hand was cut off, his teeth and hair were pulled out, one of his eyes was gouged out, and, among many other sufferings, boiling water was thrown in his face. At last, led to the Hippodrome of Constantinople, he was hung up by the feet between two pillars, and two Latin soldiers competed as to whose sword would penetrate his body more deeply. He died on September 12, 1185. At the news of the emperor's death, his son and co-emperor, John, was murdered by his own troops in Thrace. Andronikos I was the last of the Komnenoi to rule Constantinople, although his grandsons Alexios and David founded the Empire of Trebizond in 1204. Nevertheless, Andronikos's role in the collapse of the empire is controversial; historians disagree over the extent to which his brief reign influenced events after his death. Andonikos's coup, together with his violent death, had weakened the dynastic continuity and solidarity on which the strength of the Byzantine state had come to rely. Furthermore, his so-called 'anti-Latin' policy has been criticised by some historians as a failure, in view of the increasing hostility it caused towards Byzantium in the west. In particular, Andonikos's failure to prevent the massacre of Latins in Constantinople in 1182 has been seen as especially significant, since henceforth Byzantine foreign policy was invariably perceived as sinister and anti-Latin in the west. It has even been argued that Andronikos's attempts to crush the aristocracy were damaging to the empire's military power, since the aristocracy had become indispensable to the defences of the state. On the other hand, his reforms in the provinces were both wise and beneficial to the internal health and prosperity of the empire. With the death of Andronikos, the Komnenian dynasty, having lasted 104 years, had finally come to an end. The Komnenian period was followed by the dynasty of the Angeloi, who oversaw perhaps the most crucial period in the Decline of the Byzantine Empire. The next quarter of a century would see Constantinople fall to an invading force for the first time in its history, and the final loss of the empire's 'great power' status. See also Komnenos dynasty and related family tree Family trees of the Byzantine imperial dynasties Byzantine Empire under the Justinian dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Heraclian dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Isaurian dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Macedonian dynasty Byzantine Empire under the Doukas dynasty