As a child, as was customary for children of the Byzantine aristocracy, Manuel was trained in war by his father, who at the time was domestikos ton scholon (commander-in-chief) of the eastern field army.

She thus backed the assumption of power by Romanos IV Diogenes (r. 1068–1071), and soon after, married both Manuel and his sister Theodora to relatives of the new emperor as a sign of their political alliance.

[7] The emperor also gave Manuel the military rank of protostrator—a dignity that by this time had grown in importance sufficiently to only be awarded to individuals of exceptionally high social standing.

[10] Brought before the Turkish leader, a certain Chrysoskoulos, Manuel managed to inflame his ambition and raise him in revolt against his nominal sovereign, Sultan Alp Arslan (r. 1063–1072).

[11] According to the early 12th-century typikon (foundational charter) of the Monastery of Christ Philanthropos, founded by Empress Irene Doukaina, wife of Manuel's younger brother Alexios I Komnenos (r. 1081–1118),[12] he died on 17 April (the day when he is commemorated).