poetically, by
containing the
Creator
of the Universe
in her
womb
,
Mary has become Platytera ton ouranon (Πλατυτέρα των Ουρανών): “More
spacious than the heavens”. The Platytéra is traditionally depicted on
the half-dome that stands above the
altar
.
It is visible high above the
iconostasis
,
and facing down the length of the
nave of the church. This
particular depiction is usually on a dark blue background, often adorned by
golden stars.
History
The depiction of the
Virgin Mary
with her hands upraised in prayer (“orans”) is of very ancient origin in
Christian art
.
In the
mausoleum of St Agnes
in Rome
is a depiction dating to the 4th century which depicts the Theotokos with hands
raised in prayer and the infant
Jesus
sitting upon her knees. There is also an ancient Byzantine
icon of the Mother of God
“Nikopea” from the 6th century, where the Virgin Mary is depicted seated upon a
throne
and holding in her hands an oval shield with the image of “Emmanuel”.
Icons of the Virgin, known as “The Sign”, appeared in
Russia
during the 11th to 12th centuries. The icon became highly venerated in Russia
because of what
Orthodox Christians
believe to be the miraculous deliverance of
Novgorod
from invasion in the year 1170.
Among the more famous variants of this genre are the Icons of the Mother of
God of
Abalatsk
,
Kursk-Root
,
Mirozh
,
Novgorod
,
Sankt Petersburg
,
Tsarskoye Selo
and Vologda
.
The
Church of St.
Stanislaus Kostka
, one of
Chicago
‘s
famed
Polish Cathedrals
,
is home to a 9-foot-wide (2.7 m) Iconic
Monstrance
of Our Lady of the Sign as part of the planned
Sanctuary
of
The Divine Mercy
that is being constructed adjacent to the church. The Monstrance will be found
within the sanctuary’s adoration
chapel
which will be the focus of 24-hour
Eucharistic Adoration
and where there will be no liturgies or vocal prayers, either by individuals or
groups as the space will be strictly meant for private meditation and
contemplation.
Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BC/BCE – c. 30 AD/CE), also
referred to as Jesus Christ or simply Jesus, is the central figure
of
Christianity. Most
Christian denominations
venerate him as
God the
Son
incarnated
and believe that he
rose from the dead
after being
crucified
.
The
principal sources of information regarding Jesus are the four
canonical gospels, and most
critical scholars
find them, at least the
Synoptic Gospels, useful for reconstructing Jesus’ life and
teachings. Some scholars believe apocryphal texts such as the
Gospel of Thomas and the
Gospel according to the Hebrews
are also
relevant
.
Most critical historians agree that Jesus was a
Jew
who was regarded as a teacher and
healer
, that he
was baptized
by
John the Baptist, and
was crucified
in
Jerusalem
on the orders of the
Roman Prefect
Judaea,
Pontius Pilate, on the charge of
sedition
against the Roman Empire
. Critical Biblical scholars and
historians have offered competing descriptions of Jesus as a self-described
Messiah,
as the leader of an apocalyptic movement, as an itinerant sage, as a charismatic
healer, and as the founder of an independent religious movement. Most
contemporary scholars of the
Historical Jesus consider him to have been an independent,
charismatic founder of a Jewish restoration movement, anticipating an imminent
apocalypse. Other prominent scholars, however, contend that Jesus’ “Kingdom
of God” meant radical personal and social transformation instead of a
future apocalypse.
Christians traditionally believe that Jesus was
born of a virgin
:529–32
performed
miracles
,:358–59
founded
the Church
,
rose from the dead
, and
ascended
into
heaven,:616–20
from which he
will return
.:1091–109
Most Christian scholars today present Jesus as the awaited Messiah promised in
the
Old Testament and as God, arguing that he fulfilled many Messianic
prophecies of the Old Testament
. The majority of Christians
worship Jesus as the incarnation of God the Son, one of three divine persons of
a reject Trinitarianism
Trinity, wholly or partly,
believing it to be non-scriptural.
The First Crusade (1096–1099) started as a widespread pilgrimage
(France and Germany) and ended as a military expedition by
Roman Catholic
Europe
to regain the
Holy Lands
taken in the
Muslim conquests
of the
Levant
(632–661), ultimately resulting in the
recapture of Jerusalem
in 1099. It was launched
on 27 November 1095 by
Pope Urban II
with the primary goal of
responding to an appeal from
Byzantine Emperor
Alexios I Komnenos
, who requested that western
volunteers come to his aid and help to repel the invading
Seljuq Turks
from
Anatolia
. An additional goal soon became the
principal objective—the Christian reconquest of the
sacred city of Jerusalem
and the Holy Land and
the freeing of the
Eastern Christians
from
Islamic
rule.
During the crusade,
knights
and
peasants
from many nations of
Western Europe
travelled over land and by sea,
first to
Constantinople
and then on towards
Jerusalem
. The Crusaders arrived at Jerusalem,
launched an assault on the city, and captured it in July 1099, massacring many
of the city’s Muslim, Christian, and
Jewish inhabitants. They also established the
crusader states
of the
Kingdom of Jerusalem
, the
County of Tripoli
, the
Principality of Antioch
, and the
County of Edessa
.
Because the First Crusade was largely concerned with Jerusalem, a city which
had not been under Christian
dominion
for 461 years, and the crusader army
refused to return the land to the control of the
Byzantine Empire
, the status of the First
Crusade as defensive or as aggressive in nature remains controversial.
The First Crusade was part of the Christian response to the
Muslim conquests
, and was followed by the
Second
through
Ninth
Crusades, but the gains made lasted for
less than 200 years. It was also the first major step towards reopening
international trade
in the West since the fall
of the
Western Roman Empire
.
Alexios I Komnenos,
Latinized
as Alexius I Comnenus (Greek:
Ἀλέξιος Α’ Κομνηνός, 1056 – 15 August
1118—note that some sources list his date of birth as 1048), was
Byzantine
emperor
from 1081 to 1118, and the
founder
of the
Komnenian dynasty
. Inheriting a collapsing
empire and faced with constant warfare during his reign against both the
Seljuk 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“. His appeals to Western Europe for help against the
Turks were also the catalyst that triggered the
Crusades
.
//
Life
Alexios was the son of Ioannis Komnenos and
Anna Dalassena
, and the nephew of
Isaac I Komnenos
(emperor 1057–1059). Alexios’
father declined the throne on the abdication of Isaac, who was accordingly
succeeded by four emperors of other families between 1059 and 1081. Under one of
these emperors,
Romanos IV Diogenes
(1067–1071), he served with
distinction against the
Seljuk Turks
. Under
Michael VII Doukas
Parapinakes
(1071–1078) and
Nikephoros III Botaneiates
(1078–1081), he was
also employed, along with his elder brother
Isaac
, against rebels in
Asia Minor
,
Thrace
, and in
Epirus
.
Alexios’ mother wielded great influence during his reign, and he is described
by his daughter, the historian
Anna Komnene
, as running next to the imperial
chariot that she drove. In 1074, the rebel mercenaries in Asia Minor were
successfully subdued, and, in 1078, he was appointed commander of the field army
in the West by Nikephoros III. In this capacity, Alexios defeated the rebellions
of
Nikephoros Bryennios the Elder
(whose son or
grandson later married Alexios’ daughter Anna) and
Nikephoros Basilakes
, the first at the
Battle of Kalavrye
and the latter in a surprise
night attack on his camp. Alexios was ordered to march against his
brother-in-law
Nikephoros Melissenos
in Asia Minor but refused
to fight his kinsman. This did not, however, lead to a demotion, as Alexios was
needed to counter the expected invasion of the
Normans
of Southern Italy, led by
Robert Guiscard
.
Conspiracy
and revolt of the Komnenoi against Botaneites
While the Byzantine troops were assembling for the expedition, Alexios was
approached by the Doukas faction at court, who convinced him to join a
conspiracy
against Nikephoros III. The mother
of Alexios, Anna Dalassena, was to play a prominent role in this coup d’état of
1081, along with the current empress,
Maria of Alania
. First married to Michael VII
Doukas and secondly to
Nikephoros III Botaneiates
, she was preoccupied
with the future of her son by Michael VII,
Constantine Doukas
. Nikephoros III intended to
leave the throne to one of his close relatives, and this resulted in Maria’s
ambivalence and alliance with the Komnenoi. The real driving force behind this
political alliance was Anna Dalassene.
Already closely connected to the Komnenoi through Maria’s cousin Irene to
Isaac Komnenos, the Komnenoi brothers were able to see the empress under the
pretense of a friendly family visit. Furthermore, to aid the conspiracy Maria
had adopted Alexios as her son, though she was only five years older than he
Maria was persuaded to do so on the advice of her own “Alans” and her eunuchs,
who had been instigated to do his by Isaac Komnenos. Knowing Anna’s tight hold
on her family, it must have been with her implicit approval that he be adopted.
As a result, Alexios and Constantine, Maria’s son, were now adoptive brothers
and both Isaac and Alexios took an oath that they would safeguard his rights as
emperor. By secretly giving inside information to the Komnenoi, Maria was an
invaluable ally.
As stated in the Alexiad, Isaac and Alexios left Constantinople in
mid-February 1081 to raise an army against Botaneiates. However, when the time
came, Anna quickly and surreptitiously mobilized the remainder of the family and
took refuge in the
Hagia Sophia
. From there she negotiated with
the emperor for the safety of family members left in the capital, while
protesting her sons’ innocence of hostile actions; under the falsehood of making
a vesperal visit to worship at the church, she deliberately excluded the
grandson of Botaneiates and his loyal tutor, met with Alexios and Isaac and fled
for the forum of Constantine. The tutor found them missing and eventually found
them on the palace grounds but she was able to convince him that they would
return to the palace shortly. Then to gain entrance to both the outer and inner
sanctuary of the church the women pretended to the gatekeepers that they were
pilgrims from
Cappadocia
who had spent all their funds and
wanted to worship before starting their return trip. However, before they were
to gain entry into the sanctuary, Straboromanos and royal guards caught up with
them to summon them back to the palace. Anna then protested that the family was
in fear for their lives, her sons were loyal subjects (Alexios and Isaac were
discovered absent without leave), and had learned of a plot by enemies of the
Komnenoi to have them both blinded and had, therefore, fled the capital so they
may continue to be of loyal service to the emperor. She refused to go with them
and demanded that they allow her to pray to the Mother of God for protection.
This request was granted and Anna then manifested her true theatrical and
manipulative capabilities: “She was allowed to enter. As if she were weighed
down with old age and worn out by grief, she walked slowly and when she
approached the actual entrance to the sanctuary made two genuflections; on the
third she sank to the floor and taking firm hold of the sacred doors, cried in a
loud voice: “Unless my hands are cuff off, I will not leave this holy place
except on one condition: that I receive the emperor’s cross as guarantee of
safety”.
Nikephoros III Botaneiates was forced into a public vow that he would grant
protection to the family. Straboromanos tried to give her his cross, but for
Anna this was not sufficiently large enough so that all bystanders could witness
the oath. She also demanded that the cross be personally sent by Botaneiates as
a vow of his good faith. He obliged, sending a complete assurance for the family
with his own cross. At the emperor’s further insistence, and for their own
protection they took refuge at the convent of Petrion, where eventually they
were joined by Irene Doukaina’s mother,
Maria of Bulgaria
.
Botaneiates allowed them to be treated as refugees rather than guests. They
were allowed to have family members bring in their own food and were on good
terms with the guards from whom they learned the latest news. Anna was highly
successful in three important aspects of the revolt: she bought time for her
sons to steal imperial horses from the stables and escape the city, she
distracted the emperor and gave her sons time to gather and arm their troops and
she gave a false sense of security to Botaneiates that there was no real
treasonous coup against him. After bribing the Western troops who had guarded
the city, Isaac and Alexios Komnenos entered the capital victoriously on April
1, 1081.
During this time, Alexios was rumored to be the lover of Empress
Maria of Alania
, the daughter of King
Bagrat IV of Georgia
, who had been successively
married to
Michael VII
Doukas and his successor Nikephoros
III Botaneiates, renowned for her beauty. Alexios arranged for Maria to stay on
the palace grounds, and it was thought that Alexios was considering marrying the
erstwhile empress. However, his mother consolidated the Doukas family connection
by arranging the Emperor’s marriage to
Irene Doukaina
, granddaughter of the
Caesar John Doukas
, the uncle of Michael VII,
who would not have supported Alexios otherwise. As a measure intended to keep
the support of the Doukai, Alexios restored
Constantine Doukas
, the young son of Michael
VII and Maria, as co-emperor and a little later betrothed him to his own
first-born daughter
Anna
, who moved into the Mangana Palace with
her fiancé and his mother.
However, this situation changed drastically when Alexios’ first son
John II Komnenos
was born in 1087: Anna’s
engagement to Constantine was dissolved, and she was moved to the main Palace to
live with her mother and grandmother. Alexios became estranged from Maria, who
was stripped of her imperial title and retired to a monastery, and Constantine
Doukas was deprived of his status as co-emperor. Nevertheless, he remained in
good relations with the imperial family and succumbed to his weak constitution
soon afterwards.
Wars
against the Normans, Pechenegs and Tzachas
Alexios’ long reign of nearly thirty-seven years was full of struggle. At the
very outset, he had to meet the formidable attack of the Normans (led by
Robert Guiscard
and his son
Bohemund
), who took
Dyrrhachium
and
Corfu
, and laid siege to
Larissa
in
Thessaly
(see
Battle of Dyrrhachium
). Alexios suffered
several defeats before being able to strike back with success. He enhanced this
by bribing the German king
Henry IV
with 360,000 gold pieces to attack the
Normans in Italy, which forced the Normans to concentrate on their defenses at
home in 1083–1084. He also secured the alliance of
Henry, Count of Monte Sant’Angelo
, who
controlled the
Gargano Peninsula
and dated his charters by
Alexios’ reign. Henry’s allegiance was to be the last example of Byzantine
political control on peninsular Italy. The Norman danger ended for the time
being with Robert Guiscard’s death in 1085, and the Byzantines recovered most of
their losses.
Next, Alexios had to deal with disturbances in
Thrace
, where the heretical sects of the
Bogomils
and the
Paulicians
revolted and made common cause with
the Pechenegs
from beyond the
Danube
. Paulician soldiers in imperial service
likewise deserted during Alexios’ battles with the Normans. As soon as the
Norman threat had passed, Alexios set out to punish the rebels and deserters,
confiscating their lands. This led to a further revolt near
Philippopolis
, and the commander of the field
army in the west, Gregory Pakourianos, was defeated and killed in the ensuing
battle. In 1087 the Pechenegs raided into Thrace and Alexios crossed into
Moesia
to retaliate but failed to take
Dorostolon (Silistra).
During his retreat, the emperor was surrounded and worn down by the Pechenegs,
who forced him to sign a truce and pay protection money. In 1090 the Pechenegs
invaded Thrace again, while
Tzachas
, the brother-in-law of the Sultan of
Rum
, launched a fleet and attempted to arrange
a joint siege of Constantinople with the Pechenegs. Alexios overcame this crisis
by entering into an alliance with a horde of 40,000
Cumans
, with whose help he crushed the
Pechenegs at
Levounion
in Thrace on 29 April 1091.
This put an end to the Pecheneg threat, but in 1094 the Cumans began to raid
the imperial territories in the Balkans. Led by a pretender claiming to be
Constantine Diogenes, a long-dead son of the Emperor
Romanos IV
, the Cumans crossed the mountains
and raided into eastern Thrace until their leader was eliminated at
Adrianople
. With the Balkans more or less
pacified, Alexios could now turn his attention to
Asia Minor
, which had been almost completely
overrun by the
Seljuk Turks
.
Byzantine-Seljuk
Wars and the First Crusade
By the time Alexios ascended the throne, the Seljuks had taken most of Asia
Minor. Alexios was able to secure much of the coastal regions by sending peasant
soldiers to raid the Seljuk camps, but these victories were unable to stop the
Turks ltogether. As early as 1090, Alexios had taken reconciliatory measures
towards the
Papacy
, with the intention of seeking western
support against the Seljuks. In 1095 his ambassadors appeared before
Pope Urban II
at the
Council of Piacenza
. The help which he wanted
from the West was simply
mercenary
forces and not the immense hosts
which arrived, to his consternation and embarrassment, after the pope preached
the First Crusade
at the
Council of Clermont
later that same year. Not
quite ready to supply this number of people as they traversed his territories,
the emperor saw his Balkan possessions subjected to further pillage at the hands
of his own allies. Alexios dealt with the first disorganized group of Crusaders,
led by the preacher
Peter the Hermit
, by sending them on to Asia
Minor, where they were massacred by the Turks in 1096.
The second and much more formidable host of crusaders gradually made its way
to Constantinople
, led in sections by
Godfrey of Bouillon
,
Bohemund of Taranto
,
Raymond IV of Toulouse
and other important
members of the western nobility. Alexios used the opportunity of meeting the
crusader leaders separately as they arrived and extracting from them oaths of
homage and the promise to turn over conquered lands to the
Byzantine Empire
. Transferring each contingent
into Asia, Alexios promised to supply them with provisions in return for their
oaths of homage. The crusade was a notable success for Byzantium, as Alexios now
recovered a number of important cities and islands. The
crusader siege
of
Nicaea
forced the city to surrender to the
emperor in 1097, and the subsequent crusader victory at
Dorylaion
allowed the Byzantine forces to
recover much of western Asia Minor.
John Doukas
re-established Byzantine rule in
Chios
,
Rhodes
,
Smyrna
,
Ephesus
,
Sardis
, and
Philadelphia
in 1097–1099. This success is
ascribed by Alexios’ daughter Anna to his policy and diplomacy, but by the Latin
historians of the crusade to his treachery and falseness. In 1099, a Byzantine
fleet of 10 ships were sent to assist the Crusaders in capturing
Laodicea
and other coastal towns as far as
Tripoli
. The crusaders believed their oaths
were made invalid when the Byzantine contingent under
Tatikios
failed to help them during the
siege of Antioch
; Bohemund, who had set himself
up as
Prince of Antioch
, briefly went to war with
Alexios in the Balkans, but was blockaded by the Byzantine forces and agreed to
become Alexios’ vassal by the
Treaty of Devol
in 1108.
Personal
life
During the last twenty years of his life Alexios lost much of his popularity.
The years were marked by persecution of the followers of the
Paulician
and
Bogomil
heresies—one of his last acts was to
publicly burn at the stake
Basil
, a Bogomil leader, with whom he had
engaged in a theological dispute. In spite of the success of the crusade,
Alexios also had to repel numerous attempts on his territory by the Seljuks in
1110–1117.
Alexios was for many years under the strong influence of an eminence grise,
his mother
Anna Dalassene
, a wise and immensely able
politician whom, in a uniquely irregular fashion, he had crowned as
Augusta
instead of the rightful claimant to
the title, his wife Irene Doukaina. Dalassena was the effective administrator of
the Empire during Alexios’ long absences in military campaigns: she was
constantly at odds with her daughter-in-law and had assumed total responsibility
for the upbringing and education of her granddaughter Anna Komnene.
Succession
Alexios’ last years were also troubled by anxieties over the succession.
Although he had crowned his son
John II Komnenos
co-emperor at the age of five
in 1092, John’s mother Irene Doukaina wished to alter the succession in favor of
her daughter Anna and Anna’s husband,
Nikephoros Bryennios the Younger
. Bryennios had
been made
kaisar
(Caesar) and received the
newly-created title of
panhypersebastos
(“honoured above all”),
and remained loyal to both Alexios and John. Nevertheless, the intrigues of
Irene and Anna disturbed even Alexios’ dying hours.
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