MANUEL, JACQUES ANTOINE, a famous member of the French Chamber after the Restoration, was born at Barcelonette, in the department of Basses-Alpes, in 1775. After receiving his education at Nîmes, he entered the battalions of the Requisition in 1793, and for his bravery was soon promoted to the rank of captain. On the signing of the treaty of Campo-Formio in 1797, he devoted himself to the study of law, and practised at the bar, first at Digne, and afterwards at Aix. Elected in 1815 to represent his native department in the Chamber of Deputies summoned by Napoleon, he gained his first notoriety by vehemently opposing the restoration of the Bourbons. His patriotic eloquence, though unsuccessful in attaining its object, was probably the cause of his return to the Chamber in 1818. Manuel then became an ardent defender of the benefits that France had reaped from the revolution. Borne forward by his power of logic and his heroic firmness into the front ranks of the Opposition, he soon incurred the dislike of the ruling majority, and was destined to become an object of their vengeance. During the violent debates on the Spanish war in 1823, a remark in one of his speeches was construed by his enemies into an apology for regicide. His expulsion from the Chamber was decreed, and he was forced out by a body of soldiers, but was accompanied to
Manuel I. his house by the whole of his party. Manuel was re-elected in 1824, and died in 1827.
Manuel I., Comnenus, Emperor of Constantinople, son of John II., was born about 1120. The warlike disposition which he showed in an expedition against the Turks induced his father, at his death in 1143, to bequeath to him the crown in preference to his elder brother Isaac. Through the zealous policy of his faithful minister Axuch, and his own popularity among the soldiers, Manuel was enabled to secure his father's gift. Fond of military glory, he immediately involved himself in that long series of wars which continued, with few intermissions, till the end of his reign. In 1144, by means of his general Demetrius Branas, he subdued his rebellious vassal Raymond, Prince of Antioch. The next year was rendered illustrious by his expedition into Isauria, during which he routed the invading Turks, drove them to their own dominions, and forced them to accept a truce on his own terms. Manuel, however, employed a cowardly policy towards Louis VII. of France and Conrad III. of Germany, the leaders of the crusade of 1147. Granting them a passage through his dominions, he yet secretly harassed them with every kind of annoyance, and apprised the Turks of their approach. Meanwhile Roger, the first King of Sicily, had declared war against the Emperor of the East, had taken Corfu, and had devastated Greece. Manuel, however, did not make reprisals until the Sicilian fleet, in 1148, had appeared before Constantinople, and had insulted the imperial city. He then formed a league with Venice, and joining his own well-equipped fleet with that of the republic, he swept the invaders from the Archipelago and the Ionian Sea, and captured seventeen of their galleys. Disembarking a host at Corfu before the year had ended, he invested that city both by sea and land; and by leading in person the most perilous onsets, and encouraging his men by his own prodigies of strength and valour, he compelled the inhabitants to surrender after an obstinate siege. In the prosecution of the same war Manuel subdued the Servians and Hungarians, who had risen in arms at the instigation of Roger. An expedition, which he had sent against Italy under Palaeologus, was also successful. Bari, Brundusium, and many other towns of Apulia and Calabria, surrendered, and Manuel
now formed the project of uniting the Eastern and Western Empires, and of constituting himself sole Emperor of the Romans. By the aid of money he induced Pope Alexander III., and the free cities of Lombardy, to favour this design. But the pontiff soon afterwards changed his opinions; the free cities followed his example, and the republic of Venice, offended at some injustice offered to her merchants, also joined the foes of the Greek Empire. The death of Palaeologus, his lieutenant, and the accession of William the Bad to the throne of Sicily, soon completed the sum of Manuel's misfortunes. His forces soon afterwards were defeated by land and sea, and he was induced in 1155 to conclude an honourable peace with William, King of Sicily.
The next important war of Manuel's reign was waged against Geisa, King of Hungary. That prince, eager to recover the military reputation he had lost in his former battles with the Emperor of the East, crossed the Danube, and met the Greek forces, under Andronicus Contostephanus, near Zeugminum, where, after a stubborn and sanguinary contest, the Hungarian army was almost annihilated, and Geisa compelled to sue for immediate peace. Not so successful was the expedition which Manuel led in person against the Turks in 1176. He lost his army among the mountains of Pisidia, and was compelled by the Sultan Az-ed-din to sign a disadvantageous peace. This defeat, although partially retrieved by a more successful expedition in 1177, preyed upon the spirit of Manuel until he was cut off by a slow fever in 1181. The bravest warrior of his time, Manuel was yet destitute of the prudence and the stability of purpose proper alike to a great general and an able ruler. No sooner had he brought a war to a close, than he dismissed all thought of military enterprise, and in the long-continued indulgence of every sensual pleasure entirely forgot his former ambition. The exorbitant war taxes, wrung from the reluctant grasp of his subjects, were often expended for some unworthy purpose, while his soldiers remained unpaid. Alexis II., his only son, succeeded him.
Manuel II., Palaeologus, Emperor of Constantinople, succeeded his father John VI. in 1391, died in 1425, at the age of 77, and was succeeded by his son John VII. (See CONSTANTINOPOLITAN HISTORY.)