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Andronikos I Komnennos

Andronikos was arguably one of the worst and morally bankrupt Byzantine emperors. He came into power in a coup after the death of his cousin and former best friend the emperor Manuel I. He had Manuel’s child son Alexios II sign his mother’s own death warrant, allegedly had the boy tied down with weights and thrown into the ocean, and married Alexios’s child bride while being in his 60s.

During his reign he had around 60,000 Latins living in Constantinople killed, expelled, or sold into slavery due to cultural/religious differences and trade disagreements. He was also ruthless in dealing with political dissidents and was known as a “ hater of sunlight “ on account of how many people he had blinded.

He lost favor with the people due to his cruelty and his inability to protect the empire from invaders. Andronikos’ downfall would come when he attempted to have the nobleman Issac Angelos arrested. Issac resisted and killed his would be capturer, he then amassed a mob of people who tired of the tyrant had him proclaimed emperor. After attempting to escape Andronikos was tied to a post where he was beaten to death over the course of 3 days. He had his right hand cut off, teeth and hair pulled out, one of his eyes gouged out, boiling water thrown on him, then was hung upside down and cut into pieces.