ho was
rapidly growing in promise and influence, and was already giving
evidence of his political astuteness and diplomacy. Alexius gladly
welcomed an alliance which would unite the two most powerful families of
Constantinople in his interest, but his patrician mother opposed any
affiliation with the rival house, and hated the very name of Ducas. The
Empress Maria also had plans for Alexius, with which she feared this
alliance would interfere, and at first threatened open opposition. But
Alexius won his point with his usual cleverness. Anna finally yielded to
his persuasion, and the empress gave her reluctant consent. The result
of the union was that Alexius at once became the most powerful of the
younger nobles at the court.

The next step in his career was also determined by the profound wisdom
or wily caprice of a woman. To the surprise of her friends and
consternation of her enemies, the Empress Maria adopted Alexius as her
son. Anna Dalassena in all probability had a hand in this move for the
elevation of her house, but it is difficult to see what was the motive
of the empress, who had a young son, Constantine, whom she wished to
succeed to the purple. Perhaps she felt the need of a strong hand to
support the claims of herself and her son against her second husband,
the usurper Nicephorus Botaniates. Perhaps she was captivated by the
manly vigor and personal charms of the young man, and wished to play
with Alexius the role of Theophano with Zimisces. It is impossible to
state her motive, but the step was the first move toward the final
overthrow of her house and the succession of the Comneni.

Alexius had now all the reins of power in his hands, and a revolution
against Botaniates ensued. The usurper was overthrown and Alexius was
proclaimed emperor by the army. At first Constantine, the son of the
Empress Maria and Michael VII., was associated with him on the throne,
though still in his minority. Anna Dalassena and Maria, dreading the
ascendency of Irene Ducas, wife of Alexius, plotted to prevent her
coronation as empress, but the patriarch, who was a partisan of the
house of Ducas, defeated their intrigues; a few days after Alexius
assumed the purple, Irene, with imposing ceremonies, was crowned
empress.

Alexius well knew how to gain over to his support and utilize for his
schemes the intriguing women who were about him. He had a profound
respect for the political sagacity of his mother and during the earlier