Decline of the Byzantine Empire of its territory in Asia Minor, and was in immediate danger of complete annihilation. It recovered following the Komnenian restoration, as Alexios I Komnenos restored relations with the Papacy, and requested aid against the Turks from Pope Urban II at the Council of Piacenza in 1095. Later that same year, the pope preached the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont. In the wake of the success of the First Crusade, the three competent Komnenian emperors, especially Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180), may have had the power to expel the outnumbered Seljuks, several factors combined to ensure that they never
Counts of Clermont-Tonnerre Counts of Clermont-Tonnerre Clermont-Tonnerre is the name of a French noble family, members of which played some part in the history of France, especially in Dauphiné, from about 1100 to the French Revolution (1789–99). Sibaud, lord of Clermont in Viennois, who first appears in 1080, was the founder of the family. His descendant, another Sibaud, commanded some troops which aided Pope Calixtus II in his struggle with the Antipope Gregory VIII. In return for this service, it is said that the pope allowed him to add certain emblems, two keys and a tiara to the arms of his family. A