George Palaiologos or Palaeologus was a Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 general, one of the most prominent military commanders and supporters of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

 (r. 1081–1118).

He was the son of the first known member of the Palaiologos

Palaiologos

Palaiologos , often latinized as Palaeologus, was a Byzantine Greek noble family, which produced the last ruling dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. After the Fourth Crusade, members of the family fled to the neighboring Empire of Nicaea, where Michael VIII Palaiologos became co-emperor in 1259,...

 family, the strategos of Mesopotamia

Mesopotamia (theme)

Mesopotamia was the name of a Byzantine theme located in what is today eastern Turkey. It should not be confused with the region of Mesopotamia or with the older Roman and early Byzantine province of Mesopotamia...

 Nikephoros Palaiologos

Nikephoros Palaiologos

Nikephoros Palaiologos was a Byzantine general of the 11th century.Nikephoros is the first known member of the Palaiologos family, which would eventually rule the Byzantine Empire . He had two sons, George and Nicholas. George Palaiologos too became a general and was one of the chief supporters...

. His wife Anna Doukaina was the sister of Eirene Doukaina, the wife of Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos

Alexios I Komnenos, Latinized as Alexius I Comnenus , was Byzantine emperor from 1081 to 1118, and although he was not the founder of the Komnenian dynasty, it was during his reign that the Komnenos family came to full power. The title 'Nobilissimus' was given to senior army commanders,...

, making him the emperor's brother-in-law. As Alexios Komnenos' leading general and close friend, he played an important role in his campaigns, especially the Battle of Dyrrhachium

Battle of Dyrrhachium (1081)

The Battle of Dyrrhachium took place on October 18, 1081 between the Byzantine Empire, led by the Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and the Normans of southern Italy under Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria...

 against the Normans

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

 or the Battle of Levounion

Battle of Levounion

The Battle of Levounion was the first decisive Byzantine victory of the Komnenian restoration. On April 29, 1091, an invading force of Pechenegs was heavily defeated by the combined forces of the Byzantine Empire under Alexios I Komnenos and his Cuman allies....

 against the Pechenegs. He was the chief source used by Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene

Anna Komnene, Latinized as Comnena was a Greek princess and scholar and the daughter of Emperor Alexios I Komnenos of Byzantium and Irene Doukaina...

 in her Alexiad

Alexiad

The Alexiad is a medieval biographical text written around the year 1148 by the Byzantine historian Anna Comnena, daughter of Emperor Alexius I....

on her father's battles, and is very favourably portrayed by her in her book as both capable and loyal.

Family

George had a younger brother, Nicholas. Through his marriage to Anna Doukaina, he had four sons:

• Nikephoros, one of the ancestors of the branch that became the Empire's ruling dynasty after 1261
• Andronikos
• Michael, a sebastos
  Sebastos
  Sebastos was an honorific used by the ancient Greeks to render the Roman imperial title of Augustus. From the late 11th century on, during the Komnenian period, it and variants derived from it formed the basis of a new system of court titles for the Byzantine Empire. The female form of the title...
  
  
• Alexios, married Anna Komnenodoukaina and the other ancestor of the imperial line