 section 17 of the Byzantine Empire this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Mike Botez the Byzantine Empire the rear guard of European civilization by Edward Ford section 17 the age of women Basel's successor was his brother Constantine the 9th who had been his nominal colleague throughout his reign but whose single appearance in public life had been at Abidos in 989 he was a man a fine presence strong and stately despite his 63 years but his character had been spoiled by the purposeless life from which his masterful brother had broken loose and he had no taste except for pomp and pleasure he created his household Eonox ministers and the natural consequence was much misgovernment all arrears of taxes were rigidly exacted during his short reign Constantine raised and expended the revenue of five the outgo being mainly on pleasure many nobles and officials were disgraced for trivial faults though it is probable that the sentences of blinding which were freely dealt with were mostly nominal the general discontent was great there is no reason for believing that Constantine was intentionally cruel or tyrannical he was merely indolent and ignorant and his Eonox ministers were to blame for most of the acts which made him unpopular in 1027 the Pechenegs attempting to profit by the accession of a weak monarch invaded Bulgaria but they were repelled by Constantine Diogenes one of the most distinguished of the lieutenants of Basil II the Saracen fleet entered the Aegean and began to plunder the Qiclades but it was defeated by the provincial squadrons of Samos and Kios in November 1028 Constantine fell ill he had three daughters but of these one was a professed nun there remained Zoe aged 48 a vain voluptury and Theodora a year younger a woman a very different stamp severely chased and devout both were unmarried and the dying emperor proposed to wed Theodora to some great noble and name her his successor he finally fixed on Romanus Argyros in preference to Constantine Dalasenos who was feared by the court Eonox for his stern ideas of duty he ordered Argyros to divorce his wife and quicken his decision by threats of blinding the lady saved her husband by voluntary separation and entered a nunnery the act deserves remembrance Theodora however stubbornly refused to marry under such conditions and Constantine who was near his end fearing to waste time united Zoe to Argyros on November 21st he died for the next 30 years the Empire was ruled by Zoe's husband the Empress resembled Elizabeth of England on one side of her character but had little of her practical ability and regarded the possession of the throne merely as affording opportunities for pleasure Romanus III was an estimable gentleman of 60 somewhat vain but learned and not devoid of talent he celebrated his accession by releasing all debtors from confinement and remitted arrears of taxation while he discharged the private obligations of the released prisoners he ransomed unredeemed captives from the patch and eggs and pardoned the victims of his predecessors injustice other measures were less well advised large gifts were made to the church which was already far too wealthy and the mutual responsibility of the rich for the taxes of the poor in the provinces was abolished the step was not perhaps an unjust one the law had been enforced with extreme severity by Basel II but it marked the withdrawal of the head of the state from the position of protector of the poor Romanus naturally sympathized with his order the long struggle between emperor and nobility had practically ended in victory of the latter legislation for the benefit of the masses seized feudal characteristics which were already too apparent became more and more pronounced the reign of Romanus III and Zoe was disturbed by some conspiracies Theodora was disliked by both and they eventually succeeded in forcing her into an honorary on the ground that she had been implicated in one of the plots against her sister the distinguished general Constantin Diogenes was another victim he killed himself to escape public execution in 1030 Romanus took command of Syria against the emirs of Aleppo and Tripoli's he had no military experience and a trifling reverse near Aleppo led to a wild and panic-stricken retreat to Antioch during which the flying army lost almost all its baggage the Emperor cured of his desire for military glory returned to Constantinople his officers had better success Antioch was defeated the emir of Tripoli gained over George Maniaki's governor of Teluk in northern Syria won a brilliant little success over the enemy retaking great part of the baggage lost by the Emperor and was appointed general of lower media about Samosata in 1032 he captured Edessa which now became a permanent possession of the Empire Aleppo again became tributary the important fortress of Percrin on the Perth-Armenian border was also gained in 1031 an Afro-Sycilian fleet raided the Dalmatian coast but was completely defeated a second naval raid in 1032 was also defeated and in 1033 the imperial fleet under Tecneas retaliated by a foray on the Egyptian coast in Italy matters did not go so well the restless Norman adventurers had learned the way to the south and in 1030 they established themselves at Aversa internally the condition of the Empire was not satisfactory Asia Minor suffered from an outbreak of plague there were also severe shocks of earthquake and a famine which followed on these calamities produced such distress that the starving peasantry were driven to enslave themselves and their children the economic consequences were disastrous and though outwardly the Empire was as imposing as ever its strength was beginning to fail Romanus the third died on April 11 1034 and Zoe almost before the breath had left his body married her handsome chamberlain Michael the Puff Lagonian and proclaimed him Emperor Michael was a young man probably not more than 30 he had commenced life as a money changer and had obtained his post of chamberlain by the interest of his brother John a eunuch of the household of Romanus the third he was exceedingly handsome in person but was epileptic he was a naval man and otherwise seems to have been estimable though he is accused of having carried on an intrigue with Zoe during the life of her husband John he created orphanotrophos minister of charitable institutions and the latter became his prime minister for all purposes three other brothers Constantin George and Nikitas were promoted to high office as was Stephen a shipbuilder the husband of the Emperor's sister Maria the military nobles muttered angrily at being ruled by this family of lowborn upstarts though time had been when birth had been utterly disregarded as a qualification for the throne of the Roman Empire they called them caucus an illusion to the trade of Maria's husband greedy the Puff Lagonians certainly were like all parvenous they were intent on filling their pockets though it does not appear that they were guilty of deliberate extortion the fiscal administration was severe but the surtax on land from 4 to 20 nomismata looks like a deliberate return to the policy of Basel the second of endeavoring to force the rich to pay their due share of the public burdens but oppression there undoubtedly was and for the first time we hear of riots against the collectors of the revenue the increasing misery among the peasantry struck the Emperor's sister so much that she appealed for them to the orphanotrophos but without effect and to the end of the Empire's political existence their condition merely went from bad to worse until the time when the great fabric was a mere shell without a kernel its heart eaten away by misgovernment and exaction it does not appear that Michael was personally to blame for the evils of his times he was probably more or less misled and misinformed by his interested brothers it may appear strange that being like Basel the first sprung from the people he had not a better perception of their miseries but it must be remembered that Basel the first was a peasant while Michael the fourth was of the trading middle class which as a general rule has little sympathy for the masses where Michael could exert himself he showed energy and insight he cleared the court of the eunuchs of Constantine the ninth and though his treatment of Constantine the last in us whom he imprisoned on somewhat improbable charge may have been unjustified this cannot be said of his polliation of theophanies the avaricious archbishop of Thessalonica when his diocese was suffering from famine had three thousand three hundred pounds of gold about one hundred and fifty thousand pounds in his coffers in 1034 a Saracen pirate fleet raided the Cyclades and Licia Myra was plundered but in 1035 a second raid was entirely defeated the prisoners being executed in 1038 the emperor's brother Constantine defeated an attempt to retake Edessa in the same year Michael appointed George Maniac is governor of Italy and ordered him to invade Sicily where the Mohammedans were distracted by a quarrel between two brothers for the possession of the emirate Michael made a mistake though a natural one in appointing his brother-in-law Steven admiral of the fleet the proud aristocratic general and the low-born admiral soon quarreled but at first all went well Messina was stormed an African army defeated at Rametta and the eastern half of the island subdued during 1039 in 1040 another African army was completely defeated but succeeded in escaping by sea maniac is blamed the admiral whose fault it really seems to have been stormed it and struck him not unnaturally he was superseded and imprisoned under Steven the Muslims rapidly regained all the ground that they had lost and by 1041 the Empire held only the district about Messina which was gallantly defeated by the general cata cologne in 1040 sir Vier revolted under Steven Bogislav it would appear that the rebellion was largely due to the endeavor of John the orphanotrophos to establish direct rule over the country when army under George provoters sent by Michael was defeated and Serbia gained and maintained its independence the loss of Serbia was a blow to the pride of the Empire rather than a serious loss as it was it would not have been a quest in had Michael the fourth lived but its immediate consequences were very serious for the Bulgarians and sloths of the old kingdom of Okrida rose in revolt under Peter delian again the orphanotrophos who had endeavored to substitute a money tax for the present payments in kind was responsible delian gained possession of many towns and murdered all the Greeks who fell into his hands he was joined by several Bulgarian officers in the Imperial service including illusion brother of Vladislav the last king of Okrida there were dissensions among the various rebel leaders but they captured Dorato and invaded Greece which they overrun to the Gulf of Corinth defeating the habitants of the wealthy manufacturing city of Thebes who took arms to resist them an attack one Thessalonica was however completely defeated illusion then intrigued against delian ousted and blinded him but he had no confidence in his ability to resist the Empire and surrendered to Michael who pardoned him Michael was now slowly dying of dropsy while his feats of epilepsy were of rapid recurrence but he rose above his maladies and made desperate efforts to suppress the revolt before the end which he expected should come he assembled a great army at Thessalonica and took command in person though so weak that he had to be strapped to the saddle every evening he was taken from his horse apparently at the point of death but difficulty and danger disappeared before his dying energy he pushed on recapturing towns and recovering the lost districts the rebel army was defeated and destroyed in detail delian was taken prisoner in a few months Macedonia Epirus and Greece had been entirely recovered and the emperor who had at least made a noble attempt to retrieve misfortunes for which he was hardly responsible returned to Constantinople to die December 10 1041 Zoe decided not to marry again but to crown as her colleague Michael son of Stephen the Cocker he had not been trusted by Michael the fourth though he bore the title of Caesar and Zoe showed little wisdom in her choice she required him to banish his uncles but so soon as he was crowned here he called them placed all his confidence in Constantin to the neglect of John who had here to been all powerful and had the baseness and ingratitude to depose his benefactress and force her into an honorary at once the people rose in revolt when the point at issue was plain they were always ready to assert their rights down with the cocker was the cry and the rioters marched up on the palace and stormed it after a furious struggle with the guards and the households of the emperor and his uncle Zoe was restored but much to her disgust the people the supposedly servile and helpless Byzantine populace insisted that her ill-used sister Theodora should be co-empress she unwillingly consented she was not anxious to press hardly upon the ill conditioned boy who had dethroned her but the people were not so pluckable Michael and Constantin were blinded and emured in monasteries it can hardly be said that the punishment was ill-deserved Constantin's speculations from the treasury alone amounted to five thousand three hundred pounds of gold about two hundred forty thousand pounds Zoe jealous of her sister and anxious to thrust her again into the background now made the third marriage at the age of 62 her choice was Constantin Monoma cause an old admirer who had been exiled to Metellini by Michael the fourth his exile had been consoled by the company of a charming widow of the family of sclerose granddaughter of the famous Bardas and he made the extraordinary condition that he should not on marrying Zoe abandoned the faithful companion of his adversity sclerona as the lady was usually called was installed as Augusta in the palace and she was soon on excellent terms with the Zoe whom she knew how to manage while her beauty and natural amiability as well as her wit and grace made her a general favorite with the luxe courtiers the people were of a different mind they saw the concubines equivocal position and loose morals rather than her grace and beauty and at the feast of the 40 martyrs in 1043 Constantin was attacked by the mob who yelled down with sclerona and had to be pacified by Zoe and Theodora though a debauchee Constantin the 10th was by no means an unameable one he was extremely good-natured his life had been one of vicissitudes and he regarded the throne as a secure refuge from his troubles he was a liberal patron of art and literature and while he wasted much money on pleasure it is to be remembered to his credit that he also expended large sums in the construction and endowment of alms houses and hospitals he was a martyr to gout which does not however appear to have spoiled his kindly temper he may perhaps be compared with Charles the second of England he probably lacked the scrupulous ability and readiness of that monarch but was hardly so bad from the moral point of view it would be a grave mistake to regard him with contempt we shall soon have occasion to see the extreme precariousness of his position the man who held his own against plots and open revolt and died on the throne after the death of his wife who appeared to be his only stay cannot have been devoid of capacity one act of the short train of Zoe with Theodora had been the release of George maniac is and his appointment to the command in Italy where the Normans and Italian malcontents were making great progress under Argerus son of their old leader Melos maniac is defeated them near Monopoly in Apulia but when he heard that the paramour of the sister of his personal enemy Romanus Sclerose had become emperor he proceeded to make overtures to the Normans called on to his standard and landed a durato in February 1043 to contest the crown with Constantine he was slain in battle near Ostrovo and his mercenaries took service with the emperor another dangerous enemy was Stephen Bogislav king of Serbia who invaded Illyria and repulsed a counter invasion of Serbia carried out by the Imperial troops in the West in 1043 the capital was suddenly threatened by another Russian attack the pretext was the death of a Russian noble in a street disturbance at Constantinople Constantine offered all reasonable reparation but in vain the Russians were determined on war their kingdom was far more powerful under Yaroslav the lawgiver then it had been under Sviatoslav and it is clear that considerable success was expected the expedition proceeded by sea the fleet was now probably stronger for battle than the rude flotillas of Oleg and Igor Constantine had made every preparation to receive the invaders but on their arrival of the Bosphorus he again made an offer of peace it was rejected and the fleet sailed out to the attack it soon became apparent that the Russian armament was far more formidable than those of old and the first action was indecisive many Russian vessels were sunk but a section of the Byzantine fleet was cut off and destroyed a second battle had better results the Russian Armada was completely defeated with a loss of 15,000 men fresh disasters by storms befell it on its retreat and only a remnant reached Kiev in 1046 peace was concluded and thenceforth friendly relations were never interrupted Russia became fast Byzantine eyes politically the country underwent a deep decline after the death of the great King Vladimir Monomak in 1125 and had neither will nor power to attack the Empire in 1047 Leo Tornikius a relative of the Emperor raised a revolt he was governor of Thrace and Constantine wished to transfer him to Armenia where there was danger from the Turks Tornikius considered this equivalent to disgrace and marched on the capital at the head of a motley gathering of troops retainers and armed peasants there were hardly any troops in Constantinople after picketing the impregnable land walls Constantine had only 1,000 men in hand and these he directed to make a sortie by the gate of Blackerney they were driven in and the Emperor who was watching from the gateway tower was in great danger the arrows of the assailants showering about him next day Tornikius made a rush attempt to storm the city and was completely repulsed troops from Asia reached the capital and the peril was over Tornikius made an attack on Redestos was repulsed deserted by his followers and taken on Christmas Eve he was blinded Constantine's whole life on the throne was disturbed by plots the conspirators with few exceptions escaped to the very mild punishment the good natured Emperor's kindliness was seldom ruffled in 1048 the Pechenegs made another raid on Bulgaria which was disastrously repelled King Tirak and great part of his army being taken prisoners the captives were partly sent to Asia as soldiers partly settled in Bulgaria but the Asiatic conscripts escaped and returned to Europe joined their countrymen and began to waste the Danubian districts they were joined by the king who had been somewhat imprudently released by Constantine and the troops in the vicinity were twice defeated energetic preparations were now made general Nysiferous Brienius was placed in command and again a Pecheneg refugee who had been first employed and then distrusted by the Emperor was again taken into favor and directed to open negotiations he was treacherously murdered by his countrymen but the Pecheneg forays were curbed by the maneuvers of Brienius and one of their hordes destroyed at Cariopolis in 1050 they defeated Katakalon who was wounded and taken prisoner but his captors had conceived the rude Sivalros respect for him and he was carefully tended and honorably released the Pechenegs were afterwards defeated and forced across the Danube and they then made peace for 30 years in Italy the withdrawal of maniacs left everything at the mercy of Argerus Constantine was inclined to favor him and created him vassal Duke of Apulia the step was well advised it was only by such means that the Italians could be kept in allegiance but the problem was complicated by the presence of the Normans who are not inclined to leave the country and very ready to fight for their own hand meanwhile in the East the Empire had attained its widest expansion by the session of Annie in 1045 sorely against the will of King Gagik a great deal has been said of the unwisdom of destroying this Christian barrier state but it seems to the writer that Armenia was never more than what it had been in earlier Roman times a ball tossed to and throw between two great powers the states were full of internal sign warfare and were rarely able to maintain a good resistance against their Muslim foes Taron and Vasparo Khan had been seated by their rulers in despair of being able to hold them great part of the frontier had already passed into Roman hands the final session of Annie was merely a question of time Gregory of Ararat also seated his principality only cars now remained independent Gagik received extensive estates in Cappadocia in 1048 the Seljuk Turks under Togrul beg attacked the Empire this Horde was originally part of a great Turkish Empire of Central Asia with which the pre-heracliate emperors had corresponded commencing as mercenaries of Mahmud the Gaznevid they eventually overthrew the Buhawids and made themselves supreme in Persia in 1048 a Seljuk force under Kutul Mish cousin of Togrul beg attacked the Byzantine tributary city of Derbekir it was repulsed and being refused permission by the government of Vasparo Khan to pass through his territory attacked defeated and captured him Togrul their upon sent his nephew Ibrahim to invade the Empire a vanguard of 20,000 men under Hasan the death was defeated on the stragma by Katakalon then governor of Annie and Aaron the shishman Edd on the advance of the main horde there were dissensions between the generals Katakalon wishing to engage while Aaron urged the necessity of awaiting the arrival of Liparit Prince of Abazia who was coming up Ibrahim the Arab one slipped past his enemies and sucked the great commercial city of Arzen Erzerum thereby inflicting a mortal blow on the prosperity of Armenia the destruction and loss of life was doubtless terrible though we can hardly credit comics statement that the place contained 300,000 inhabitants the destruction of Arzen was the beginning of woes for Armenia which have never ceased to this day Liparit arrived with 26,000 warriors and a series of battles was fought with Ibrahim about September 18 1048 Liparit was taken prisoner and his troops forced back but Katakalon and Aaron disposed of the hordes opposed to them and the Seljuks retreated into Persia Konstantin ransomed Liparit and Togrul not to be outdone in generosity gave the money to Liparit on his release next year Togrul himself invaded the Empire he defeated the troops of the independent state of Kars and captured and murdered their general Tatul but he failed to take the imperial fortress of Manuskert and then retired his raids were quite objectless in 1052 there were Seljuks raids and in 1053 Togrul again invaded Armenia in person he ravaged several districts but took no important town and suffered the secondary pulse before Manuskert the Empress Zoe died in 1050 at the age of 70 her husband survived until 1054 he proposed to nominate as his successor Nysifras Brienios general of Macedonian theme but the aged Theodora who had been kept in the background for 12 years now came forward and was proclaimed supreme Augusta by acclamation of troops and people the news of her triumph embittered the last day of Konstantin and perhaps hastened his end his reign though internally the slow decay which has been noted went on unchecked had now been externally inglorious the losses of the preceding reign in Europe had been offset by gains in Armenia and all attacks from without had been successfully beaten off Theodora was a woman of considerable vigor and ability but she was 74 years of age and though conscientious and well-intentioned was somewhat narrow-minded and vindictive she banished Nysifras Brienios and confiscated his property and also superseded Isaac Komnenos who commanded in the east internally she made her father's mistake of entrusting ministerial portfolios to her household eunuchs but on the other hand she gave close personal attention to public business thus avoiding his worst fault her reign passed away quietly the only external event was an attack by the Seljuks on Ani which was beaten off internally the Empire was unusually prosperous the people regarded with shivers reverence and respect this last austere and upright scion of the great Macedonian house which had so long guided the ship of state with profit and glory and so in extreme age Theodora reigned in peace for two years she died on August 30 1056 and with her the imperial line which had ruled the empire for 190 or 236 years came to an end end of section 17 recording by Mike Botez section 18 of the Byzantine Empire this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Ryan Fahey Fairfield Connecticut the Byzantine Empire the rearguard of European civilization by Edward Ford section 18 the coming of the Turks the disorderly elements which had been sternly suppressed by Basil II and held in check by the ill-defined but powerful influence of the daughters of Constantine the 9th broke loose on the death of Theodora she had designated as her successor the aged general Michael Stratiotikos the Edozius Monomacos nephew of Constantine the 10th endeavored to seize the throne but the beauty revolt which he raised in the capital was put down with ridiculous ease the authority of Michael the 6th was not upheld by an alliance with a lady of imperial blood and he was face-to-face with abandoned strength of the great territorial aristocracy which had grown up during the long centuries of frontier war largely induced by it the situation was very much what it had been under the successors of Justinian but even more dangerous the nobles were banded together by community of interests and disposed of very considerable military resources many of them could raise small armies from among their tenants and serfs and a considerable part of the regular troops had feudal ties and sentiments General Nikefaros Kamnenos had been disgraced by Constantine the 9th for requiring his troops to take an oath to himself personally the circumstance shows the curious semi-independent attitude of the military magnets it was a member of this house of Kamnenos who was chosen by the nobles as emperor the Kamneno I do not appear very early in history the first of whom we hear was manual who defended Abidos against Bartos Scleros in 978 like most aristocratic families it would appear that they sprang from very humble beginnings the plans of the aristocracy were precipitated and endangered by the rashness of Nikefaros brianios who revolted prematurely and was captured and blinded Isaac Kamnenos was hastily proclaimed Augustus at Castamon in Paphlegonia on June 8th 1057 for the moment he was in danger having few troops about him but he was speedily joined by the distinguished general catechalon with a strong force of which he had obtained the command by forging an order they entered Nicea without opposition in a spectacular but not very bloody battle was fought nearby in which Isaac gained a complete victory on August 31st Michael the 6th abdicated and on September 2nd Isaac was crowned emperor in Hagia Sophia it must be said for the nobles that they had chosen a strong man though it is of course possible that they did not realize so much once on the throne Isaac the first remembered that he was the Roman emperor and not the mere spokesman of a party and his former associates soon became alienated he deposed the intriguing patriarch Michael Carolarios and elevated in his place Constantine like cooties who had been Constantine the 10th president of the Senate the fact is worth noting the strong Isaac the 1st deliberately promoted a creature of the supposedly contemptible Monomacos he appears to have made reforms in both civil and military departments he was we are told hated by all which points to alterations which struck at personal interests everywhere the army was over officered like the French army of Louis the 15th it was full of young aristocrats who held commissions by virtue of birth and court favor Isaac deprived them all he repelled an invasion of Magyars and pecan eggs but in September 1059 suddenly abdicated and retired into a monastery he was in ill health but there were probably other reasons perhaps he had already lost hope of being able to carry through reforms in face of the solid phalanx of opposition in his place the nobles appointed Constantine Ducas Finley remarks that his appointment does not reflect credit on Isaac's judgment but probably he had little or nothing to do with it the whole affair is clouded in mystery we cannot even say definitely that Isaac's retirement was voluntary at all events Constantine the 11th reversed his predecessors policy he was supposed to have financial ability but his measures were characterized by sheer idiocy it is really difficult to select a milder word how far he was ruled by a jealous civilian ministry we do not know he must bear his share of the blame his main idea seems to have been the formation of a treasury reserve at any cost the method adopted was to starve the defensive services economy in time of peace may often be necessary and very salutary but peace the eastern empire never knew the Seljuk Turks had established themselves at Baghdad in 1056 and the whole force of their power was about to be directed against the Empire yet in face of this Ducas neglected the Navy and reduced the army the reductions were made on a principle not recognized except in comic opera the spectacular officers who had been deprived by Isaac the first were restored while the rank and file were cut down the pay of the native troops who for four centuries had been the backbone of the army was reduced the effective service was starved and ruined to serve no useful purpose in other ways the emperor showed his pettiness he had an affectation for letters and was guilty of the bad taste of declaring that he prized his knowledge of literature above his imperatorship a literary emperor who neglects his obvious duties is beneath contempt in 1060 the Seljuks came through Taurus and sacked Sabaste there were no troops to meet them though 50 years before the raiders would not have passed the frontier the Seljuks returned homeward unmolested but turning to seize a fresh success at Edessa were gallantly repulsed next year there were other raids and in 1063 the great sultan Alp Arzlan who had succeeded Togrel beg crossed the Iraq seas and ravaged Georgia Alp Arzlan appears to have had definite ideas of conquest as opposed to Togrel's mere plundering raids the extraordinarily rapid movements of the hordes of mountain Seljuk bowmen made it extremely difficult to cope with them even had the army been less ineffective on June 6 1064 Alp Arzlan stormed a knee the Roman capital of Armenia the strong city whose imposing ruins are described with appreciative care by mr. Lynch made a fine resistance but fell at last chiefly because there was no field force to make a diversion in its favor Seljuk raiding bands penetrated the eastern frontier and rode over Mesopotamia Melotin Chaldea and colonia killing and pillaging with little opposition Constantine was as unfortunate in Europe in 1064 Belgrade was taken by the Magyars and next year the Tartar Uzes broke into Bulgaria defeated such troops as could be opposed to them and penetrated as far as Thessalonica and Chorlu near the capital there however they were defeated and dispersed but meanwhile the Seljuks wasted without check the general misery was completed by an earthquake which did much damage in Thrace and Pethinia amid these misfortunes and disasters mostly of his own making Constantine the 11th died in 1067 his wife Eudoshia Makrambola Titsa assumed the regency for her young son Michael the 7th constitutional custom required that she should marry but she chose to consult inclination in preference to policy and selected as her husband Romanus Diogenes who would incurred the late Emperor's deep suspicion she thereby alienated the entire powerful House of Dukas in general and in particular Constantine's brother John whom he had created Caesar Romanus a soldier by profession and temperament and hampered at home by the opposition of ministers and the enmity of the duke I had little choice even had the external danger been less threatening except to take the field his difficulties were immense apart from his personal limitations he was looked upon a scance by many of the military nobles and could not count upon their cordial support these limitations also counted for much he was hardly a good general being rash and impulsive and with little power of calm judgment the army was in the worst condition many of the famous themmys were mere shadows and the means were lacking to restore them the mercenaries were insolent and mutinous all ranks were more or less demoralized the military administration was out of gear equipment and transport needed renewal worst of all the heavy Byzantine cavalry which for 500 years had held every enemy at bay could ill cope with the elusive Seljuks the army which Romanus collected was a strange conjuries of regular troops feudal levies brought by the great Eastern nobles and heterogeneous mercenaries he committed a fatal error in taking the field before he could organize and reduce to order these discordant elements the reason probably was that his uncertain position made it dangerous for him to remain inactive having assembled such forces as were available he advanced to the Taurus but meanwhile a mass of Turkish raiders slipped past his left flank crossed Cappadocia into Pontus and sacked Neo Caesarea Romanus marched to intercept them with a picked force defeated them and recovered most of the plunder he then marched into Syria and fortified men bids as a frontier station but while thus engaged another Seljuk horde swept through Cappadocia and Phrygia sacked Amorium and escaped the first campaign therefore ended in very doubtful fashion for if a Seljuk force had been defeated two important places had been sacked and the Turk true to his nature invariably massacred and destroyed when he could not carry away captives he murdered them every raid involved immense slaughter and destruction ten years of Seljuk warfare probably completed the destruction of the free peasant population of Asia Minor and enormously diminished the serfs many cities were destroyed and those which survived overcrowded with fugitives from the countryside became mere dens of famine and pestilence in 1069 the untrustworthy nature of the army was shown by the outbreak of a dangerous mutiny among the Norman mercenaries which had to be suppressed before the Emperor could take the field Romanus advanced eastward in a wide front and thus cleared wasted Cappadocia of Seljuk bands but a horde defeated Phrygitos Duke of Antioch and pushed into Lyconia as far as Iconium. Romanus intercepted it as it returned through the Selician Hills the Turks were caught and only escaped with great loss in the abandonment of their booty. Romanus' second campaign thus concluded with a victory but the extreme mobility of the Turks was more than ever apparent the Emperor's victories availed little when his enemies were raiding his communications far behind him. Next year Romanus did not take the field in person his difficulties at home were great the intrigues of the Dukai were endless and persevering in Italy the imperial authority which Constantine the 10th had upheld by his wise policy of conciliation was tottering to its fall the Normans were now masters in the open country and had taken between 1057 and 1070 most of the coast fortresses including Toronto and Reggio. Only Bari held out and in 1068 repulsed the Normans with loss but they continued to threaten it and it was evident that it soon must fall. Constantine the 11th had done nothing for Italy. Romanus did what he could but it was little and meanwhile the work of his two toilsome campaigns was undone. Romanus had left Manuel Comnenos in command in the east he was probably as the Emperor's nominee ill-supported by his jealous colleagues and was defeated and captured by Kruse the Seljuk Amir who commanded on the Torque Frontier while the great Sultan Alp Arslan again invaded Armenia. He attacked and captured Manus Kurt and Aklat while Kruse drove through Asia Minor ravaging and slaughtering to Konai Kolasai which was taken in sacked in the horrible Turkish fashion. Alp Arslan meanwhile descended from Armenia upon Mesopotamia and attacked Odessa but here he was stoutly met and repulsed. In 1071 Romanus once more took command he concentrated on Sebaste and decided in the first instance to recover Aklat and Manus Kurt. The army was thoroughly discontented and in a state of suppressed mutiny the German mercenaries were especially turbulent. Discipline was bad, confusion reigned everywhere, the ill supplied men plundered the countryside of the little left in it by Turkish raiders, the shadow of impending disaster already lay darkly upon the doomed host. The army was indeed large in number perhaps 100,000 men and all, hardly more probably less. It is quite certain that many of the Themis were skeletons. The march to the shores of Lake Van seems to have been accomplished without serious trouble. Manus Kurt was retaken, a strong detachment under the Western adventurer Russell Balliol besieged Aklat, covered by a second force under Tarkaniotes. All appeared to be going well when Alp Arslan himself arrived, called in all the detached Turkish hordes and advanced to relieve Aklat. Romanus on his side sent for Russell and Tarkaniotes but neither obeyed. They abandoned the siege of Aklat and retreated westward. It was practically a case of desertion in face of the enemy. Next the emperor was weakened by the desertion of his Uzik mercenaries, a more comprehensible action since they were naturally attracted to their Seljuk kindred but he was nonetheless determined to fight. His decision has been severely criticized. Quite possibly the desertions had overthrown his mental balance and he had determined to stake all on a gambler's throw. Still it must be remembered that Alp Arslan appeared disposed to venture battle and that there was no reason to believe that in fair fight the mailed horsemen of the Imperial Army would not be able to break up the Seljuk host. The Sultan himself was not confident and actually sued for peace in spite of a trifling success which his advance guard had gained over that of the Emperor. Romanus haughtily informed the envoys that before terms could be discussed the Sultan must surrender his camp and retire. It was truly a case of pride before a fall but nonetheless Romanus was right. Civilization even at its last gasp must ever remember its dignity in dealing with mere barbarism. By their works all men must be judged and the work of the Turks gives them no claim to be regarded otherwise than as barbarians. The haughty terms were of course as haughtily refused and on August 26th the great battle was fought. Romanus placed the Eastern Themis under Al-Yatis general of Cappadocia on the right. Those drafted from Europe on the left he himself was in the center with his guards and the troops of the central provinces. While a very strong reserve composed of the mercenaries and feudal levies was led by Andronicus Ducas son of the Caesar John. The line appears to have been closely formed and deep. The Seljuks were in very loose order for the better execution of their characteristic Parthian tactics. During the earlier part of the day Romanus stood on the defensive and the Seljuks though they harassed his line could gain no advantage but at last his scanty patience was exhausted and he ordered the advance. The army went forward in admirable order and began to roll the Seljuks back. The thematic horsemen were armed with the bow as well as lance and sword and were able to reply with some effect to the Turkish arrows but no real success was gained as the light armed riders would not close. On the other hand the Turks could not outflank or surround the army owing to its double line formation. The emperor saw at last that the continual advance was a mistake and decided to fall back on the camp for the night. The order was not obeyed with perfect precision and inevitable occurrence gaps began to appear and the Seljuks edged into them. Thereupon Romanus ordered the front line to face about and beat off the Turks. This was done but Ducas did not halt to support the emperor. Either he was treacherous or he thought the battle lost or he could not control the noble commanders of levies and the ill disciplined mercenaries. The riders own opinion is that the last theory is probably nearest the truth. The reserve marched away from the field un molested and so home leaving sovereign army and doomed Armenia to their terrible fate. The wings were already separated from the center and all was lost. Having isolated the divisions the Seljuks surrounded them and destroyed them in detail. The wings fought well but were broken up and mostly slaughtered and the whole massive savage horsemen closed around the center. There the emperor and his chosen troops made a splendid resistance but at last well on in the night the column was pierced through. Romanus unhorst wounded and taken and the remains of his followers fighting to the last against overwhelming numbers were almost all cut to pieces. Romanus was perhaps saved by the fact that his imperial insignia were recognized by the Turks. In the morning he was dragged to the sultan's tent that Alp Arslan might place his foot upon his neck. Yet the sultan having satisfied his vanity or perhaps we should in justice say complied with custom treated his captive well. He offered to conclude peace on condition of receiving a ransom of one million or one million five hundred thousand diners or nomas mada and a yearly tribute. He seems to have desired to turn his arms towards the east. Romanus per force consented. The two gallant foes appear to have conceived a mutual liking but Romanus wounded and a prisoner never forgot that he was a Roman emperor and when in conversation the sultan asked him in what manner he would have been treated had he been captive instead of captor he grimly replied that he would have been flogged like the robber that he was. Given indulges in one of his customary sliding remarks upon this haughty bearing of a captive sovereign but he entirely misunderstands the situation. Romanus whatever his personal character may have been it was not bad or contemptible was the sovereign of a great civilized state. The Turkish Sultan brave and just as he was only the leader of a robber hoard this is all that can be said nothing is more base than to condemn estimable persons on the score of their low material civilization but purposeless destroyers have no claim to favorable regard. Romanus remained only a week with his captor he returned home to encounter a far more terrible fate at the hands of his own people. The Caesar John had seized his opportunity had proclaimed himself regent and had forced the unfortunate Eudokia into a convent. Romanus made an attempt to recover his position by force but was defeated and captured he sent all the money in his possession to Alparslan with a message of mournful magnanimity. Had I remained emperor all that I promised I would have performed I am now but a betrayed prisoner but I send thee all that I possess. This Byzantine gentleman evidently thought it his honorable duty to keep faith even with a robber chief. It is one more of those incidents which remind us that the eastern Romans were far from degenerate weaklings. John could not allow Romanus to live the hapless emperor was blinded in such brutal fashion that he died and so in ruin and horror ended the career of a man who encouraged an energy at least had been no unworthy wearer of the purple. It is curious that the Seljuks for some years after Manus curate left Asia Minor almost alone Alparslan died in 1073 and the Seljuk Empire was broken up into many conflicting emirates. This however was of little benefit to the Empire. Russell Balliol revolted in Asia Minor defeated and captured the Caesar John and all but set up an independent principality. To put him down the young Michael the Seventh enlisted Seljuk mercenaries. He was eventually defeated and captured by a young general Alexius Komnenos whom we shall soon have occasion to note but peace did not follow. There was a revolt in Bulgaria, fresh civil broils in Asia Minor while plague and famine wasted the provinces. Michael the Seventh was a more contemptible Constantine the 11th. He seems to have learned under the tuition of the literature Psellos all that could unfit him for his duties. He spent his reign shut up in his palace occupied with frivolous pursuits even his nickname of the peckfilcher given because the administration during a famine sold only three pecks of wheat to the bushel was probably not personally merited. He counted for nothing. In 1077 there was still an imperial army about Edessa. It was defeated and driven westward by the Seljuks. Asia Minor was already full of them. The interior was probably so deserted owing to the disappearance of the freeholding cultivators and the ravages of war that the intruders were before long in a majority in provinces which had once been the main strength of the state. Their progress was assisted by the fact that in central Asia Minor the towns were few and they were glad enough to pay tribute to escape sack. Of the details of this momentous occupation which went on quietly and perhaps sometimes imperceptibly for 20 years we know hardly anything. There was little concerted opposition. The remains of the Byzantine army were engaged in civil wars but doubtless there was plenty of purposeless havoc and destruction. The net result was that by 1081 the Seljuks were established on the central plateau and that many cities paid tribute to them. Solitia was full of Armenians who had migrated from their desolate homes and were forming a kingdom among the Taurus Mountains. In the northeast a dynasty called that of Donishment the schoolmaster had arisen. It owed a very slight allegiance to the grand sultan of the Seljuks, the Pontic provinces still held by the empire. In 1078 Michael VII was deposed by a revolt headed by Nikefaris Bataniates who thereupon succeeded to the throne. Nikefaris III had been a brilliant warrior but he was now old and had no energy except for debauchery. His principal stay was the young general Alexius Komnenos. Nikefaris Brienios, general of Macedonia, revolted. Komnenos routed him at Calaveria and also defeated another rebel, Basilakes, but his very success made him an object of terror to his master. Meanwhile in Asia Minor, Nikefaris Melisinos gave up Nicaea to the Seljuks. Internally the distress and disorder continued to increase and Nikefaris debased the coinage to meet his needs. Komnenos now married Irene Dukas, great niece of Constantine XI. The emperor took alarm and Komnenos with a motley army of regulars, mercenaries, retainers and volunteers marched on the capital. The gates were opened to his adherent George Paleologos on April 1st 1081 and Komnenos after slight opposition was proclaimed emperor as Alexius I. Nikefaris III retired into a monastery. Alexius was unable to restrain his motley horde of followers and there was a great deal of pillage and outrage. For the first time for many centuries the great capital tasted a little of the horrors of war. End of section 18. Section 19 of the Byzantine Empire. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Mike Botez. The Byzantine Empire. The rearguard of European civilization by Edward Ford. Section 19. The Komneni. The Last Great Rally. Part 1. Alexius I was now about 33 years of age, a short somewhat insignificant looking man with an inclination to opulence, troubled also with a slight hesitation in his speech. He had already acquired great reputation as a general, especially by his clever defeat of Brienios at Calavria. Otherwise little was known of him. He was destined to do much for the broken empire and by his curious limitations of character was to live much undone. The external situation of the empire in 1881 was as bad as it well could be. The whole of the provinces east of the Hellespont were in the hands of the Turks with the exception of a few isolated fragments. The Balkan provinces were in disorder and more or less disaffected. In Italy the Normans had completed the conquest of the imperial possessions and their great chief Robert Giscard was preparing to invade the empire. The general situation was not perhaps outwardly worse than it had been in 717 but actually it was much more serious. Leo III had a large and vigorous peasant population with which to work in his task of regeneration. In 1881 the peasantry of Asia had disappeared and those of Europe were mostly aliens or semi-aliens of recent conquest entirely devoid of sympathy for the empire which had absorbed them. Leo had had to combat and dominate a powerful bureaucracy but Alexius was surrounded by an overshadowing territorial aristocracy as well. The army was a mere wreck. Its only really effective corps were the famous foreign or as it was now styled Varangian guard which since the Norman conquest of England had been recruited by a strong draft of sturdy Englishmen and a force of 10,000 immortals which Alexius had formed a few years before. The navy had been neglected for many years. The imperial fleet was almost non-existent. The provincial squadrons had decayed owing to the disorganization of the Asiatic coast themes by Turkish eruptions. Meanwhile the trading cities of Italy whose strength had been steadily increasing during the previous century had built considerable fleets. Pisa, Genoa, Amalfi and above all Venice possessed large naval resources and Robert Giscard assisted by the South Italian ports was building up a navy. Venice was still nominally part of the empire and came to the support of Alexius but its allegiance was very precarious and had to be secured by the donation of commercial privileges which were harmful to the prosperity of the empire. In any case the imperial position at sea was bad. It depended upon external aid. The phallusocracy of New Rome was at an end. The personality of Alexius counted for much. Professor Oman distinguishes him from Leo III by describing the latter as a hero while Alexius was only a statesman. Heroism is not incompatible with statesmanship. Leo was even more of a statesman than a warrior. Alexius was not devoid of heroic qualities. On one side of him he was a good type of the Byzantine warrior, noble, a fine tactician, and a gallant fighter. He was resolute and persevering and ill success never daunted him. His fertility of resource was remarkable and not less so his power of turning an opportunity to good account. But with all this he was not a statesman of a high order. He was the author of no great scheme or reform. His statesmanship was limited to devising means of coping with each emergency as it arose. His most successful stroke of policy which had far reaching and highly successful results was his appeal for help to the West. But here we shall see that his over caution prevented him from fully profiting by the successes of the crusaders. It must be remembered that the times were against him and that in spite of all he succeeded in preserving the empire and in strengthening it so that it endured for another century. But though he did much he might have done more. For the present he had much adieu to maintain himself in Europe. In June 1081 Robert Giscard took Corfu and landed in Epirus with 30,000 men. He forthwith laid siege to Durazzo which was gallantly defended by George Paleologos. Alexius made desperate exertions. He made a truce with Soleiman, Sultan of the Seljuks of Asia Minor, leaving him in possession of nearly the entire peninsula and obtained a body of horse bullmen for his army. He sent the, according to European notions, enormous sum of 144,000 nomismata to the western emperor Henry IV who was on bad terms with the Normans and their patron, the famous Pope Gregory VII. But the subsidy did not infuse much additional vigor into Henry's somewhat futile operations in Italy which, however, may have contributed to induce Giscard to return to his dominions in 1082. More effective were Alexius' dealings with Venice whose sympathies were still Roman. Liberal subsidies and permission to trade with his ports free of custom duties brought a large Venetian fleet on the scene under the Doge Domenico Silvio who severely defeated the Norman squadron under Giscard's son Bohemond. Meanwhile, Giscard was busyed with the Siege of Durazzo. The defense was in the highest degree gallant. The blockade at sea was necessarily imperfect. By land, Paleologos repelled all Giscard's efforts, destroyed his siege machines and towers, and held his own for month after month until in October, Alexius at last appeared up on the scene with a large but very unreliable army. Giscard was forced to raise the siege. He had suffered very heavily, but Alexius made the mistake of giving battle with his untrustworthy troops. He had exchanged some of them with Paleologos who now himself commanded one of the imperial divisions, but he clearly had little control over the motley force. The Varengian guards in the van under their commander Nampites charged the Norman line before Alexius could support them and drove the left wing into the sea. But Giscard was able to concentrate up on and destroy them before help arrived. Alexius, who was hurrying to their assistance, was caught in the melee and had to fight his way out. Thereupon, the rest of the army, with commendable discretion but very doubtful loyalty and courage, faced about and retreated in haste, though half of it had not come into action. Its loss was not heavy. The 6000 slain were mainly Varengians, but it was completely routed and scattered. In 1082, Durazzo, after holding out for several months longer, at last surrendered. Giscard was forced to return to Italy to aid Pope Gregory against Henry IV, but Bohemond overrun Epirus and took Ioannina. In 1083, he advanced against Alexius, who had rallied fresh forces, routed his new levies easily, first near Ocrida and then at Arta, and captured Castoria. Ocrida, however, repulsed Bohemond, who thereupon turned southward into Thessaly and besieged Larissa, which held out gallantly under Leo Kefalas. Alexius advanced to its relief and was this time successful. His generalship was good. The Normans were severely defeated. Bohemond retreated to Durazzo and danced to Italy, while Alexius recovered Castoria. In 1085, Alexius and his Venetian allies besieged Corfu, but Giscard completely defeated the Venetian fleet and broke up the siege. It was a stroke of good fortune for the Empire that he died soon after. Alexius then besieged and recovered Durazzo and afterwards Corfu. He rewarded Venice by the grant in thief of Dalmatia. His seat upon the throne was very insecure during these years, and there was more than one plot against him, but they were successfully overcome. In 1086, the Seljuks took Antioch, which for 15 years had maintained itself, a forlorn outpost of the Empire in Syria. North of Antioch, they hardly advanced. Cilicia and the Cappadocian Taurus were full of desperate Armenian refugees who formed a very effective barrier against further progress, and maintained an isolated existence in their fastness, while the rugged Trapeziantine province also remained untouched. Elsewhere, Asia Minor was full of semi-independent Seljuk emirs, though about this time they were brought into some kind of temporary subordination by the great Sultan Malek Shah. The Seljuk power in the peninsula was a very fluid and uncertain quantity. The Danish manned state, which included Sebas, Sivas, Comana, Tokat, Kabira, Nixar, Alberta, and Malatia, was practically independent. Scarcely had Alexius freed himself from the Norman War, when he was assailed by the Pechenegs and Cumans who poured into Thrace in 1087. They were defeated by Nicolaus Mavro Katakalon and forced back to the Danube, but in 1088 Alexius' endeavoring to drive them beyond the great frontier stream was defeated at Cilistria. Thereupon their hordes again swarmed into Thrace, and for more than two years Alexius was engaged in an extraordinary partisan campaign near Constantinople. It is certain that he often had it a mere handful of men. More than once he was in imminent danger. Even when successful he failed to drive the barbarians from the province, but at last he succeeded in sowing dissensions between Pechenegs and Cumans. The latter came over to his side, and thus strengthened he took the offensive and entirely defeated the Pechenegs on April 29, 1091. The European provinces were now clear of invaders, but they must have suffered greatly. In the same year Alexius concluded a treaty with Malek Shah in Asia Minor. It is surprising to find that it was to his advantage. He recovered Nicolmedia and several maritime towns, and soon afterwards recaptured Sinope by stratagem, thus reopening communication by land with the long-isolated Trapezzantine provinces. The Seljuk Emirs were prone to action on their own account, however. In 1090, Tzak of Smyrna defeated an imperial squadron at sea. In 1092 he actually proclaimed himself Roman Emperor. He was defeated near Ephesus by John Dukas, brother of the Empress, but in 1093 was able to besiege Abidos. He was, however, murdered during the siege. The position of Alexius in 1093 was that he was more firmly seated on the throne than in 1081, that he had consolidated his position in Europe and had begun to recover Asia Minor. Malek Shah had died in 1092, and his successor at Nicaea, Dawood Kilij Arslan I, had too much trouble with the Danish men and Seljuk Emirs to attempt recovery of Nicolmedia and Sinope. Alexius was in fresh danger. In the time of his trouble, he had sought help from the West. Possibly his appeals and diplomacy would of themselves have affected little, but the dull brutal cruelty of the Turks had made an immense sensation among Europeans who had either to be able to make pilgrimages to Palestine with little interference from the Caliphs. With the question of the motives of the Crusades, we have not to deal. The diplomacy of Alexius, religious feelings, the commercial instincts of the Italian cities all played their part. In 1093, Alexius was appraised that Western Europe was arming and would soon be in his territories. He probably spent that year, and the next, in reorganizing the defenses of the European provinces. In 1095, bodies of enthusiasts, including comparatively few fighting men, made their way eastward. Their pillaging propensities gave great trouble in Hungary, and yet more in the empire. Some of them, under Walter the Penulus and Peter the Hermit, eventually reached Thrace. They wore a mere barbarian horde, half-armed and entirely without discipline. Alexius quietly passed them over to Asia, where they were promptly massacred by the Seljuks, a few only including the leaders escaping. Next year, the main mass of the crusading warriors of Europe began to arrive. Their numbers were undoubtedly vast, though there were certainly not as many as 100,000 horsemen, much less 500,000 infantry. There is some reason to think that at the Battle of Antioch in 1098, they put about 50,000 men into the field. This at a time when they had suffered enormously from a year's warfare under a burning sun, and the horrors of a long blockade. Possibly they may have mastered 120,000 fighting men at Constantinople. The number of non-combatants was doubtless large. Troubles were endless. The Westerners were mostly barbarians of a type not at all above the Teutonic invaders of the Empire in the 5th century. Their leaders were as illiterate and nearly as coarse and brutal as their followers. They had not the remotest conception of civilized peace and order. They were so poor that even had they been willing to buy their own food, they had not the means. The leaders, some of them at least, were anxious to keep the peace. But even the best of them could ill-comprehend a state of things in which life was sacred and property secure. Many were too hotly ignorant to attempt to do so. One of the greatest, Bohemond, was an old foe of the Empire. No doubt Alexius found it hard to understand their blind enthusiasm. But his policy towards them could hardly have been avoided. His subjects were clearly his first consideration. There was doubtless cheating of the ignorant barbarians by his contractors. But as their supplies were paid for by his subsidies, they had little reason to complain. Business, otherwise swindling, is always the same. Contractors make their market with equal indifference out of Romans, Crusaders, or British armies of the 20th century. Of course, the Crusaders declared that the Greeks betrayed them. It would have been strange had it been otherwise. But division after division reached Constantinople in a state of confusion and in discipline, not worse than that in which they had started from the West. From niche onwards, they lived on supplies furnished by the Emperor. Alexius succeeded in so arranging matters that no two divisions of the Great Irregular Horde were camped before the capital at one time. He also induced all the chiefs, except Raymond of Toulouse, to do him homage. Even Bohemond was persuaded into doing so. The most remarkable proof of the force of the Emperor's personality, though, of course, he had a large army in Constantinople, and the Norman chief who had measured swords of him had not the illusions as to his weakness, which possessed the stupid arrogant barons of France and Germany. Alexius also persuaded the Crusaders to restore to him all their conquests, which were old imperial possessions. On his side, he undertook to supply them, and there is no doubt that many of the chiefs received large sums from him. In June 1097, the United Forces of the Empire and the Crusade besieged and took Nicaea, which surrendered to Alexius rather than to the savage Westernas, and caused thereby a tumult among the latter who were thirsty for pillage. Alexius smoothed matters over by a large donation, and the crusading host moved on. Kilige Arslan, to concentrate a sufficient force against them, had to summon to his help the emirs of Western Asia Minor. A few weeks after Nicaea, the Crusaders blundered among the Seleuc Horde near Dorileum, and by some accident gained a complete victory. They moved across Asia Minor, now in great part a desert, and losing very heavily, chiefly through ignorant incompetence, reached Antioch, and took it late in the year. During the greater part of the march, they had been accompanied and assisted by a division of imperial cavalry under Taticios. In Antioch, the main host was besieged by the whole Levy of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor under Kerbuca of Mosul, but in 1098 succeeded in defeating it. The division under Taticios was the only Byzantine force which cooperated with the Crusaders. They loudly exclaimed against the emperor's treachery and slackness. Mutual recriminations ended in the chiefs sending a plain-spoken message to that effect, that if he joined them with his troops, they would hand over to him all their conquests. Alexios refused to come, and so the Syrian acquisition of the Crusaders became a series of western feudal states. Alexios, in fact, had been busy in western Asia Minor. He has been often scornfully compared to the jackal following the lion, but such criticism is barely sensible. He was obviously bound to take full advantage of the withdrawal of the Turks. He marched steadily through Bithynia, Messia, Lydia and Caria, recovering them with little fighting, since the Turkish bands remaining were few. In 1099 it was the same. The Crusaders took Jerusalem and next year defeated the Fatimid army at Ascalon, while Alexios was busy recovering Phrygian fortresses and reorganizing the long separated provinces. From the military point of view, he did his work well. He accorded a wise measure of local independence to the frontier cities, and organized a system of defense of the Bithynian hill passes by means of military colonies. Economically, he could do little. The Seljuk ravages had exterminated the peasant proprietors. And though Alexios rebuilt and repopulated Trales, Kone and other towns, this was done by collecting within them refugees from districts which were left bare from insecurity. In 1103 Bohemond, now Count of Antioch, was taken by the Danishments. Alexios was already moving to the recovery of Cilicia, having now established himself in the west, and his troops reoccupied Seleucia. Meanwhile, however, the peasants who were friendly to Bohemond had declared war on Alexios, and entered the Aegean with a large fleet. Near roads, they were defeated by the imperial fleet under Taticios and the Italian Landulf, and thereupon made peace. But the indomitable Bohemond had escaped to Europe, and was collecting mercenaries for another invasion, like that of 1081. In Cilicia, the imperial army had considerable success. Tarsus, Adana, and Mobsuessia were taken, and the Armenians of Taurus brought under Vasilij. Alexios himself was at Thessalonica, preparing for the advent of Bohemond. But nonetheless, he had during the following year and afterwards two strong armies in Asia. During these years, he was assailed by numerous plots, of which the last was in 1107. They were all put down, and the conspirators punished, but with mildness. Cruelty was not among the vices of Alexios. In 1107 Bohemond crossed the Epirus with more than 200 ships, and 45,000 miscellaneous mercenaries, and once more laid siege to Durazzo, which was defended as stoutly as in 1081. Alexios acted with great skill and caution. He moved to the neighborhood of the place, and after much skillful maneuvering, practically blockaded his antagonist in his camp, when his army slowly dwindled away with famine, disease, and sporadic fighting. After persisting bravely but uselessly for many months, Bohemond at last gave up and sued for peace, promising to become a faithful vassal of the empire. Antioch had been gallantly defended by his nephew, Tancred, but Bohemond had been reduced to helplessness. It was evident that the empire was far stronger than in 1081. Internally, the effect of the victory was that plots against the emperor seized. He spent the next three years in the labor of reorganization, not unsuccessfully. In 1111, Bohemond ended his restless life. In the same year, Hasan, Emir of Cappadocia, made a raid into the imperial territory. The Seljuks were now more or less hemmed in by the imperial advance and by the Danish med state in the northeast. Their headquarters were at Iconium, 300 miles from their old station at Nicaea, but their nomadic habits left them little alternative to plundering. Hasan was defeated but four years later, the Seljuks made another murderous raid, right up to the Aegean. This called Alexius again into the field, though now 68 years of age and failing in health. He cleared Frigia of the Turkish raiders and pushed forward, as far as the Philomelion, about 70 miles from Iconium. He did not choose, however, to attack the Seljuks' headquarters. No doubt, a further advance through the ruined country about Lake Tata was risky. He began to retire and the Seljuks attacked him. They were completely defeated and the campaign ended in victory, but left the chance of regaining Central Asia Minor more remote than ever. The country had been so ruined that the march from Philadelphia or Laudicia to Iconium was a task of immense difficulty. The net result of the reign of Alexius was that he had regained and, to some extent, reorganized Western Asia Minor. Alexius died two years later in 1118 at the age of 70, after a troubled reign of 37 years. His last act was to refuse to disinherit his son John in favor of his eldest child, the famous Anna, and her husband, Nicephorus Briannios. Anna was several years older than her brother and had a strong desire for power. Her husband was not in sympathy with her, but her mother used all her influence on her behalf without a veil, and is said in her disappointment to have taunted the dying emperor with his hypocrisy. The charge was not perhaps without truth, but the incident does the empress no great credit. According to his lights, Alexius has done his duty to the empire. He had failed to do much towards economic recovery. Perhaps he could, in any case, have done little. He was hampered with a large circle of family connections, for whom he thought himself obliged to find salaried posts and elaborately coined titles. His subtle diplomacy had not always been successful. His dealings with the crusaders had done harm as well as good, and had exposed him to not absolutely unfounded charges of treachery. But still he had raised the empire from its degradation and had left it in a better condition than had been the case since the days of Constantine X and of section 19. Recording by Mike Botez