Alexios 1 was also known as Mousoule: Theoph. AM 6283 (the spelling varies in the MSS between "Mousoulem" and "Mouselem"; the references to this man in Leo Grammaticus and Zonaras spell his name Μωσηλέ). The name is formed from the Armenian name Musheg; see Winkelmann, Quellenstudien, pp. 155-156, 199 with n. 692. He was probably himself of Armenian origin; see Winkelmann, op. cit., p. 184 with n. 630.

In September 790 Alexios 1 was spatharios and droungarios of the Vigla (Ἀλέξιον τὸν σπαθάριον καὶ δρουγγάριον τῆς βίγλας, τὸ ἐπίκλην Μουσουλέμ), when he was sent out to the Armeniakoi by the empress Eirene 1 to restore order among the troops who were refusing to swear an oath of loyalty to Eirene 1 alone but insisted on linking her name with that of Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8): Theoph. AM 6283. The troops seized Alexios 1 and made him their commander in place of Nikephoros 7 (οἱ δὲ κρατήσαντες αὐτὸν τοῦ ἄρχειν αὐτῶν προεβάλοντο) and proclaimed Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) as sole emperor; subsequently all the armies proclaimed Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) and denounced Eirene 1, and Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) secured further oaths of loyalty from the Armeniakoi and confirmed Alexios 1 as their strategos (τὸν δὲ Ἀλέξιον ἐπεκύρωσε στρατηγὸν αὐτῶν): Theoph. AM 6283, cf. also Leo Gramm. 196-197 (from Theophanes) (Ἀλέξιον δρουγγάριον τῆς βίγλης, ᾧ ἐπίκλην Μωσηλέ), Zon. XV 11. 23-24 (τὸν σπαθάριον Ἀλέξιον καὶ δρουγγάριον τῆς βίγλας τὸν Μωσηλέ). By January 792, when Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) and Eirene 1 again were proclaimed joint rulers, Alexios 1 was no longer strategos; he had been recalled by Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) with promises of safety (μετὰ λόγου), honoured with the dignity of patrikios (καὶ τῇ τοῦ πατρικίου ἀξίᾳ τιμήσαντος) and detained close to the emperor; the thema of the Armeniakoi refused to accept the joint proclamation of Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) and Eirene 1 and demanded Alexios 1, recently their strategos (τὸν πρὸ μικροῦ στρατηγήσαντα αὐτῶν); for this reason and on account of rumours supposedly circulating that Alexios 1 was aiming for the throne, Alexios 1 was flogged and tonsured by the emperor Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) and imprisoned in the praetorion; in August 792 Alexios 1 was blinded by Constantine VI (Konstantinos 8) together with other possible rivals to the throne, at the suggestion of Eirene 1 and Staurakios 1: Theoph. AM 6284, Zon. XV 12. 7-13, 13. 8. When the Armeniakoi heard of this they rebelled and imprisoned their new strategos Theodoros 14 Kamoulianos (περὶ τοῦ πατρικίου Ἀλεξίου): Theoph. AM 6285 (and cf. Konstantinos 13 and Chrysocheres 1). Perhaps father of Alexios 2.

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