wish to
separate himself entirely from the Empire. On Michael’s abdication he announced
his allegiance to Nicephorus Boteniates, who left him as governor of the lands
that he had conquered. He apparently recognized Alexius also; but he took the
additional precaution of paying some sort of homage to the Arab lords of
Aleppo.
The Seldjuk
Conquest of Syria
Alexius on his accession was obliged to decide
against which of his enemies it was necessary first to campaign. Calculating
that the Turks could only be driven back by a long sustained effort for which
he was not yet ready and that in the meantime they were likely to quarrel
amongst themselves, he considered it more urgent to defeat the Norman attack.
It took longer than he had thought. In the summer of 1081 Robert Guiscard,
accompanied by his Amazon wife, Sigelgaita of Salerno, and by his eldest son,
Bohemond, laid siege to Dyrrhachium. In October Alexius, with an army whose
chief regiment was the Anglo-Saxon Varangian Guard, went to relieve the
fortress. But there, as at Hastings, fifteen years before, the Anglo-Saxons
were no match for the Normans. Alexius was decisively beaten. Dyrrhachium held
out over the winter but fell in February 1082, enabling Robert in the spring to
march along the great main road, the Via Egnatia, towards Constantinople.
Italian affairs soon obliged him to return home; but he left his army under
Bohemond to secure Macedonia and Greece. Bohemond twice defeated Alexius, who
was obliged to borrow men from the Turks and ships from the Venetians. While
the latter interrupted Norman communications, the former enabled the Emperor to
deliver Thessaly. Bohemond retired to Italy in 1083 but returned with his
father next year, destroying the Venetian fleet off Corfu. The war only ended
when Robert died in Cephalonia in 1085, and his sons quarrelled over his
inheritance.
The authority of the Emperor was at last
established over the European provinces; but during those four years the
eastern provinces were lost. Philaretus fatally involved himself in Turkish
intrigues. Early in 1085 Antioch was betrayed by his son to the Sultan
Suleiman, together with his Cilician cities. Edessa fell in 1087 to a Turkish
chieftain, Buzan, but was recaptured later in 1094 by an Armenian, Thoros, who
had been a vassal of Malik Shah and was at first kept in order by a Turkish
garrison in the citadel. Melitene meanwhile was occupied by another Armenian,
his father-in-law, Gabriel, who, like Thoros, belonged to the Orthodox rite.
Quarrels between the Orthodox and the Jacobite and Armenian Churches increased
the disorder throughout northern Syria. To the latter the decline of Byzantine
power was a matter for rejoicing. They preferred the rule of the Turk.
In southern Syria Seldjuk domination was now
complete. Ever since Tughril Bey had entered Baghdad in 1055 the Syrian
possession of the Fatimites had been threatened; and growing alarm and suspense
there had resulted in disorder and petty rebellions. When in 1056 the Byzantine
frontier officials at Lattakieh had refused to allow the pilgrim Bishop of
Cambrai to proceed southward, their motive was not, as the westerners
suspected, just to be unpleasant to a Latin (though there was probably a ban on
Norman pilgrims); they were informed that Syria was unsafe for Christian
travellers. The experience of the German bishops who eight years later insisted
on crossing the frontier against local advice shows that the Byzantine
officials were justified.
In 1071, the year of Manzikert and the fall of
Bari, a Turkish adventurer, Atsiz ibn Abaq, nominally vassal to Alp Arslan,
captured Jerusalem without a struggle and soon occupied all Palestine down to
the frontier fortress of Ascalon. In 1075 he took possession of Damascus and
the Damascene. In 1076 the Fatimids recovered Jerusalem, from which Atsiz drove
them again after a siege of several months and a massacre of the Moslem
inhabitants. Only the Christians, safe within their walled
separate himself entirely from the Empire. On Michael’s abdication he announced
his allegiance to Nicephorus Boteniates, who left him as governor of the lands
that he had conquered. He apparently recognized Alexius also; but he took the
additional precaution of paying some sort of homage to the Arab lords of
Aleppo.
The Seldjuk
Conquest of Syria
Alexius on his accession was obliged to decide
against which of his enemies it was necessary first to campaign. Calculating
that the Turks could only be driven back by a long sustained effort for which
he was not yet ready and that in the meantime they were likely to quarrel
amongst themselves, he considered it more urgent to defeat the Norman attack.
It took longer than he had thought. In the summer of 1081 Robert Guiscard,
accompanied by his Amazon wife, Sigelgaita of Salerno, and by his eldest son,
Bohemond, laid siege to Dyrrhachium. In October Alexius, with an army whose
chief regiment was the Anglo-Saxon Varangian Guard, went to relieve the
fortress. But there, as at Hastings, fifteen years before, the Anglo-Saxons
were no match for the Normans. Alexius was decisively beaten. Dyrrhachium held
out over the winter but fell in February 1082, enabling Robert in the spring to
march along the great main road, the Via Egnatia, towards Constantinople.
Italian affairs soon obliged him to return home; but he left his army under
Bohemond to secure Macedonia and Greece. Bohemond twice defeated Alexius, who
was obliged to borrow men from the Turks and ships from the Venetians. While
the latter interrupted Norman communications, the former enabled the Emperor to
deliver Thessaly. Bohemond retired to Italy in 1083 but returned with his
father next year, destroying the Venetian fleet off Corfu. The war only ended
when Robert died in Cephalonia in 1085, and his sons quarrelled over his
inheritance.
The authority of the Emperor was at last
established over the European provinces; but during those four years the
eastern provinces were lost. Philaretus fatally involved himself in Turkish
intrigues. Early in 1085 Antioch was betrayed by his son to the Sultan
Suleiman, together with his Cilician cities. Edessa fell in 1087 to a Turkish
chieftain, Buzan, but was recaptured later in 1094 by an Armenian, Thoros, who
had been a vassal of Malik Shah and was at first kept in order by a Turkish
garrison in the citadel. Melitene meanwhile was occupied by another Armenian,
his father-in-law, Gabriel, who, like Thoros, belonged to the Orthodox rite.
Quarrels between the Orthodox and the Jacobite and Armenian Churches increased
the disorder throughout northern Syria. To the latter the decline of Byzantine
power was a matter for rejoicing. They preferred the rule of the Turk.
In southern Syria Seldjuk domination was now
complete. Ever since Tughril Bey had entered Baghdad in 1055 the Syrian
possession of the Fatimites had been threatened; and growing alarm and suspense
there had resulted in disorder and petty rebellions. When in 1056 the Byzantine
frontier officials at Lattakieh had refused to allow the pilgrim Bishop of
Cambrai to proceed southward, their motive was not, as the westerners
suspected, just to be unpleasant to a Latin (though there was probably a ban on
Norman pilgrims); they were informed that Syria was unsafe for Christian
travellers. The experience of the German bishops who eight years later insisted
on crossing the frontier against local advice shows that the Byzantine
officials were justified.
In 1071, the year of Manzikert and the fall of
Bari, a Turkish adventurer, Atsiz ibn Abaq, nominally vassal to Alp Arslan,
captured Jerusalem without a struggle and soon occupied all Palestine down to
the frontier fortress of Ascalon. In 1075 he took possession of Damascus and
the Damascene. In 1076 the Fatimids recovered Jerusalem, from which Atsiz drove
them again after a siege of several months and a massacre of the Moslem
inhabitants. Only the Christians, safe within their walled
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