and were besieging Dyrrhachium. In Asia
little was left to Byzantium except the Black Sea coasts, a few isolated cities
on the south coast and the great fortified metropolis of Antioch; but
communications with these further cities were uncertain and rare. Several
cities in the interior were still in Christian hands; but their rulers were
entirely cut off from the central government. The bulk of the country was in
the hands of the Seldjuk Sultan Suleiman, who ruled from Nicaea domains
stretching from the Bosphorus to the Syrian frontier; but his state had no
organized administration and no fixed frontiers. Other cities were in the power
of pettier Turkish princes, some of them acknowledging the suzerainty of
Suleiman, but most of them admitting no master but Malik Shah. Of these the
most important were the house of Danishmend, now in possession of Caesarea,
Sebastea and Amasea; Menguchek, the lord of Erzindjan and Colonea; and, most
dangerous of all, the adventurer Chaka who had captured Smyrna and the Aegean
littoral. The Turkish chieftains had established some sort of order round their
main cities; but the countryside was still overrun by nomad Turcoman hordes,
while bodies of Greek and Armenian refugees added to the confusion. Large
numbers of Christians adopted Islam and were gradually merged into the Turkish
race. A few Greek communities lingered on in mountain districts; and the
Christian Turks, settled some centuries before round Caesarea in Cappadocia,
retained their identity and their religion right down to modem times. But the
majority of the Greek population made its way as best it could to the shores of
the Black Sea and the Aegean.
The Armenians in
the Taurus
The migration of the Armenians was more
deliberate and orderly. The various Armenian princes dispossessed by the
Byzantines had been given estates in Cappadocia, especially in the south,
towards the Taurus mountains. Many of their retainers had accompanied them; and
when the Seldjuk invasions began in earnest a continual stream of Armenians
left their homes to join these new colonies, till almost half of the population
of Armenia was on the move south-westward. The Turkish penetration of
Cappadocia drove them further into the Taurus mountains and the Anti-Taurus;
and they spread out into the valley of the middle Euphrates, to which the Turks
had not yet come. The districts that they had abandoned were soon filled not by
Turks but by Moslem Kurds from the hills of Assyria and north-west Iran. The
last Armenian prince of the old Bagratid dynasty, a dynasty that proudly
claimed descent from David and Bathsheba, was killed by Byzantine orders in
1079, after his own peculiarly atrocious murder of the Archbishop of Caesarea;
whereupon one of his relatives, by name Roupen, rebelled from the Empire and
set himself up in the hills of north-west Cilicia. About the same time another
Armenian chieftain, Oshin, son of Hethoum, founded a similar lordship a little
further to the west. Both the Roupenian and the Hethoumian dynasties had parts
to play in later history; but at the time Roupen and Oshin were outshone by the
Armenian Vahram, whom the Greeks called Philaretus.
Philaretus had been in Byzantine service and
had been appointed by Romanus Diogenes to the governorship of Germanicia
(Marash). When Romanus fell he refused to recognize Michael Ducas and declared
himself independent. During the chaos of Michael’s reign he conquered the chief
cities of Cilicia, Tarsus, Mamistra and Anazarbus. In 1077 one of his
lieutenants, after a siege of six months, took Edessa from the Byzantines. In
1078 the citizens of Antioch, whose governor, the successor to Isaac Comnenus,
had just been assassinated, begged Philaretus to take over the city to save it
from the Turks. His dominion now stretched from Tarsus to the lands beyond the
Euphrates; and both Roupen and Oshin became his vassals. But he felt insecure.
Unlike most of his contemporaries he was Orthodox, and he did not
little was left to Byzantium except the Black Sea coasts, a few isolated cities
on the south coast and the great fortified metropolis of Antioch; but
communications with these further cities were uncertain and rare. Several
cities in the interior were still in Christian hands; but their rulers were
entirely cut off from the central government. The bulk of the country was in
the hands of the Seldjuk Sultan Suleiman, who ruled from Nicaea domains
stretching from the Bosphorus to the Syrian frontier; but his state had no
organized administration and no fixed frontiers. Other cities were in the power
of pettier Turkish princes, some of them acknowledging the suzerainty of
Suleiman, but most of them admitting no master but Malik Shah. Of these the
most important were the house of Danishmend, now in possession of Caesarea,
Sebastea and Amasea; Menguchek, the lord of Erzindjan and Colonea; and, most
dangerous of all, the adventurer Chaka who had captured Smyrna and the Aegean
littoral. The Turkish chieftains had established some sort of order round their
main cities; but the countryside was still overrun by nomad Turcoman hordes,
while bodies of Greek and Armenian refugees added to the confusion. Large
numbers of Christians adopted Islam and were gradually merged into the Turkish
race. A few Greek communities lingered on in mountain districts; and the
Christian Turks, settled some centuries before round Caesarea in Cappadocia,
retained their identity and their religion right down to modem times. But the
majority of the Greek population made its way as best it could to the shores of
the Black Sea and the Aegean.
The Armenians in
the Taurus
The migration of the Armenians was more
deliberate and orderly. The various Armenian princes dispossessed by the
Byzantines had been given estates in Cappadocia, especially in the south,
towards the Taurus mountains. Many of their retainers had accompanied them; and
when the Seldjuk invasions began in earnest a continual stream of Armenians
left their homes to join these new colonies, till almost half of the population
of Armenia was on the move south-westward. The Turkish penetration of
Cappadocia drove them further into the Taurus mountains and the Anti-Taurus;
and they spread out into the valley of the middle Euphrates, to which the Turks
had not yet come. The districts that they had abandoned were soon filled not by
Turks but by Moslem Kurds from the hills of Assyria and north-west Iran. The
last Armenian prince of the old Bagratid dynasty, a dynasty that proudly
claimed descent from David and Bathsheba, was killed by Byzantine orders in
1079, after his own peculiarly atrocious murder of the Archbishop of Caesarea;
whereupon one of his relatives, by name Roupen, rebelled from the Empire and
set himself up in the hills of north-west Cilicia. About the same time another
Armenian chieftain, Oshin, son of Hethoum, founded a similar lordship a little
further to the west. Both the Roupenian and the Hethoumian dynasties had parts
to play in later history; but at the time Roupen and Oshin were outshone by the
Armenian Vahram, whom the Greeks called Philaretus.
Philaretus had been in Byzantine service and
had been appointed by Romanus Diogenes to the governorship of Germanicia
(Marash). When Romanus fell he refused to recognize Michael Ducas and declared
himself independent. During the chaos of Michael’s reign he conquered the chief
cities of Cilicia, Tarsus, Mamistra and Anazarbus. In 1077 one of his
lieutenants, after a siege of six months, took Edessa from the Byzantines. In
1078 the citizens of Antioch, whose governor, the successor to Isaac Comnenus,
had just been assassinated, begged Philaretus to take over the city to save it
from the Turks. His dominion now stretched from Tarsus to the lands beyond the
Euphrates; and both Roupen and Oshin became his vassals. But he felt insecure.
Unlike most of his contemporaries he was Orthodox, and he did not
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