Comnenus, the name of a Byzantine family, which from 1081 to 1185, occupied the throne of Constantinople, originally came from Paphlagonia. The Comneni, who for a while upheld the fate of the sinking Empire, assumed the honor of a Roman origin, but the family had long since been transported from Italy to Asia. The first of their line was the illustrious Manual, who, in the reign of Basil II, Roman Emperor, 958-963, of the Macedonian Dynasty, contributed by war and treaty to appease the troubles of the East.