Manuel Erotikos Komnenos

Manuel Erotikos Komnenos (Μανουήλ Ερωτικός Κομνηνός) was a Byzantine military leader under Basil II, and the first fully documented ancestor of the Komnenos dynasty.

Biography
Manuel was a member of the Erotikos family, possibly by maternal ancestry, his branch of the family appears to have changed their habitual surname to Komnenos. Other branches retained the name Erotikos into the 12th century. It has been suggested that Manuel's father was a senior army officer named Isaac (Isaakios), who is recorded as being the strategos (military governor) of Thrace and Macedonia during the conquest of Bulgaria by John I Tzimiskes. Manuel was named strategos autokrator of the East under Emperor Basil II in order to defeat the rebel Bardas Skleros. As a reward for his defence, in 978, of Nicaea against Skleros, Basil gave him lands around Kastamone in Paphlagonia, where he built the castle Castra Komnenon.

Manuel originated in Thrace, and may have been of Vlach ancestry, although it is possible that he was of other ethnic origins. It is also possible that the family name was derived from the city of Komne, which is located near Philippopolis in Thrace.

Family
By a conjectured first marriage, Manuel had the following son: By a (second) marriage after 1005, Manuel had the following children:
 * 1) Nikephoros Komnenos, protospatharios, governor of Vaspurakan (after 1021) under Emperor Basil, blinded by Constantine VIII (after 1026).
 * 1) Emperor Isaac I Komnenos (1005/10 – 1061), who married Catherine of Bulgaria of the Royal House of Cometopuli.
 * 2) a daughter (born 1012), who married Michael Doukeianos (died 1050)
 * 3) John Komnenos, (1015 – 12 July 1067), who married Anna Dalassene and fathered Alexios I Komnenos.