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Foreign affairs under the last Comneni, Alexius II and Andronicus I
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Page 5
Then the Latins who had escaped the massacre organized in 1182 in Constantinople returned to the West to their own countries; relating the horrors of their experiences, they urged revenge for the insults and damages inflicted upon them. The Italian trade republics, which had suffered great financial losses, were particularly irritated. The members of some noble Byzantine families persecuted by Andronicus also fled to Italy, and there they tried to induce the Italian governments to open hostilities against Byzantium.
Meanwhile, the western danger to the Eastern Empire was growing more and more threatening. Frederick Barbarossa married his son and heir, Henry, to the heiress of the Kingdom of Sicily, Constance; the betrothal had been announced in Germany in 1184, a year before Andronicus' death. It was a very important event, because after Fredericks death his successor could annex Naples and Sicily to the possessions of the king of Germany. From two separate enemies there would be created against Byzantium one single terrible enemy whose political interests could not be reconciled with those of the Eastern Empire. It is even very probable that this matrimonial alliance with the Norman royal house was made to establish a point of departure in the Sicilian kingdom for the plans of the western emperor against Byzantium, in order to conquer more easily, with the help of the Normans, the Kingdom of the Greeks. At least, a western medieval historian remarked: The Emperor hostile to the Kingdom of the Greeks (regno Grecorum infestus) endeavors to unite the daughter of Roger with his son.
The king of Sicily, William II, a contemporary of Andronicus, taking advantage of the internal troubles in Byzantium, organized a great expedition against the latter, the purpose of which was certainly not only the desire of taking revenge for the massacre of 1182 or of supporting a possible claimant to the Byzantine throne, but also an intention to take possession of the Byzantine throne for himself. Andronicus decided to enter into negotiations both with the West and with the East.
He made a treaty with Venice before the beginning of 1185. In coming to terms with the Republic of St. Mark in order to support the Empire (pro firmatione Imperii) Andronicus is said to have released the Venetians still imprisoned in Constantinople after the massacre of 1182 and to have promised compensation for loss, in annual payments. He actually began to discharge these obligations, and the first installment was paid in 1185. He also attempted to draw closer to the pope of Rome, from whom he evidently hoped to get support, by pledging himself to grant some privileges to the Catholic church. By the end of 1182 Pope Lucius III had sent a legate to Constantinople. Furthermore, a western chronicle affords very interesting evidence that in 1185 Andronicus, against the will of the patriarch, constructed a church in Constantinople upon which he bestowed an ample revenue, where the Latin Catholic priests officiated according to their rite; up to this day that church is called the Latin church.
A History of the Byzantine Empire - Table of Contents
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Reference address : https://www.ellopos.net/elpenor/vasilief/alexius-ii-andronicus-i.asp?pg=5
