Leo Diogenes was the son of Byzantine Emperor Romanos IV Diogenes and Eudokia Makrembolitissa

Eudokia Makrembolitissa

Eudokia Makrembolitissa was the second wife of the Byzantine emperor Constantine X Doukas. After his death she acted as regent and became the wife of Romanos IV Diogenes...

. Crowned co-emperor during his father's reign, he later served in the armies 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,...

.

Life

Leo’s father, Romanos IV Diogenes, died while Leo was still an infant. Although elevated to the rank of co-emperor on his birth, he was banished to a monastery along with his mother after the fall of Romanos. Here he remained until the accession of Alexios I Komnenos in 1081, who took in Leo and his brother Nikephoros and raised them like his own sons.

According to 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...

’s account, Leo was a committed supporter of Alexios, who urged him not only to confront the Norman invaders early in his reign, but also the Pechenegs who had invaded the empire from beyond the Danube

Danube

The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

in 1087. During one of the pitched battles against the Pechenegs, Leo allowed himself to be drawn away from the emperor’s side, and as he approached the wagons of the enemy, he was struck down and died on the field of battle.

Sources