Background
Pseudo-Alexios II was a young man from Constantinople, whose resemblance to the deceased emperor and his father Manuel I Komnenos convinced many of the veracity of his claims.
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Pseudo-Alexios Pseudo-Alexios II
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Career
He claimed to be the Emperor Alexios II Komnenos, who had been murdered in 1183. He visited Iconium and sought an audience with Sultan Kilij Arslan World War II The sultan, struck by the resemblance to Manuel, allowed him to enroll troops, but he refused to break the treaty he had concluded with Isaac II, and thus lose the tribute he was receiving from the Byzantine Empire. The pretender assembled an army of 8,000 men and ravaged the valley of the Maeander River, storming several cities, including the rich city of Chonae in order to appease his troops with plunder.
The assassin carried the head of the pretender to the sebastocrator Alexios, who was so taken aback by the similarities of its features to those of Manuel I, that he exclaimed "Those who followed him may be innocent after all."
After the death of Pseudo-Alexios, several others also assumed the name of Alexios World War II One was taken in Paphlagonia and put to death.
Another rose up at Nicomedia in 1195/1196, but he was captured and blinded.
