Manuel VII Comnenus

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Emperor Manuel VII Comnenus
pantocratorie-ancien.jpg
Birth
17 August 1740
Accession
12 June 1746
Death
26 July 1801
Titles
By the Grace of God, Emperor of Pantocratoria, Autocrator of the Romans, Caesar Augustus, Equal of the Apostles, God's Vicegerent on Earth, the Most Pious, Sebastocrator, King of Kings Ruling over those who Rule, Porphyrogenitus, Grand Master of the Order of the Pantocrator

His Imperial Majesty Emperor Manuel VII was the eldest son of Emperor Isaac IV. He ascended the throne at the age of 6 and reigned until the age of 60. Since he was a minor when he became Emperor, Pantocratoria was ruled over by a regency council elected jointly by the Imperial Parliament and the Empress Dowager, Helen d'Isakiosopolis. In his memoirs, he noted that one of his earliest memories was presiding over the opening of the Sixteenth Imperial Parliament as a boy of five shortly after his father's death, seated high atop a mountain of purple cushions embroided in gold with "M VII I" dressed in full regalia as the five hundred and forty members, all middle aged and elderly men, bowed and humbled themselves before him. The time in which he had not been emperor was lost, only a vague childhood memory.

In 1753, the regency council was expected to call the Fifth Pantocratorian Crusade on the Emperor's behalf, on the three hundredth anniversary of the fall of Constantinople. The council, through Manuel, however, simply called for a day of remembrance. Whether the move was orchestrated to provoke a rebellion in order to allow the Empress-Dowager to further centralise power on the Crown, whether the move was intended to symbolise that the Empire had moved on and was now focussed not on its ancient homeland but on Pantocratoria, or whether it was purely pragmatic is still a subject of academic debate. The effect, however, cannot be debated. The Rebellion of the Fifth Pantocratorian Crusade ensued, which saw the power of the Knights of the Order of the Pantocrator effectively broken forever. The Emperor became the Grandmaster of the Order, and knighthoods became a tool exclusively to reward loyal service to the Crown.

Manuel didn't assume the responsibilities of his office until he reached the age of twenty one, when it became immediately apparent that he intended to rule as well as reign. His court moved about the whole empire, even the Exarchate of New Jerusalem, overturning local customs and courts and imposing in their place direct rule by the Emperor's governors. The nobles were obliged to attend the Emperor at his court (or otherwise be engaged directly in his service) for three out of four seasons of the year, to separate them from their lands and remove them as rivals to imperial authority. Instead of concerning themselves with the administration of their ancestral domains, Pantocratoria's nobility would henceforth concern itself with frivilous details as it vied for the Emperor's affection and favour.

He married his court's shining star, the beautiful and very sensual Helen Phocas, in 1767, although that didn't stop him from enjoying the company of Pantocratoria's most attractive artistocratic young ladies; Mademoiselle de Montmanuel, la Comtesse d'Isakiosopolis, and Madame d'Adrienople are just the most famous of his mistresses, who were reckoned by their dozens. His principle court of pleasure was the magnificent Château Chantouillet, whose breath-taking gardens were the scene of all manner of decadent spectacle.

Manuel's reign wasn't just pomp, circumstance and decadent pleasures - in fact, these things were in fact instruments of a larger policy to centralise power in the hands of the Imperial Government, chosen from the Imperial Parliament by the Emperor through the infantilisation of the nobility. He established the supremacy of the Parliament over the nobility through several acts, which would leave the Emperor as the only authority capable of over-ruling an act of parliament via the mechanism of withholding the imperial assent which makes an act law.

His reign also saw the further settlement of the Pantocratorian Archipelago, with the establishment of several new cities in the hitherto unsettled south of the mainland, most notably the creation of the Duchy of Montmanuel, now one of the wealthiest rural provinces in Pantocratoria. Manuel was also a prolific builder, completing not only the masterpiece Palace of Chantouillet, but commissioning paved highways, public theatres, huge government buildings, and effective irrigation systems.

He died of a stroke at the age of 60, and although his reign was perhaps not as revolutionary as his grandfather's, it was no less influential, and saw the creation of institutions, laws and systems still in place in Pantocratoria today.

Preceded by:
Isaac IV Comnenus
Emperor of Pantocratoria
1746-1801
Succeeded by:
Manuel VIII Comnenus