The Emperor
took the offensive only against the Musulmans in Asia, and these wars
themselves were a necessary prelude to any expedition into Syria.
took the offensive only against the Musulmans in Asia, and these wars
themselves were a necessary prelude to any expedition into Syria.
Cambridge Medieval History - v4 - Eastern Roman Empire
).
The treaty which ended the Norman war was a substantial victory
for the Emperor. The principality of Antioch was no longer a danger to
the Empire, for the passes of the Amanus and Cilicia were now in the
hands of the Greeks, who also commanded the sea-ports. Thus, for the
future, assistance from Europe could only reach Antioch by permission of
the Greeks. The treaty, however, was only of value in so far as its pro-
visions were duly carried out; and when, upon the death of Bohemond,
Alexius called upon Tancred to observe the convention made with his uncle,
the Prince of Antioch refused. The Emperor either would not or could not
embark upon a war with Tancred; he confined himself to attempting to
win over the Latin princes of Syria to support his cause. Butumites,
despatched with large supplies of money, negotiated fruitlessly with
Bertrand, Count of Tripolis, and later with his son Pons. Nor was he
more successful with King Baldwin. But, in spite of everything, the treaty
of 1108 remained of essential importance, for it was the standard by
which the relations of Antioch and Constantinople were regulated, and
it was to securing its observance that all the efforts of Alexius, his son,
and his grandson, were directed.
The last years of Alexius were to be occupied with fresh struggles
against the Turks. The latter had for some years ceased to invade Greek
territory, for nearly all the emirs were engaged in the struggle which took
place between the two sons of Malik Shāh, Barkiyāruq and Muhammad.
Upon the victory of Muḥammad, the country gradually settled down, and
when one of the sons of Qilij Arslān, Malik Shāh, had obtained possession
of Iconium, war again began between the Turks and the Greeks.
CH. XI.
## p. 344 (#386) ############################################
344
Alexius and the Turks
About 1109 Alexius ordered Eumathius Philocales, who was appointed
Governor of Attalia, to relieve Adramyttium and to drive out the Turkish
tribes from the neighbourhood. The governor attacked the Musulmans
settled in the region of Lampe, and immediately Hasan, Emir of Cappa-
docia, set out to ravage the Greek territories. Philadelphia, Smyrna,
Nymphaeum, Chliara, and Pergamus were threatened, and once again
the fruitful valleys along the coast of Rūm were traversed by the swift
Musulman squadrons dealing terror and destruction as they went.
Though repulsed, they soon returned. After 1112 their incursions become
continual. In that year Alexius awaited them at Adramyttium, Con-
stantine Gabras at Philadelphia, and Monastras at Pergamus and Chliara,
the Turks being defeated by Gabras. In 1113 Nicaea was besieged, and
Prusa, Apollonia, and Lopadium taken from the Greeks; the Emir
Manalugh ravaged Parium and Abydos, and the Greek troops with
difficulty drove back the enemy.
Next year, 1114, an invasion by the Cumans summoned Alexius to
the northern frontier. From Philippopolis, where he spent his leisure
time in discussions with the Manichaeans who were numerous in that
district, he kept watch upon the enemy and succeeded in driving them
back, but of the circumstances of his victory little is known.
Returning to Constantinople, Alexius again prepared to do battle
with the Musulmans, whose bands continued to harass the Greek frontiers.
Alexius gathered a considerable force, and decided on undertaking
police operations on a large scale and on driving off the Turkish tribes
as far as Iconium. Having repulsed the enemy, the Emperor pushed
on to Philomelium and Amorium. During his retreat the Sultan of
Iconium attacked the Greeks, but he was beaten near Ampûn, and
obliged to make peace. According to Anna Comnena, he conceded the
old frontier-line of the Empire as it had been in the time of Romanus
Diogenes. This is highly doubtful, and it does not appear that the Greek
possessions (with the exception of Trebizond and that part of the Armeniac
theme which bordered upon the Black Sea) included anything except the
country lying west of a line drawn along Smyrna, Gangra, Ancyra,
Amorium, and Philomelium. To this must be added the coast towns as
far as the borders of the principality of Antioch. The chief result of this
expedition of the Emperor was the liberation of a throng of captives,
whom he brought back to Greek territory.
The Musulman war did not monopolise the attention of Alexius during
the last years of his life, for we find him attempting to play a part in the
affairs of Italy. From this arose the treaty with Pisa in illi, by which
Alexius agreed no longer to interpose obstacles to the crusades set on
foot by the Pisans, and to present rich gifts every year to the Archbishop
and cathedral of Pisa. The Emperor also made important commercial
concessions to the Pisans, to whom were allotted a wharf and a residential
quarter at Constantinople.
## p. 345 (#387) ############################################
Alexius and the Papacy
345
It is very probable that this agreement with Pisa was part of a
project formed by Alexius to secure for Constantinople a preponderating
influence in Italian affairs. The death of Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia,
left the Pope without a protector, just as he had embarked on a more
violent contest than ever with the Emperor Henry V. It will be remem-
bered that Paschal II, taken prisoner by the Emperor, conceded to him the
right of investiture, but repudiated his concession as early as March 1112,
acknowledging his weakness. In January 1112 Alexius wrote to Gerard,
Abbot of Monte Cassino, expressing his regret at the Pope's captivity, and
at the same time he entered into communication with the Romans, whom
he congratulated on their resistance to the Emperor. He informed them
that if they were still in the same mind as had been reported to him, he
would accept the imperial crown for himself or his son. In reply to this
message, the Romans in May 1112 despatched a numerous embassy to
the Emperor in order to arrange an agreement with him. Alexius had to
promise to come to Rome in the course of the summer, but he fell ill and
was unable to fulfil his engagement. It is evident that Paschal II only
continued these negotiations in the hope of bringing about the re-union
of the Churches and the ending of the schism. With regard to this, a
letter written to Alexius by the Pope towards the end of the year is of
the greatest importance. The Pope thanks Heaven which has inspired
Alexius with the idea of this much-desired union, but he does not conceal
the difficulties which the scheme will have to encounter; the Emperor,
however, has the easier task, for he is in a position to command both
clergy and laity. The Pope recognises with pleasure the good faith of
Alexius and of his envoy, Basil Mesimerius, but from the outset he makes
a point of stating that there is but one means of reconciling all differences,
and that is for the Patriarch of Constantinople to acknowledge the
primacy of the see of Rome, and for the metropolitan sees and provinces
which had formerly been subject to the Papacy to return to their obedi-
ence and place themselves at its disposal.
In conclusion, the Pope proposes the assembling of a Council, and makes
no allusion whatever to the projects of the Emperor regarding the imperial
crown. It is plain that in his mind these projects are dependent upon the
recognition by the Church of Constantinople of the primacy of Rome.
We know nothing of the further progress of these negotiations, which may,
in all probability, be connected with the journey of the Archbishop of
Milan, Peter Chrysolanus, to Constantinople in 1113. During his visit he
had a discussion with Eustratius, Bishop of Nicaea, on the subject of the
errors of the Greek Church. This attempt by Alexius to restore the unity
of the Empire, although we know so little of it, is none the less curious.
We shall find his idea taken up later by his grandson Manuel.
The last days of Alexius were saddened by quarrels and divisions in
his family. The Emperor at one time had reason to fear that his life-
work would be destroyed by his nearest relatives. In the early part of
сн. х.
## p. 346 (#388) ############################################
346
Intrigues of Anna Comnena
his reign Alexius had been under the influence of his mother Anna
Dalassena, but by degrees she had rendered herself unendurable to her
son, and perceiving this had not waited to be driven from court, but had
retired of her own accord to the monastery of Pantepoptes, where she died
(c. 1105 ? ). Her daughter-in-law Irene succeeded to her influence. She
had borne the Emperor seven children-four daughters, Anna, Maria,
Eudocia, and Theodora, and three sons, John, Andronicus, and Isaac. The
eldest of these children, Anna, a highly cultivated woman, mistress of all
the learning to be acquired in her day, to whom we owe the Alexiad,
having been for a moment heiress to the throne at the time of her
betrothal to the son of Michael VII, was inconsolable for the frustration
of her hopes by the birth of her brother John. Being very ambitious, she
succeeded, with the help of her mother and her brother Andronicus, in
forming a considerable party for herself at court, and strong in its support
she endeavoured to prepare the way for the succession to the throne of
her husband, the Caesar Nicephorus Bryennius, as soon as her father's
death should take place. John, whose rights were thus directly threatened,
made every effort to gain over the people and the Senate. For several
years an underground struggle went on between the two parties. The
Empress, whose influence over Alexius had grown to such a height that
she accompanied him even on his campaigns, worked unceasingly to
bring him to share her ill-opinion of her son John, whom she represented
as hopelessly dissolute. Alexius, however, held out against the insinua-
tions of his wife, though, by constantly postponing his decision, he led
her to hope that it might prove to be in accordance with her views.
In the beginning of 1118 the Emperor fell seriously ill, and the in-
triguing around him redoubled. In spite of all her efforts Irene could
not prevail upon her husband to sacrifice the son's rights to the daughter's.
The Emperor's dream had always been to found a dynasty, and he could
not but see that his work would be ephemeral, and that his house would
not long retain power, if he himself set the example of undermining the
right of succession. His sickness increasing, Alexius was carried to the
palace of Mangana. Feeling himself near his end, he summoned his son,
and giving him his ring charged him to have himself proclaimed Emperor.
John, in obedience to his father's orders, hastily had himself crowned in
St Sophia. Then, surrounded by his partisans, he occupied the Sacred
Palace, the thick walls of which would enable him to defy the outbreak
which his adversaries were likely to stir up. When the Empress and her
daughter learned what had happened, they gave way to an explosion of
wild rage. Irene renewed her efforts to wring from the dying Emperor
the recognition of Bryennius. She hoped that the news of John's action
would induce his father to disinherit him. But, far from shewing anger,
Alexius, on hearing of his son's success, lifted his hands to Heaven as
though to give thanks to God. On this Irene, perceiving that she had
been duped, overwhelmed her husband with reproaches. “All your life,"
## p. 347 (#389) ############################################
The Byzantine army and navy
347
she said, “you have done nothing but deceive and use words to conceal
your thoughts, and you have remained the same even on your death-bed. ”
Alexius expired during the night of 15-16 August 1118; his body,
abandoned by all, was hastily buried without the usual ceremonies at the
monastery of Christos Philanthropos.
Up to his last moments Comnenus had fought to defend the rights
of his son. Thanks to the resistance which he maintained to the will of
his wife and daughter, he succeeded in securing those rights, and all their
web of intrigue fell to pieces when confronted with the accomplished fact.
From the administrative point of view, the reign of Alexius is of real
importance. Comnenus, in fact, successfully carried out a heavy task by
reconstructing the fleet and the army which his predecessors had allowed
to fall into decay. We have hardly any information as to the navy.
When the reign began, the Byzantine fleet had ceased to exist, and in
order to repel the Normans Alexius had been obliged to appeal for help
to the naval force of the Venetians. Anna Comnena on several occasions
mentions the building of ships by her father's orders. As the history of
the reign proceeds, we can see the gradual development of the Greek fleet
and the part which it plays. In particular, we find it policing the
Archipelago, which was infested with Turkish pirates, and finally it took
its share in the war against Bohemond.
The re-organisation of the army always absorbed a large part of
Alexius' attention, for the position of the Empire, threatened as it was
on all its frontiers, demanded a strong and well-trained army. At the
same time the Emperor was always under the apprehension that the
weapon which he was forging might one day be turned against him.
Thus he always kept the command of important expeditions in his own
hands, and carefully avoided giving his generals any opportunity of
thrusting themselves into the foreground. Alexius made special efforts
to secure two main points. Firstly, he took every precaution that all those
who were under the obligation of military service should steadily fulfil
the duties laid upon them, and more than once he himself superintended
the checking of the military register, resisting all attempts of the great
landowners to absorb the small fiefs, granted on condition of service in
the army, and to reduce their holders to the status of coloni. In the
second place, the Emperor tried by constant manœuvring to train his
troops and to establish some degree of solidarity among the diverse ele-
ments of which they were formed. For at that time the Byzantine army
was an absolute mosaic. Alongside of the native troops furnished by the
themes and by the holders of military fiefs, we find contingents recruited
from among the barbarian peoples who had settled within the Empire,
and again from foreign mercenaries, Russians, Colbigni (Patzinaks or
Germans? ), Turks, Alans, Englishmen, Italian Normans, Germans, and
Bulgarians. Alexius' efforts were not thrown away, as the history of his
reign attests. At first his inexperienced and ill-organised army was almost
cH. XI.
## p. 348 (#390) ############################################
348
Financial administration
invariably defeated, but as the organisation was gradually improved we
find victory returning to the Byzantine standards, and at his death Alexius
was to leave behind him the admirable machine which was to enable his
son to undertake his campaigns in Cilicia and Syria.
The reign of Alexius was a time of extreme wretchedness to the in-
habitants of the Empire. Setting aside the disasters which overwhelmed
the provinces of Asia Minor, where more than once the Turks carried off
whole populations, the material condition of the European provinces was
appalling. The rural districts were wasted by continual wars, and on
account of the insecurity there a continual movement towards the towns
went on among the peasants, who were anxious to escape from the taxes
and from military service. What was the pressure of the financial burdens
on the country parts will be understood when we learn that a standard
conversion-table, drawn up under Alexius, provides for the original sum
due by a taxpayer two years in arrear to be multiplied by 28 (56 nomis-
mata instead of 2). This increase is explained by the disturbance
in financial administration brought about by Alexius' debasement of
the coinage. Since the disaster of Manzikert (1071) the financial
difficulties of the Empire had led the sovereigns of Byzantium to issue
debased money. Alexius carried the new practice to extremes: Zonaras
tells how the Emperor struck copper coins which he used for his own
payments, while he insisted that the taxes should be paid mainly in gold,
accepting the copper money for only a part of the sums due. The
chronicler's evidence is confirmed by numismatics, for there are no less
than seven types of the nomisma struck by Alexius; some are of gold,
but the most common types are of bronze, of electrum, of billon, of silver
much debased, or of an alloy of gold and electrum or of gold and billon.
This variety of coins bearing the same name, although differing in standard
and value, brought confusion into business, as is shewn by the standard
conversion-table mentioned above.
The issue of debased coinage was not indeed peculiar to Alexius, and
his successors followed his example. If John Comnenus seems to have
made an effort to improve the coinage (three out of seven types of nomisma
bearing his effigy are usually of gold), Manuel Comnenus reverted to the
practices of his grandfather: not one of the types of nomisma struck by
him is of gold; out of the thirteen known types five are of bronze and
the others of a very pale electrum which is hard to distinguish from silver.
In dealing with the nobility and clergy, the government used equal
rigour in its endeavours to reform abuses. If we have but little informa-
tion as to the nobility, we have more as regards the clergy, and it is highly
probable that measures analogous to those taken against that class were
also adopted against the aristocracy. A large part of ecclesiastical property
was exempt from the land-tax, but in the imperial charters granting this
exemption care had usually been taken to stipulate the number of paroikoi
and klerikoi who were not to be subject to the tax. The clergy shewed
## p. 349 (#391) ############################################
Alexius and the Church
349
a marked tendency to attract to their estates a larger number of paroikoi
and klerikoi than they were entitled to, and the exchequer suffered in
proportion. To remedy these abuses Alexius had the number of Church
tenants and estates verified afresh with the utmost strictness. The treasury
then pitilessly exacted the tax from all men and lands not entitled to ex-
emption.
Another financial expedient, revived by Alexius, did considerable in-
justice to the monasteries. Not having money enough to reward those
who had been faithful to him, nor to provide the different members of
his family with large estates, Alexius had recourse to the lands of the
monasteries and bestowed them as though they had been fiefs. The
beneficiaries, who were called charistikarioi, enjoyed the monastic re-
venues, an infinitesimal part of which went to the support of the monks
and the convent. These donations to private persons brought great dis-
organization into the monastic life. No doubt the number of the convents
had at that time grown immensely, and the wealth of the monks was
excessive. Some intervention by the central power was a necessity.
Alexius, by these donations to lay persons, avoided the difficulty of regu-
lating the whole system anew.
But it would be wrong to conclude from what has been said that
Alexius was a persecutor of the clergy. The monastic system was at that
time declining rapidly; the monks were constantly quarrelling with their
superiors, or becoming tired of their convents and going off to wander
about the country or make visits to the capital or the great provincial
towns. These were abuses which Alexius undertook to correct both by
diminishing the wealth of the monasteries and by reforming the conduct
of the monks. This reform of the institution of monasticism was one of
the projects nearest to the Emperor's heart, and he gave special encourage-
ment to the great reformer St Christodulus, lavishing privileges on his
monastery at Patmos. In the same way the monks entrusted with the
care of the hospital and orphanage of St Paul at Constantinople restored
by Alexius were overwhelmed with imperial favours, but their adminis-
tration was narrowly supervised.
The same anxiety for the moral uplifting of the clergy is traceable in
the course which Comnenus took with regard to the seculars, whom he
accused of sloth and ignorance. To remedy these evils, Alexius limited
the number of the priests of St Sophia, and organised a whole system
of examinations dealing at once with morals and with learning. The
clergy were divided into classes, and were precluded from promotion
or from any share in the imperial bounty, except in so far as they satis-
fied the conditions laid down by Alexius. In order to avoid disputes
between the monks and the secular clergy, Alexius by a Novel defined
the rights of the Patriarch and bishops over the monasteries.
All these measures shew the interest which Alexius Comnenus felt in
religious questions. This interest was further shewn by his intervention
CH, X.
## p. 350 (#392) ############################################
350
Estimate of Alexius
in various controversies as to heresy in which he zealously played his
part as the defender of orthodoxy. Comnenus had, besides, a marked apti-
tude for theology, and Anna Comnena depicts her father and mother
holding discussions at table on the doctrine of the Fathers. In the
greater number of the religious controversies which agitated the Empire
during his reign Alexius took a share himself. He did so, for instance,
in 1082, in the case of Italus, “Consul of the Philosophers,” whose teaching,
inspired by Greek philosophy and especially by Platonist conceptions,
was solemnly condemned. In the same way Alexius intervened in the
condemnation of the heresy of Nilus, whose ideas, no doubt, on many
points were akin to the teaching of the Oriental sects at that time widely
diffused through the Empire. Not satisfied with combating heresy and
disputing with the Armenians and Bogomiles, whom he endeavoured down
to the end of his life to bring back to orthodox views, Alexius desired to
leave a permanent memorial of his theological zeal, and at his request
the monk Euthymius Zigabenus drew up a treatise, the Ilavonlía
dorypatikń, which in the Emperor's judgment contained all the scientific
proofs fitted to refute the arguments of the heretics and to shew their
emptiness.
Whoever desires to come to a fair estimate of Alexius Comnenus must
recognise that his reign marks a temporary arrest in the decline of Con-
stantinople. In Europe, as in Asia, he succeeded in beating back the
attacks of the enemies of the Empire. During his reign the Crusade
forced new problems upon Byzantine diplomacy. It must be acknow-
ledged that Alexius was able to discern the solutions which most tended
to advance the interests of the Empire, and that he traced out the road
which his successors were to follow.
If at home his administration weighed heavily on his subjects, the
Emperor, none the less, has the credit of having restored peace and tran-
quillity to the factions which, up to his time, were bringing ruin on the
State. It
may
be said that he was one of those men of talent whom
fortune so often gave to the Byzantine Empire in its hour of need, and
that he succeeded in arresting for a season the slow dissolution of the
Empire into the very diverse elements of which it was compounded.
## p. 351 (#393) ############################################
351
CHAPTER XII.
THE LATER COMNENI.
JOHN (1118-1143). MANUEL (1143—1180). ALEXIUS II (1180-1183).
ANDRONICUS (1183_1185).
John COMNENUS was one of the best Emperors that ever reigned at
Constantinople. Of a lofty and generous temper, severe but not cruel,
and prompt to forget injuries, the son of Alexius succeeded in gaining
the respect of his adversaries. Even the Latins, ill-inclined as they
generally were to the Emperors, were forced to bear testimony to his
virtues. Upright and austere, John presents a strong contrast to his son
and successor Manuel.
Our knowledge of his reign is very scanty, for the two Greek chroni-
clers who have related the history of Constantinople in the twelfth
century, Cinnamus and Nicetas Acominatus, are tantalisingly brief in
their notices of him, nor can the gaps in their narratives be at all
satisfactorily filled by the help of Oriental or Latin records. Thus we
know almost nothing of all that concerns the domestic policy of the
reign.
The boldness and decision shewn by the son of Alexius during his
father's last hours baffled the conspiracy to bring about the succession
of the Caesar Nicephorus Bryennius, the husband of Anna Comnena, and
for some time peace appeared to reign at Constantinople. The new Em-
peror, however, suspected his adversaries of meditating fresh attempts,
and, fearing that even his life was in danger, lived for some time in re-
tirement in his palace. His fears gradually died away, and yet, before
a year had passed, events fully justified all his apprehensions. Anna
Comnena wove a new conspiracy, and, in order to realise her dream of
wearing the imperial crown, resolved to procure her brother's assassina-
tion. The unwillingness of the Caesar Nicephorus to take the course
urged upon him by his wife led to the failure and discovery of the plot.
The chief conspirators were arrested. John contented himself with con-
fiscating their property, and before long even pardoned his sister Anna,
who having failed to realise her ambitious projects went into retirement
for the rest of her life, and endeavoured in recording her father's exploits
to console herself for her ill-success and for the oblivion into which she
had fallen.
The moderation which John shewed towards those who had attempted
CH. XII.
## p. 352 (#394) ############################################
352
John Comnenus
to deprive him of his crown was due to the inspiration of his friend
Axuch, the companion of his childhood. Of Musulman origin, this man
had been made prisoner at the capture of Nicaea by the crusaders and
handed over to Alexius. Having been brought up with John Comnenus,
Axuch succeeded in gaining his friendship and confidence; he received
the office of Grand Domestic and to the end retained the favour of
his master. Together with him should also be mentioned, as having had
a large share in the government of the Empire, Gregory Taronites, and
the Logothete Gregory Camaterus. During the early part of John's
reign, his brother Isaac the Sebastocrator also enjoyed immense favour,
of which, as we shall see, he was later to prove himself unworthy.
The reign of John Comnenus bore in a marked degree a military
stamp. The army was the chief care of the Emperor, who throughout
his life paid special attention to the training and discipline of his troops.
His efforts were rewarded with success, and he was able to organise his
army on a strong and sound basis; but the obligation of serving in it
was a heavy burden to that part of the population on which it fell, and
at times produced among them considerable discontent. Apparently the
Emperor's reign was not marked by any considerable building operations;
but he completed and richly endowed the monastery of the Pantokrator,
founded by his wife.
As regards foreign policy, John was in no respect an innovator.
All the great European or Asiatic questions which concerned the Empire
had already taken definite shape during the reign of his father. Alexius
had given to Byzantine policy the direction which he judged likely to
lead to the most advantageous results, and so sagacious had been his
judgment that it may be said that his son and grandson had merely
to carry on his work. This continuity of policy on the part of the
various sovereigns who succeeded one another during a century is ex-
tremely remarkable and much to their credit.
Two great questions of foreign policy predominated throughout
the reign of John, that of the kingdom of Sicily and that of the
principality of Antioch. If, owing to events which took place in the
Norman states of Southern Italy, the former question slumbered for the
first few years of the reign, it was not so with the latter, which claimed
the constant attention of John Comnenus. With unwearied persistence,
the Emperor, in his dealings with the principality of Antioch, pressed
for the execution, not of the treaty concluded with the leaders of the
First Crusade at the time of their passing through Constantinople, but
of the convention which in 1108 had put an end to the war with
Bohemond. By this agreement the former duchy of Antioch had been
restored to Alexius, who had thereupon granted it in fief to the son of
Guiscard. It took eighteen years for John to bring the Princes of Antioch
to submit to his claims, the validity of which candid Latins could not
but acknowledge. These eighteen years were largely taken up with the
## p. 353 (#395) ############################################
Expedition against the Turks
353
preliminary campaigns which the Emperor's designs upon the principality
of Antioch necessitated. In fact, it is worthy of remark that the wars of
John Comnenus against Europeans were purely defensive.
The Emperor
took the offensive only against the Musulmans in Asia, and these wars
themselves were a necessary prelude to any expedition into Syria. It
was impossible for John to contemplate so distant an undertaking until
he had put a stop to the advance of his Muslim neighbours, the boldest
of whom were thrusting their outposts westward almost as far as the
coast, or were even attacking the Byzantine possessions in Cilicia.
The maintenance of order along the frontier in Asia Minor was,
in fact, one of the chief tasks laid upon John Comnenus. After the last
campaign of Alexius against the Musulmans, changes had taken place
in the political situation of the states along the Byzantine frontier.
Shāhinshāh, Sultan of Iconium, son of Qilij Arslān, had been over-
thrown by his brother Masóūd, with the help of the Emir Ghāzī, the
Dānishmandite prince, who some years before had succeeded in subduing
a large number of independent emirs. Indeed, for several years Asia
Minor was divided between Mas'ūd, the Emir Ghāzī, and another son
of Qilij Arslān, Țughril Arslān, Emir of Melitene. While the last-named
was attacking the Byzantine possessions in Cilicia, Masóūd was pushing
his way down the valley of the Maeander, and the Emir Ghāzi was
attempting to capture the towns held by the Emperor on the coast of
the Black Sea.
Of these various enemies the Musulmans of Iconium were the most
formidable. Their unceasing attacks are to be attributed to the nomad
tribes dependent on the Sultan of Iconium, who were under the necessity
of securing pasture for their flocks. The Maeander valley and the district
about Dorylaeum were the two regions the fertility of which gave them
a special attraction for the nomads. Their continual advance towards the
west and north, apart from the material damage involved, brought with
it another danger. The Emperor, if he left the way open to the invaders,
risked the cutting of his communications with his possessions on the
Black Sea coast, as well as with Pamphylia and Cilicia. Of the three
main roads which led to Cilicia two were already in the power of the
Turks, and the Byzantine troops could only control the route through
Attalia. What has been already said as to the designs of Greek policy
upon Antioch is sufficient to explain the stress laid by the Emperor upon
maintaining free communication between the various Byzantine possessions
in Asia.
The first expedition of John Comnenus to Asia Minor in 1119 seems
to have taken the form of a double attack? . In the north the Duke
of Trebizond, Gabras, attempted to take advantage of the divisions
among the Musulman princes, and relied on the support of Ibn Mangū,
1 The date is that given by Nicetas Choniates (Acominatus), De Johanne Comneno,
4, p. 17, CSHB. ,
1835.
C. MED. B. VOL. IV. CH. XII.
23
## p. 354 (#396) ############################################
354
The Venetians
son-in-law of the Emir Ghāzi. He was, however, defeated and taken
prisoner. John Comnenus, with better fortune, succeeded first in clearing
the valleys of the Hermus and the Maeander, and then a little later occu-
pied Sozopolis
, and re-took a whole series of places in the district round
Attalia. He thus secured for a time freedom of communication with
Pamphylia.
Events in Europe were the cause of an interruption in the war in Asia.
For nearly a year (1121-1122) John was occupied with an invasion by
certain Patzinak tribes which had escaped the disaster of 1091. The
barbarians had succeeded in forcing the passes of the Haemus, and
had overflowed into Macedonia and devastated it. After long nego-
tiations the Emperor succeeded in gaining over the chiefs of certain
of the tribes; he then marched against such of the barbarian bands as
had refused to treat. Preceded by a picture of the Blessed Virgin, the
Byzantine troops attacked in the neighbourhood of Eski-Sagra, and
inflicted a defeat upon the barbarians, who sought in vain to take refuge
behind the waggons which formed their laager. After this defeat the
Patzinaks negotiated with the Emperor, to whom they agreed to furnish
troops.
About the same time (1122) an attack was made on the Empire by
the Venetians. In order to secure the support of the Venetian fleet
against the Normans of Italy, Alexius had granted the republic a large
number of commercial privileges. On his death, the Doge Domenico
Michiel requested John to renew the treaties. But at that moment the
Empire had less to dread from the Normans, as they were weakened by
the internal dissensions which followed the death of Robert Guiscard
in 1085 and broke forth with increased violence on the death of Duke
Roger in 1118. John therefore considered that he was paying too
dearly for services of which he no longer stood in need, and refused the
request of the Venetians for a renewal of the treaties. The doge in re-
venge attempted in 1122 at the head of a numerous fleet to obtain
possession of Corfù. He was unsuccessful. Being urgently entreated to
come to the help of the Latins in Palestine, the Venetians broke off
hostilities, only to renew them on the return of their feet from the
Holy Land. On this occasion they pillaged Rhodes, occupied Chios, and
ravaged Samos, Lesbos, Andros, and Modon (1125). Next year they
occupied Cephalonia. Confronted with these attacks, John decided to
negotiate, and in 1126 he restored to the Venetians the privileges
granted them by his father.
About the same time negotiations were begun with the Papacy. The
offers formerly made by Alexius to Paschal II had been by no means
forgotten at Rome, and Pope Calixtus II, during his struggle with
Henry V, sought to obtain the help of John Comnenus. The question of the
1 For date see E. Kurtz, Unedierte Texte aus der Zeit des Kaisers Johannes
Komnenos, BZ. Vol. xv), p. 88.
## p. 355 (#397) ############################################
The Hungarians
355
re-union of the Churches was again brought up, and letters were exchanged.
On the death of Calixtus, negotiations were continued with Honorius II;
in 1126 John wrote to the Pope, but while agreeing to re-open the
question staunchly maintained the imperial claims. The discussion does
not appear to have been carried further at this time. Later on the claims
of John Comnenus upon Antioch were to excite displeasure at Rome, and
by a bull of 28 March 1138 Innocent II ordered all Latins serving in
the Byzantine army to leave the Emperor's service should he attack the
principality of Antioch.
Two years after the conclusion of peace with Venice, the Greek
Empire had to repel an attack by the Hungarians. Hungarian affairs had
never ceased to arouse interest at Constantinople; on the extension of
his territories by Koloman, Alexius I, being anxious in case of need to
have the means of intervening in the affairs of his powerful neighbours,
had married his son to a Hungarian princess named Piriska, who on
taking possession of the women's apartments in the imperial palace had
assumed the name of Irene. Since that time the Empire had not had
occasion to take any part in the affairs of Hungary, but when its King,
Stephen II (1114–1131), put out the eyes of his brother Almos, the blinded
prince took refuge at Constantinople, where he was well received'. Doubt-
less the ties of relationship and the pity inspired by the hapless victim
sufficiently explain the hospitable reception of Almos, but to these
reasons must be added the Emperor's desire to have within reach a
candidate to oppose in case of need to the ruler of Hungary. Stephen II
shewed great displeasure at the hospitality extended to the victim of his
brutality, and demanded that the Emperor should expel his guest from
the imperial territory. John Comnenus refused to comply with this
demand, and Stephen, irritated by his refusal, seized upon the first
pretext that offered to declare war against the Greek Empire. The
desired excuse was found in the ill-treatment of some Hungarian traders
near Branichevo, and hostilities began. Apparently the Hungarians sur-
prised the garrisons of the frontier posts, and succeeded in taking Brani-
chevo and reaching the neighbourhood of Sofia (1128). They then fell back
without being molested. To punish them John Comnenus carried the war
into Hungary and won a victory near Haram (Uj Palanka), not far from
the junction of the Nera with the Danube. But on the withdrawal of the
Byzantine troops the Hungarians re-took Branichevo, and the Emperor
in order to drive them off returned to the Danube. During the winter,
having learned that the enemy was again advancing in force, he suc-
ceeded in avoiding an action and withdrawing his troops safely. Such at
least is the account given in the Byzantine records; according to the
Hungarian, the troops of Stephen II were defeated, and in consequence
1 The exact date of the arrival of Almos is not known; he was perhaps received
at Constantinople as early as Alexius' reign.
CH. XII.
23—2
## p. 356 (#398) ############################################
356
The Serbs
of this check the king was compelled to treat. Probably the death of
Almos, which took place soon after the outbreak of the war, removed an
obstacle to peace.
Towards the end of the reign of Stephen II, John Comnenus, faithful
to the policy which had so far been followed, entertained another possible
claimant to the Hungarian throne, Boris, the son of Koloman and of
Euphemia, daughter of Vladímir Monomachus. Euphemia, accused of
adultery, had been banished, and her son had been born in exile. Re-
turning to Hungary, Boris, a little before the death of Stephen, had
attempted to usurp the throne. He failed, and took refuge in Constanti-
nople, where John gave him a wife from the imperial house. Later on,
in the time of Manuel Comnenus, Boris was to prove a useful instrument
of Byzantine policy.
About the time of the war with Hungary, perhaps indeed while
hostilities were still going on, the Serbian vassals of the Empire rose in
rebellion and destroyed the castle of Novibazar. In considering what were
at this time the relations between the Serbs and Constantinople, we touch
upon one of the most obscure questions of Byzantine history in the
twelfth century. After the death of the prince Constantine Bodin, who
for the moment had made the unity of Serbia a reality, the descendants
of Radoslav, whom he had dethroned, disputed for power with his
heirs. Serbia then passed through a time of inconceivable anarchy. For
several years the various rivals succeeded one another with bewildering
rapidity. The Župan of Rascia, Bolkan, taking advantage of the con-
fusion to extend his power, succeeded momentarily in imposing his
candidate
upon
the coast districts of Serbia. This claimant however died.
The widow of Bodin, Jaquinta, daughter of Argyrus of Bari, now con-
trived to secure the throne for her son George. It was probably at this
juncture that John intervened and set Grubessa on the throne (1129 ? ).
When Grubessa died, George succeeded in regaining power, which
brought about an intervention of the Greeks, George being taken prisoner
and sent to Constantinople. As his successor they set up Gradicna.
Two points stand out in this confused narrative. In the first place, it
is plain that the influence of Constantinople in Serbia is small; the
Empire contents itself with having a pretender at hand to put forward
in case the reigning prince should give cause for displeasure. In the
second place, the Zupans of Rascia come to play a more and more im-
portant part. After Bolkan we find Uroš Zupan of this region. One
of his daughters married Béla II the Blind, a future King of Hungary.
The other, Mary, became the wife of the Moravian prince Conrad, while
a son, Béla, took up his abode at the Hungarian court, where later he
was to become prominent, and married his daughter to the Russian Prince,
Vladímir Mstilavich. These alliances were to prove extremely useful to
the sons of Uroš when, under Manuel, they were to attempt to cast off
the suzerainty of Constantinople.
## p. 357 (#399) ############################################
John Comnenus in Asia Minor
357
About 1130 John Comnenus was again able to turn his arms
against the Musulmans of Asia Minor. The fruits of the previous
campaigns had not been lost. As far as Iconium was concerned, the
position had remained satisfactory. Masóūd, being dethroned by his
brother, 'Arab, had even come to Constantinople to ask help of the
Emperor, who had supplied him with subsidies to oppose the usurper.
These disputes among the Musulman rulers had lessened their strength,
and for a time the principality of Iconium was less formidable to the
Empire. Far different was the position of the Emir Ghāzī. In 1124 he
had seized upon the principality of Melitene, and then conquered Ancyra
and Comana, and occupied some of the Byzantine strongholds on the
coast of the Black Sea. In 1129, on the death of the Armenian prince
Thoros, he had turned towards Cilicia, and there was every sign that he
was about to contend with his co-religionist, the Atābeg of Mosul, for
his share of the spoils of the Latin princes of Syria. Thus a new enemy
threatened Antioch, and from this time we may discern the reasons which
urged John Comnenus to attempt the overthrow of the Dānishmandite
ruler.
The first expedition of John Comnenus proved abortive; the Em-
peror had hardly crossed into Asia when he learned that a conspiracy
against him had been hatched by his brother Isaac. On receiving this
news he resolved to return to Constantinople. Isaac the Sebastocrator
succeeded in avoiding punishment and escaped into Asia, where he
attempted to draw into the struggle against his brother not only the
Musulman princes, but also the Armenian Thoros and Gabras, Duke
of Trebizond, who had shortly before secured his independence. Isaac
met with but partial success, and only the Emir Ghāzi lent him support.
Even at a distance the Sebastocrator continued his intrigues; he main-
tained communications with various personages at the Court of Constanti-
nople; and when in 1132 John entered upon a campaign against the Emir
Ghāzī, he was soon forced to return to his capital, where a fresh plot, the
result of Isaac's intrigues, had been discovered. As soon as order was
restored the Emperor renewed the campaign, and during the winter of
1132–1133 he took from the Emir Ghāzī the important fortress of Cas-
tamona, which, however, was soon afterwards recovered by the Muslims.
On the death of Ghāzī, which took place next year (1134), the
Emperor decided to profit by the quarrels which immediately arose among
the Mohammedan princes to try his fortune in the field. An expedition
was set on foot against Mahomet, son and heir of Ghāzi, to which
Mas-ūd sent a contingent of troops in the hope of having his share in the
dismemberment of the Dānishmandite state. No advantage accrued to
the Empire from this alliance; the Muslim troops played false during
the siege of Gangra, and John was forced to fall back. Next year, how-
ever, he was more fortunate, and Gangra and Castamona fell into his
hands (1135).
--
CH. XII.
## p. 358 (#400) ############################################
358
Italian affairs
This success at last enabled the Emperor to attempt the realisation
of his designs upon Antioch. A series of negotiations with the Western
Emperor and with Pisa prepared the ground for this new campaign.
It was apparently not before 1135 that John Comnenus entered into
diplomatic relations with the Emperor Lothar who, while he was staying
at Merseburg, gave audience to a Byzantine embassy bearing instruc-
tions from the Greek Emperor to request help against Roger II, King of
Sicily. During the last few years the position of the Norman states in
Italy had sensibly altered. Not only had the Count of Sicily, Roger II,
added the duchy of Apulia to his dominions, but he had raised his pos-
sessions to the rank of a kingdom, and since 1130 had, to the great
indignation of the Byzantines, assumed the title of King. The new king,
intensely ambitious and more powerful than any of his predecessors, did
not confine himself to attacking the coasts of the Greek Empire, but
set up claims to the Latin states of the Holy Land, and in particular
to Antioch. Accordingly John Comnenus found it necessary, before his
departure for Syria to try his fortune in arms, to secure himself
against a fresh invasion of his dominions by the Normans of Italy
during his absence. It was with this object in view that he had recourse
to the Emperor Lothar, whom he urged to make a descent upon Italy
in order to oppose the new king, and to whom for the furtherance of
this design he promised considerable subsidies. Lothar responded to the
Byzantine embassy by sending Anselm of Havelberg to Constantinople.
An agreement was arrived at, and Lothar pledged himself to undertake
an expedition into Italy. He proved as good as his word, and we know
that in 1137, while still in Southern Italy, he received a Greek embassy
bringing him gifts from the Emperor. The negotiations of John Com-
nenus with the Pisans were in the same way dictated by a wish to detach
them from the Norman alliance, and ended in 1136 in a renewal of treaty
engagements.
Having thus secured his dominions against a possible attack by the
Normans, John Comnenus could at last undertake the long-meditated
expedition to restore Antioch and its surrounding territory to the Empire
(1137). But before invading the principality the Byzantine army had
another task to accomplish. The territory of the Empire no longer
actually extended as far as the frontier of Antioch, from which it was
now separated by the dominions of the Armenian Leo. This prince (a
descendant of Rupen, one of those Armenian rulers who, fleeing before
the advance of the Muslims, had established themselves in the Taurus
and in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates) had in 1129 succeeded his
brother Thoros. After an open breach with the Empire, he had made
himself master of the chief towns of Cilicia-Tarsus, Adana, and
Mamistra. His possessions thus barred the path of John's army, and
the conquest of Cilicia was the necessary prelude to the siege of Antioch.
In the early part of the campaign the Emperor met with unbroken
## p. 359 (#401) ############################################
John in Syria and Cilicia
359
success. Tarsus, Adana, and Mamistra were quickly captured, and then
came the turn of Anazarbus and the surrounding district. Leo, with his
two sons, Rupen and Thoros, was obliged to seek safety in the mountains.
Without stopping to pursue them, John at once took the road to
Antioch, for at that moment circumstances were eminently favourable to
the Greeks.
When John appeared before the city (end of August 1137) Raymond
of Poitiers, who, by his marriage with Constance daughter of Bohemond
II, had become Prince of Antioch, was absent from his capital. Although
aware of the impending attack by the Byzantines, Raymond had not
hesitated to go to the help of the King of Jerusalem, who had just suffered
a serious defeat at the hands of the Atābeg of Mosul, 'Imād-ad-Dīn
Zangī, at Hārim. When Raymond returned, the siege of Antioch had
already begun. The besieged, owing to the disaster which had just
befallen the Latins in their struggle with the Mohammedans, despaired
of receiving succour, and from the first a considerable party of them had
contemplated negotiations with the Emperor. Certain of the records
make it appear probable that the King of Jerusalem, on being consulted,
had admitted the validity of the Greek Emperor's claims, and had recom-
mended negotiation. Whatever may be the truth about these pourparlers,
it is plain that Raymond, threatened with the loss of his dominions,
preferred treating with John Comnenus. At the moment the Emperor
was bent above all on obtaining a formal recognition of his claims, while
for Raymond the main desideratum was the withdrawal of the Byzantines.
Once this point had been gained, other matters might be arranged as
circumstances should dictate. After some negotiation the Prince of
Antioch consented to take the oath of fealty to John Comnenus, and, as
a sign of his submission, to hoist the imperial banners on the walls of
the city. The Emperor in exchange bound himself to help the Latins the
next year in their struggle with the Muslims, but it was stipulated that
if by the help of the Basileus Raymond should recover Aleppo, Shaizar,
Emesa, and Hamāh, he should restore Antioch to the Greek Empire.
This agreement being concluded John returned to Cilicia. It seems
probable that it was on this occasion that he succeeded in capturing the
Armenian prince, Leo, who with his two sons was sent prisoner to
Constantinople, where not long afterwards he died.
Faithful to his engagements, John opened the campaign in the spring
of 1138. The Byzantine army, swelled by the Latin contingents, took in
succession Balat (between Antioch and Aleppo) and Bizāʻa. The allies,
however, failed to surprise Aleppo, and turned to besiege Shaizar on the
Orontes on 29 April 1138. Before long serious dissensions broke out
between the Latin princes and the Emperor. John, indignant at the
suspicious behaviour of the Prince of Antioch and of Joscelin, Count of
Edessa, seized upon the first pretext he could find to raise the siege and
grant the defenders conditions which they had never hoped for,
CH. XII.
## p. 360 (#402) ############################################
360
John and the Western -Empire
Returning northwards by the valley of the Orontes, the army fell
back upon Antioch, John making a solemn entry into the city. During
his stay there, the Emperor, in virtue of the feudal rule obliging a vassal
to hand over his castle to his suzerain whenever he was required by him
to do so, demanded possession of the citadel. The Latin rulers, not
daring a direct refusal, got out of the difficulty by stirring up a riot
in the city. In the face of the menacing attitude of the populace, John
for the time being ceased to urge his claims and quitted Antioch. The
Emperor once gone, the Latins again offered to treat. The result was a
hollow reconciliation.
The Greek army then set out on its return. While, on its march
towards Constantinople, it was securing the safety of the frontier by
police operations against brigands, Isaac Comnenus came to make sub-
mission to his brother and received his pardon. The sole result of the
campaign was the recognition of the imperial rights over Antioch, whereby
the prestige of the Emperor was strikingly increased, not only in the eyes
of his subjects but also in those of the Musulmans and Latins. No
practical advantage, however, was obtained.
In 1139 the war against the Musulmans was resumed. The Danish-
mandite prince Mahomet had taken several places in Cilicia from the
Byzantines, and then proceeded to ravage the country as far as the
Sangarius. John drove off these invading bands, and during the winter
of 1139-1140 laid siege to Neo-Caesarea. In this campaign John, son
of Isaac Comnenus, deserted to the enemy? On his return to Constanti-
nople (15 January 1141) the Emperor planned a new campaign, the object
of which was Antioch.
A series of diplomatic operations was again undertaken in order to
hold the King of Sicily in check during the Emperor's absence. Lothar
had died on returning from his Italian campaign, and had been succeeded
by Conrad III. In 1140 John asked Conrad to renew the alliance made
with his predecessor, and in order to set a seal upon the friendship
requested the hand of a princess of the imperial house for his youngest
son Manuel. Conrad in reply offered his sister-in-law Bertha, daughter
of the Count of Sulzbach. In 1142 another Byzantine embassy was des-
patched with instructions to treat of the question of a descent upon Italy.
Conrad in return sent his chaplain Albert and Robert, Prince of Capua,
to Constantinople. A Greek embassy carried John's reply, and brought
back the future Empress. These negotiations were disquieting to the
King of Sicily, who, in order to break up the league between his enemies,
sent an embassy at the beginning of 1143 to propose an alliance with
John.
1 He became a Musulman and married a daughter of the Sultan of Iconium.
Bayazid I claimed to be descended from this marriage. Cf. Du Cange, Familiae
byzantinae in the Historia byzantina duplici commentario illustrata, Paris 1680,
p. 190.
## p. 361 (#403) ############################################
John and the Principality of Antioch
361
While the negotiations with Conrad were going on, the Emperor
again set out for Antioch. The whole of the early part of the campaign
was devoted to police work in the neighbourhood of Sozopolis. The
army then marched to Attalia, and here a double blow fell upon the
Emperor. Within a short interval he lost, first his son Alexius, whom
he had associated in the government, and then another son Andronicus.
This twofold bereavement did not turn the Emperor from his purpose,
and on leaving Attalia the army took the road to Syria.
The treaty which ended the Norman war was a substantial victory
for the Emperor. The principality of Antioch was no longer a danger to
the Empire, for the passes of the Amanus and Cilicia were now in the
hands of the Greeks, who also commanded the sea-ports. Thus, for the
future, assistance from Europe could only reach Antioch by permission of
the Greeks. The treaty, however, was only of value in so far as its pro-
visions were duly carried out; and when, upon the death of Bohemond,
Alexius called upon Tancred to observe the convention made with his uncle,
the Prince of Antioch refused. The Emperor either would not or could not
embark upon a war with Tancred; he confined himself to attempting to
win over the Latin princes of Syria to support his cause. Butumites,
despatched with large supplies of money, negotiated fruitlessly with
Bertrand, Count of Tripolis, and later with his son Pons. Nor was he
more successful with King Baldwin. But, in spite of everything, the treaty
of 1108 remained of essential importance, for it was the standard by
which the relations of Antioch and Constantinople were regulated, and
it was to securing its observance that all the efforts of Alexius, his son,
and his grandson, were directed.
The last years of Alexius were to be occupied with fresh struggles
against the Turks. The latter had for some years ceased to invade Greek
territory, for nearly all the emirs were engaged in the struggle which took
place between the two sons of Malik Shāh, Barkiyāruq and Muhammad.
Upon the victory of Muḥammad, the country gradually settled down, and
when one of the sons of Qilij Arslān, Malik Shāh, had obtained possession
of Iconium, war again began between the Turks and the Greeks.
CH. XI.
## p. 344 (#386) ############################################
344
Alexius and the Turks
About 1109 Alexius ordered Eumathius Philocales, who was appointed
Governor of Attalia, to relieve Adramyttium and to drive out the Turkish
tribes from the neighbourhood. The governor attacked the Musulmans
settled in the region of Lampe, and immediately Hasan, Emir of Cappa-
docia, set out to ravage the Greek territories. Philadelphia, Smyrna,
Nymphaeum, Chliara, and Pergamus were threatened, and once again
the fruitful valleys along the coast of Rūm were traversed by the swift
Musulman squadrons dealing terror and destruction as they went.
Though repulsed, they soon returned. After 1112 their incursions become
continual. In that year Alexius awaited them at Adramyttium, Con-
stantine Gabras at Philadelphia, and Monastras at Pergamus and Chliara,
the Turks being defeated by Gabras. In 1113 Nicaea was besieged, and
Prusa, Apollonia, and Lopadium taken from the Greeks; the Emir
Manalugh ravaged Parium and Abydos, and the Greek troops with
difficulty drove back the enemy.
Next year, 1114, an invasion by the Cumans summoned Alexius to
the northern frontier. From Philippopolis, where he spent his leisure
time in discussions with the Manichaeans who were numerous in that
district, he kept watch upon the enemy and succeeded in driving them
back, but of the circumstances of his victory little is known.
Returning to Constantinople, Alexius again prepared to do battle
with the Musulmans, whose bands continued to harass the Greek frontiers.
Alexius gathered a considerable force, and decided on undertaking
police operations on a large scale and on driving off the Turkish tribes
as far as Iconium. Having repulsed the enemy, the Emperor pushed
on to Philomelium and Amorium. During his retreat the Sultan of
Iconium attacked the Greeks, but he was beaten near Ampûn, and
obliged to make peace. According to Anna Comnena, he conceded the
old frontier-line of the Empire as it had been in the time of Romanus
Diogenes. This is highly doubtful, and it does not appear that the Greek
possessions (with the exception of Trebizond and that part of the Armeniac
theme which bordered upon the Black Sea) included anything except the
country lying west of a line drawn along Smyrna, Gangra, Ancyra,
Amorium, and Philomelium. To this must be added the coast towns as
far as the borders of the principality of Antioch. The chief result of this
expedition of the Emperor was the liberation of a throng of captives,
whom he brought back to Greek territory.
The Musulman war did not monopolise the attention of Alexius during
the last years of his life, for we find him attempting to play a part in the
affairs of Italy. From this arose the treaty with Pisa in illi, by which
Alexius agreed no longer to interpose obstacles to the crusades set on
foot by the Pisans, and to present rich gifts every year to the Archbishop
and cathedral of Pisa. The Emperor also made important commercial
concessions to the Pisans, to whom were allotted a wharf and a residential
quarter at Constantinople.
## p. 345 (#387) ############################################
Alexius and the Papacy
345
It is very probable that this agreement with Pisa was part of a
project formed by Alexius to secure for Constantinople a preponderating
influence in Italian affairs. The death of Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia,
left the Pope without a protector, just as he had embarked on a more
violent contest than ever with the Emperor Henry V. It will be remem-
bered that Paschal II, taken prisoner by the Emperor, conceded to him the
right of investiture, but repudiated his concession as early as March 1112,
acknowledging his weakness. In January 1112 Alexius wrote to Gerard,
Abbot of Monte Cassino, expressing his regret at the Pope's captivity, and
at the same time he entered into communication with the Romans, whom
he congratulated on their resistance to the Emperor. He informed them
that if they were still in the same mind as had been reported to him, he
would accept the imperial crown for himself or his son. In reply to this
message, the Romans in May 1112 despatched a numerous embassy to
the Emperor in order to arrange an agreement with him. Alexius had to
promise to come to Rome in the course of the summer, but he fell ill and
was unable to fulfil his engagement. It is evident that Paschal II only
continued these negotiations in the hope of bringing about the re-union
of the Churches and the ending of the schism. With regard to this, a
letter written to Alexius by the Pope towards the end of the year is of
the greatest importance. The Pope thanks Heaven which has inspired
Alexius with the idea of this much-desired union, but he does not conceal
the difficulties which the scheme will have to encounter; the Emperor,
however, has the easier task, for he is in a position to command both
clergy and laity. The Pope recognises with pleasure the good faith of
Alexius and of his envoy, Basil Mesimerius, but from the outset he makes
a point of stating that there is but one means of reconciling all differences,
and that is for the Patriarch of Constantinople to acknowledge the
primacy of the see of Rome, and for the metropolitan sees and provinces
which had formerly been subject to the Papacy to return to their obedi-
ence and place themselves at its disposal.
In conclusion, the Pope proposes the assembling of a Council, and makes
no allusion whatever to the projects of the Emperor regarding the imperial
crown. It is plain that in his mind these projects are dependent upon the
recognition by the Church of Constantinople of the primacy of Rome.
We know nothing of the further progress of these negotiations, which may,
in all probability, be connected with the journey of the Archbishop of
Milan, Peter Chrysolanus, to Constantinople in 1113. During his visit he
had a discussion with Eustratius, Bishop of Nicaea, on the subject of the
errors of the Greek Church. This attempt by Alexius to restore the unity
of the Empire, although we know so little of it, is none the less curious.
We shall find his idea taken up later by his grandson Manuel.
The last days of Alexius were saddened by quarrels and divisions in
his family. The Emperor at one time had reason to fear that his life-
work would be destroyed by his nearest relatives. In the early part of
сн. х.
## p. 346 (#388) ############################################
346
Intrigues of Anna Comnena
his reign Alexius had been under the influence of his mother Anna
Dalassena, but by degrees she had rendered herself unendurable to her
son, and perceiving this had not waited to be driven from court, but had
retired of her own accord to the monastery of Pantepoptes, where she died
(c. 1105 ? ). Her daughter-in-law Irene succeeded to her influence. She
had borne the Emperor seven children-four daughters, Anna, Maria,
Eudocia, and Theodora, and three sons, John, Andronicus, and Isaac. The
eldest of these children, Anna, a highly cultivated woman, mistress of all
the learning to be acquired in her day, to whom we owe the Alexiad,
having been for a moment heiress to the throne at the time of her
betrothal to the son of Michael VII, was inconsolable for the frustration
of her hopes by the birth of her brother John. Being very ambitious, she
succeeded, with the help of her mother and her brother Andronicus, in
forming a considerable party for herself at court, and strong in its support
she endeavoured to prepare the way for the succession to the throne of
her husband, the Caesar Nicephorus Bryennius, as soon as her father's
death should take place. John, whose rights were thus directly threatened,
made every effort to gain over the people and the Senate. For several
years an underground struggle went on between the two parties. The
Empress, whose influence over Alexius had grown to such a height that
she accompanied him even on his campaigns, worked unceasingly to
bring him to share her ill-opinion of her son John, whom she represented
as hopelessly dissolute. Alexius, however, held out against the insinua-
tions of his wife, though, by constantly postponing his decision, he led
her to hope that it might prove to be in accordance with her views.
In the beginning of 1118 the Emperor fell seriously ill, and the in-
triguing around him redoubled. In spite of all her efforts Irene could
not prevail upon her husband to sacrifice the son's rights to the daughter's.
The Emperor's dream had always been to found a dynasty, and he could
not but see that his work would be ephemeral, and that his house would
not long retain power, if he himself set the example of undermining the
right of succession. His sickness increasing, Alexius was carried to the
palace of Mangana. Feeling himself near his end, he summoned his son,
and giving him his ring charged him to have himself proclaimed Emperor.
John, in obedience to his father's orders, hastily had himself crowned in
St Sophia. Then, surrounded by his partisans, he occupied the Sacred
Palace, the thick walls of which would enable him to defy the outbreak
which his adversaries were likely to stir up. When the Empress and her
daughter learned what had happened, they gave way to an explosion of
wild rage. Irene renewed her efforts to wring from the dying Emperor
the recognition of Bryennius. She hoped that the news of John's action
would induce his father to disinherit him. But, far from shewing anger,
Alexius, on hearing of his son's success, lifted his hands to Heaven as
though to give thanks to God. On this Irene, perceiving that she had
been duped, overwhelmed her husband with reproaches. “All your life,"
## p. 347 (#389) ############################################
The Byzantine army and navy
347
she said, “you have done nothing but deceive and use words to conceal
your thoughts, and you have remained the same even on your death-bed. ”
Alexius expired during the night of 15-16 August 1118; his body,
abandoned by all, was hastily buried without the usual ceremonies at the
monastery of Christos Philanthropos.
Up to his last moments Comnenus had fought to defend the rights
of his son. Thanks to the resistance which he maintained to the will of
his wife and daughter, he succeeded in securing those rights, and all their
web of intrigue fell to pieces when confronted with the accomplished fact.
From the administrative point of view, the reign of Alexius is of real
importance. Comnenus, in fact, successfully carried out a heavy task by
reconstructing the fleet and the army which his predecessors had allowed
to fall into decay. We have hardly any information as to the navy.
When the reign began, the Byzantine fleet had ceased to exist, and in
order to repel the Normans Alexius had been obliged to appeal for help
to the naval force of the Venetians. Anna Comnena on several occasions
mentions the building of ships by her father's orders. As the history of
the reign proceeds, we can see the gradual development of the Greek fleet
and the part which it plays. In particular, we find it policing the
Archipelago, which was infested with Turkish pirates, and finally it took
its share in the war against Bohemond.
The re-organisation of the army always absorbed a large part of
Alexius' attention, for the position of the Empire, threatened as it was
on all its frontiers, demanded a strong and well-trained army. At the
same time the Emperor was always under the apprehension that the
weapon which he was forging might one day be turned against him.
Thus he always kept the command of important expeditions in his own
hands, and carefully avoided giving his generals any opportunity of
thrusting themselves into the foreground. Alexius made special efforts
to secure two main points. Firstly, he took every precaution that all those
who were under the obligation of military service should steadily fulfil
the duties laid upon them, and more than once he himself superintended
the checking of the military register, resisting all attempts of the great
landowners to absorb the small fiefs, granted on condition of service in
the army, and to reduce their holders to the status of coloni. In the
second place, the Emperor tried by constant manœuvring to train his
troops and to establish some degree of solidarity among the diverse ele-
ments of which they were formed. For at that time the Byzantine army
was an absolute mosaic. Alongside of the native troops furnished by the
themes and by the holders of military fiefs, we find contingents recruited
from among the barbarian peoples who had settled within the Empire,
and again from foreign mercenaries, Russians, Colbigni (Patzinaks or
Germans? ), Turks, Alans, Englishmen, Italian Normans, Germans, and
Bulgarians. Alexius' efforts were not thrown away, as the history of his
reign attests. At first his inexperienced and ill-organised army was almost
cH. XI.
## p. 348 (#390) ############################################
348
Financial administration
invariably defeated, but as the organisation was gradually improved we
find victory returning to the Byzantine standards, and at his death Alexius
was to leave behind him the admirable machine which was to enable his
son to undertake his campaigns in Cilicia and Syria.
The reign of Alexius was a time of extreme wretchedness to the in-
habitants of the Empire. Setting aside the disasters which overwhelmed
the provinces of Asia Minor, where more than once the Turks carried off
whole populations, the material condition of the European provinces was
appalling. The rural districts were wasted by continual wars, and on
account of the insecurity there a continual movement towards the towns
went on among the peasants, who were anxious to escape from the taxes
and from military service. What was the pressure of the financial burdens
on the country parts will be understood when we learn that a standard
conversion-table, drawn up under Alexius, provides for the original sum
due by a taxpayer two years in arrear to be multiplied by 28 (56 nomis-
mata instead of 2). This increase is explained by the disturbance
in financial administration brought about by Alexius' debasement of
the coinage. Since the disaster of Manzikert (1071) the financial
difficulties of the Empire had led the sovereigns of Byzantium to issue
debased money. Alexius carried the new practice to extremes: Zonaras
tells how the Emperor struck copper coins which he used for his own
payments, while he insisted that the taxes should be paid mainly in gold,
accepting the copper money for only a part of the sums due. The
chronicler's evidence is confirmed by numismatics, for there are no less
than seven types of the nomisma struck by Alexius; some are of gold,
but the most common types are of bronze, of electrum, of billon, of silver
much debased, or of an alloy of gold and electrum or of gold and billon.
This variety of coins bearing the same name, although differing in standard
and value, brought confusion into business, as is shewn by the standard
conversion-table mentioned above.
The issue of debased coinage was not indeed peculiar to Alexius, and
his successors followed his example. If John Comnenus seems to have
made an effort to improve the coinage (three out of seven types of nomisma
bearing his effigy are usually of gold), Manuel Comnenus reverted to the
practices of his grandfather: not one of the types of nomisma struck by
him is of gold; out of the thirteen known types five are of bronze and
the others of a very pale electrum which is hard to distinguish from silver.
In dealing with the nobility and clergy, the government used equal
rigour in its endeavours to reform abuses. If we have but little informa-
tion as to the nobility, we have more as regards the clergy, and it is highly
probable that measures analogous to those taken against that class were
also adopted against the aristocracy. A large part of ecclesiastical property
was exempt from the land-tax, but in the imperial charters granting this
exemption care had usually been taken to stipulate the number of paroikoi
and klerikoi who were not to be subject to the tax. The clergy shewed
## p. 349 (#391) ############################################
Alexius and the Church
349
a marked tendency to attract to their estates a larger number of paroikoi
and klerikoi than they were entitled to, and the exchequer suffered in
proportion. To remedy these abuses Alexius had the number of Church
tenants and estates verified afresh with the utmost strictness. The treasury
then pitilessly exacted the tax from all men and lands not entitled to ex-
emption.
Another financial expedient, revived by Alexius, did considerable in-
justice to the monasteries. Not having money enough to reward those
who had been faithful to him, nor to provide the different members of
his family with large estates, Alexius had recourse to the lands of the
monasteries and bestowed them as though they had been fiefs. The
beneficiaries, who were called charistikarioi, enjoyed the monastic re-
venues, an infinitesimal part of which went to the support of the monks
and the convent. These donations to private persons brought great dis-
organization into the monastic life. No doubt the number of the convents
had at that time grown immensely, and the wealth of the monks was
excessive. Some intervention by the central power was a necessity.
Alexius, by these donations to lay persons, avoided the difficulty of regu-
lating the whole system anew.
But it would be wrong to conclude from what has been said that
Alexius was a persecutor of the clergy. The monastic system was at that
time declining rapidly; the monks were constantly quarrelling with their
superiors, or becoming tired of their convents and going off to wander
about the country or make visits to the capital or the great provincial
towns. These were abuses which Alexius undertook to correct both by
diminishing the wealth of the monasteries and by reforming the conduct
of the monks. This reform of the institution of monasticism was one of
the projects nearest to the Emperor's heart, and he gave special encourage-
ment to the great reformer St Christodulus, lavishing privileges on his
monastery at Patmos. In the same way the monks entrusted with the
care of the hospital and orphanage of St Paul at Constantinople restored
by Alexius were overwhelmed with imperial favours, but their adminis-
tration was narrowly supervised.
The same anxiety for the moral uplifting of the clergy is traceable in
the course which Comnenus took with regard to the seculars, whom he
accused of sloth and ignorance. To remedy these evils, Alexius limited
the number of the priests of St Sophia, and organised a whole system
of examinations dealing at once with morals and with learning. The
clergy were divided into classes, and were precluded from promotion
or from any share in the imperial bounty, except in so far as they satis-
fied the conditions laid down by Alexius. In order to avoid disputes
between the monks and the secular clergy, Alexius by a Novel defined
the rights of the Patriarch and bishops over the monasteries.
All these measures shew the interest which Alexius Comnenus felt in
religious questions. This interest was further shewn by his intervention
CH, X.
## p. 350 (#392) ############################################
350
Estimate of Alexius
in various controversies as to heresy in which he zealously played his
part as the defender of orthodoxy. Comnenus had, besides, a marked apti-
tude for theology, and Anna Comnena depicts her father and mother
holding discussions at table on the doctrine of the Fathers. In the
greater number of the religious controversies which agitated the Empire
during his reign Alexius took a share himself. He did so, for instance,
in 1082, in the case of Italus, “Consul of the Philosophers,” whose teaching,
inspired by Greek philosophy and especially by Platonist conceptions,
was solemnly condemned. In the same way Alexius intervened in the
condemnation of the heresy of Nilus, whose ideas, no doubt, on many
points were akin to the teaching of the Oriental sects at that time widely
diffused through the Empire. Not satisfied with combating heresy and
disputing with the Armenians and Bogomiles, whom he endeavoured down
to the end of his life to bring back to orthodox views, Alexius desired to
leave a permanent memorial of his theological zeal, and at his request
the monk Euthymius Zigabenus drew up a treatise, the Ilavonlía
dorypatikń, which in the Emperor's judgment contained all the scientific
proofs fitted to refute the arguments of the heretics and to shew their
emptiness.
Whoever desires to come to a fair estimate of Alexius Comnenus must
recognise that his reign marks a temporary arrest in the decline of Con-
stantinople. In Europe, as in Asia, he succeeded in beating back the
attacks of the enemies of the Empire. During his reign the Crusade
forced new problems upon Byzantine diplomacy. It must be acknow-
ledged that Alexius was able to discern the solutions which most tended
to advance the interests of the Empire, and that he traced out the road
which his successors were to follow.
If at home his administration weighed heavily on his subjects, the
Emperor, none the less, has the credit of having restored peace and tran-
quillity to the factions which, up to his time, were bringing ruin on the
State. It
may
be said that he was one of those men of talent whom
fortune so often gave to the Byzantine Empire in its hour of need, and
that he succeeded in arresting for a season the slow dissolution of the
Empire into the very diverse elements of which it was compounded.
## p. 351 (#393) ############################################
351
CHAPTER XII.
THE LATER COMNENI.
JOHN (1118-1143). MANUEL (1143—1180). ALEXIUS II (1180-1183).
ANDRONICUS (1183_1185).
John COMNENUS was one of the best Emperors that ever reigned at
Constantinople. Of a lofty and generous temper, severe but not cruel,
and prompt to forget injuries, the son of Alexius succeeded in gaining
the respect of his adversaries. Even the Latins, ill-inclined as they
generally were to the Emperors, were forced to bear testimony to his
virtues. Upright and austere, John presents a strong contrast to his son
and successor Manuel.
Our knowledge of his reign is very scanty, for the two Greek chroni-
clers who have related the history of Constantinople in the twelfth
century, Cinnamus and Nicetas Acominatus, are tantalisingly brief in
their notices of him, nor can the gaps in their narratives be at all
satisfactorily filled by the help of Oriental or Latin records. Thus we
know almost nothing of all that concerns the domestic policy of the
reign.
The boldness and decision shewn by the son of Alexius during his
father's last hours baffled the conspiracy to bring about the succession
of the Caesar Nicephorus Bryennius, the husband of Anna Comnena, and
for some time peace appeared to reign at Constantinople. The new Em-
peror, however, suspected his adversaries of meditating fresh attempts,
and, fearing that even his life was in danger, lived for some time in re-
tirement in his palace. His fears gradually died away, and yet, before
a year had passed, events fully justified all his apprehensions. Anna
Comnena wove a new conspiracy, and, in order to realise her dream of
wearing the imperial crown, resolved to procure her brother's assassina-
tion. The unwillingness of the Caesar Nicephorus to take the course
urged upon him by his wife led to the failure and discovery of the plot.
The chief conspirators were arrested. John contented himself with con-
fiscating their property, and before long even pardoned his sister Anna,
who having failed to realise her ambitious projects went into retirement
for the rest of her life, and endeavoured in recording her father's exploits
to console herself for her ill-success and for the oblivion into which she
had fallen.
The moderation which John shewed towards those who had attempted
CH. XII.
## p. 352 (#394) ############################################
352
John Comnenus
to deprive him of his crown was due to the inspiration of his friend
Axuch, the companion of his childhood. Of Musulman origin, this man
had been made prisoner at the capture of Nicaea by the crusaders and
handed over to Alexius. Having been brought up with John Comnenus,
Axuch succeeded in gaining his friendship and confidence; he received
the office of Grand Domestic and to the end retained the favour of
his master. Together with him should also be mentioned, as having had
a large share in the government of the Empire, Gregory Taronites, and
the Logothete Gregory Camaterus. During the early part of John's
reign, his brother Isaac the Sebastocrator also enjoyed immense favour,
of which, as we shall see, he was later to prove himself unworthy.
The reign of John Comnenus bore in a marked degree a military
stamp. The army was the chief care of the Emperor, who throughout
his life paid special attention to the training and discipline of his troops.
His efforts were rewarded with success, and he was able to organise his
army on a strong and sound basis; but the obligation of serving in it
was a heavy burden to that part of the population on which it fell, and
at times produced among them considerable discontent. Apparently the
Emperor's reign was not marked by any considerable building operations;
but he completed and richly endowed the monastery of the Pantokrator,
founded by his wife.
As regards foreign policy, John was in no respect an innovator.
All the great European or Asiatic questions which concerned the Empire
had already taken definite shape during the reign of his father. Alexius
had given to Byzantine policy the direction which he judged likely to
lead to the most advantageous results, and so sagacious had been his
judgment that it may be said that his son and grandson had merely
to carry on his work. This continuity of policy on the part of the
various sovereigns who succeeded one another during a century is ex-
tremely remarkable and much to their credit.
Two great questions of foreign policy predominated throughout
the reign of John, that of the kingdom of Sicily and that of the
principality of Antioch. If, owing to events which took place in the
Norman states of Southern Italy, the former question slumbered for the
first few years of the reign, it was not so with the latter, which claimed
the constant attention of John Comnenus. With unwearied persistence,
the Emperor, in his dealings with the principality of Antioch, pressed
for the execution, not of the treaty concluded with the leaders of the
First Crusade at the time of their passing through Constantinople, but
of the convention which in 1108 had put an end to the war with
Bohemond. By this agreement the former duchy of Antioch had been
restored to Alexius, who had thereupon granted it in fief to the son of
Guiscard. It took eighteen years for John to bring the Princes of Antioch
to submit to his claims, the validity of which candid Latins could not
but acknowledge. These eighteen years were largely taken up with the
## p. 353 (#395) ############################################
Expedition against the Turks
353
preliminary campaigns which the Emperor's designs upon the principality
of Antioch necessitated. In fact, it is worthy of remark that the wars of
John Comnenus against Europeans were purely defensive.
The Emperor
took the offensive only against the Musulmans in Asia, and these wars
themselves were a necessary prelude to any expedition into Syria. It
was impossible for John to contemplate so distant an undertaking until
he had put a stop to the advance of his Muslim neighbours, the boldest
of whom were thrusting their outposts westward almost as far as the
coast, or were even attacking the Byzantine possessions in Cilicia.
The maintenance of order along the frontier in Asia Minor was,
in fact, one of the chief tasks laid upon John Comnenus. After the last
campaign of Alexius against the Musulmans, changes had taken place
in the political situation of the states along the Byzantine frontier.
Shāhinshāh, Sultan of Iconium, son of Qilij Arslān, had been over-
thrown by his brother Masóūd, with the help of the Emir Ghāzī, the
Dānishmandite prince, who some years before had succeeded in subduing
a large number of independent emirs. Indeed, for several years Asia
Minor was divided between Mas'ūd, the Emir Ghāzī, and another son
of Qilij Arslān, Țughril Arslān, Emir of Melitene. While the last-named
was attacking the Byzantine possessions in Cilicia, Masóūd was pushing
his way down the valley of the Maeander, and the Emir Ghāzi was
attempting to capture the towns held by the Emperor on the coast of
the Black Sea.
Of these various enemies the Musulmans of Iconium were the most
formidable. Their unceasing attacks are to be attributed to the nomad
tribes dependent on the Sultan of Iconium, who were under the necessity
of securing pasture for their flocks. The Maeander valley and the district
about Dorylaeum were the two regions the fertility of which gave them
a special attraction for the nomads. Their continual advance towards the
west and north, apart from the material damage involved, brought with
it another danger. The Emperor, if he left the way open to the invaders,
risked the cutting of his communications with his possessions on the
Black Sea coast, as well as with Pamphylia and Cilicia. Of the three
main roads which led to Cilicia two were already in the power of the
Turks, and the Byzantine troops could only control the route through
Attalia. What has been already said as to the designs of Greek policy
upon Antioch is sufficient to explain the stress laid by the Emperor upon
maintaining free communication between the various Byzantine possessions
in Asia.
The first expedition of John Comnenus to Asia Minor in 1119 seems
to have taken the form of a double attack? . In the north the Duke
of Trebizond, Gabras, attempted to take advantage of the divisions
among the Musulman princes, and relied on the support of Ibn Mangū,
1 The date is that given by Nicetas Choniates (Acominatus), De Johanne Comneno,
4, p. 17, CSHB. ,
1835.
C. MED. B. VOL. IV. CH. XII.
23
## p. 354 (#396) ############################################
354
The Venetians
son-in-law of the Emir Ghāzi. He was, however, defeated and taken
prisoner. John Comnenus, with better fortune, succeeded first in clearing
the valleys of the Hermus and the Maeander, and then a little later occu-
pied Sozopolis
, and re-took a whole series of places in the district round
Attalia. He thus secured for a time freedom of communication with
Pamphylia.
Events in Europe were the cause of an interruption in the war in Asia.
For nearly a year (1121-1122) John was occupied with an invasion by
certain Patzinak tribes which had escaped the disaster of 1091. The
barbarians had succeeded in forcing the passes of the Haemus, and
had overflowed into Macedonia and devastated it. After long nego-
tiations the Emperor succeeded in gaining over the chiefs of certain
of the tribes; he then marched against such of the barbarian bands as
had refused to treat. Preceded by a picture of the Blessed Virgin, the
Byzantine troops attacked in the neighbourhood of Eski-Sagra, and
inflicted a defeat upon the barbarians, who sought in vain to take refuge
behind the waggons which formed their laager. After this defeat the
Patzinaks negotiated with the Emperor, to whom they agreed to furnish
troops.
About the same time (1122) an attack was made on the Empire by
the Venetians. In order to secure the support of the Venetian fleet
against the Normans of Italy, Alexius had granted the republic a large
number of commercial privileges. On his death, the Doge Domenico
Michiel requested John to renew the treaties. But at that moment the
Empire had less to dread from the Normans, as they were weakened by
the internal dissensions which followed the death of Robert Guiscard
in 1085 and broke forth with increased violence on the death of Duke
Roger in 1118. John therefore considered that he was paying too
dearly for services of which he no longer stood in need, and refused the
request of the Venetians for a renewal of the treaties. The doge in re-
venge attempted in 1122 at the head of a numerous fleet to obtain
possession of Corfù. He was unsuccessful. Being urgently entreated to
come to the help of the Latins in Palestine, the Venetians broke off
hostilities, only to renew them on the return of their feet from the
Holy Land. On this occasion they pillaged Rhodes, occupied Chios, and
ravaged Samos, Lesbos, Andros, and Modon (1125). Next year they
occupied Cephalonia. Confronted with these attacks, John decided to
negotiate, and in 1126 he restored to the Venetians the privileges
granted them by his father.
About the same time negotiations were begun with the Papacy. The
offers formerly made by Alexius to Paschal II had been by no means
forgotten at Rome, and Pope Calixtus II, during his struggle with
Henry V, sought to obtain the help of John Comnenus. The question of the
1 For date see E. Kurtz, Unedierte Texte aus der Zeit des Kaisers Johannes
Komnenos, BZ. Vol. xv), p. 88.
## p. 355 (#397) ############################################
The Hungarians
355
re-union of the Churches was again brought up, and letters were exchanged.
On the death of Calixtus, negotiations were continued with Honorius II;
in 1126 John wrote to the Pope, but while agreeing to re-open the
question staunchly maintained the imperial claims. The discussion does
not appear to have been carried further at this time. Later on the claims
of John Comnenus upon Antioch were to excite displeasure at Rome, and
by a bull of 28 March 1138 Innocent II ordered all Latins serving in
the Byzantine army to leave the Emperor's service should he attack the
principality of Antioch.
Two years after the conclusion of peace with Venice, the Greek
Empire had to repel an attack by the Hungarians. Hungarian affairs had
never ceased to arouse interest at Constantinople; on the extension of
his territories by Koloman, Alexius I, being anxious in case of need to
have the means of intervening in the affairs of his powerful neighbours,
had married his son to a Hungarian princess named Piriska, who on
taking possession of the women's apartments in the imperial palace had
assumed the name of Irene. Since that time the Empire had not had
occasion to take any part in the affairs of Hungary, but when its King,
Stephen II (1114–1131), put out the eyes of his brother Almos, the blinded
prince took refuge at Constantinople, where he was well received'. Doubt-
less the ties of relationship and the pity inspired by the hapless victim
sufficiently explain the hospitable reception of Almos, but to these
reasons must be added the Emperor's desire to have within reach a
candidate to oppose in case of need to the ruler of Hungary. Stephen II
shewed great displeasure at the hospitality extended to the victim of his
brutality, and demanded that the Emperor should expel his guest from
the imperial territory. John Comnenus refused to comply with this
demand, and Stephen, irritated by his refusal, seized upon the first
pretext that offered to declare war against the Greek Empire. The
desired excuse was found in the ill-treatment of some Hungarian traders
near Branichevo, and hostilities began. Apparently the Hungarians sur-
prised the garrisons of the frontier posts, and succeeded in taking Brani-
chevo and reaching the neighbourhood of Sofia (1128). They then fell back
without being molested. To punish them John Comnenus carried the war
into Hungary and won a victory near Haram (Uj Palanka), not far from
the junction of the Nera with the Danube. But on the withdrawal of the
Byzantine troops the Hungarians re-took Branichevo, and the Emperor
in order to drive them off returned to the Danube. During the winter,
having learned that the enemy was again advancing in force, he suc-
ceeded in avoiding an action and withdrawing his troops safely. Such at
least is the account given in the Byzantine records; according to the
Hungarian, the troops of Stephen II were defeated, and in consequence
1 The exact date of the arrival of Almos is not known; he was perhaps received
at Constantinople as early as Alexius' reign.
CH. XII.
23—2
## p. 356 (#398) ############################################
356
The Serbs
of this check the king was compelled to treat. Probably the death of
Almos, which took place soon after the outbreak of the war, removed an
obstacle to peace.
Towards the end of the reign of Stephen II, John Comnenus, faithful
to the policy which had so far been followed, entertained another possible
claimant to the Hungarian throne, Boris, the son of Koloman and of
Euphemia, daughter of Vladímir Monomachus. Euphemia, accused of
adultery, had been banished, and her son had been born in exile. Re-
turning to Hungary, Boris, a little before the death of Stephen, had
attempted to usurp the throne. He failed, and took refuge in Constanti-
nople, where John gave him a wife from the imperial house. Later on,
in the time of Manuel Comnenus, Boris was to prove a useful instrument
of Byzantine policy.
About the time of the war with Hungary, perhaps indeed while
hostilities were still going on, the Serbian vassals of the Empire rose in
rebellion and destroyed the castle of Novibazar. In considering what were
at this time the relations between the Serbs and Constantinople, we touch
upon one of the most obscure questions of Byzantine history in the
twelfth century. After the death of the prince Constantine Bodin, who
for the moment had made the unity of Serbia a reality, the descendants
of Radoslav, whom he had dethroned, disputed for power with his
heirs. Serbia then passed through a time of inconceivable anarchy. For
several years the various rivals succeeded one another with bewildering
rapidity. The Župan of Rascia, Bolkan, taking advantage of the con-
fusion to extend his power, succeeded momentarily in imposing his
candidate
upon
the coast districts of Serbia. This claimant however died.
The widow of Bodin, Jaquinta, daughter of Argyrus of Bari, now con-
trived to secure the throne for her son George. It was probably at this
juncture that John intervened and set Grubessa on the throne (1129 ? ).
When Grubessa died, George succeeded in regaining power, which
brought about an intervention of the Greeks, George being taken prisoner
and sent to Constantinople. As his successor they set up Gradicna.
Two points stand out in this confused narrative. In the first place, it
is plain that the influence of Constantinople in Serbia is small; the
Empire contents itself with having a pretender at hand to put forward
in case the reigning prince should give cause for displeasure. In the
second place, the Zupans of Rascia come to play a more and more im-
portant part. After Bolkan we find Uroš Zupan of this region. One
of his daughters married Béla II the Blind, a future King of Hungary.
The other, Mary, became the wife of the Moravian prince Conrad, while
a son, Béla, took up his abode at the Hungarian court, where later he
was to become prominent, and married his daughter to the Russian Prince,
Vladímir Mstilavich. These alliances were to prove extremely useful to
the sons of Uroš when, under Manuel, they were to attempt to cast off
the suzerainty of Constantinople.
## p. 357 (#399) ############################################
John Comnenus in Asia Minor
357
About 1130 John Comnenus was again able to turn his arms
against the Musulmans of Asia Minor. The fruits of the previous
campaigns had not been lost. As far as Iconium was concerned, the
position had remained satisfactory. Masóūd, being dethroned by his
brother, 'Arab, had even come to Constantinople to ask help of the
Emperor, who had supplied him with subsidies to oppose the usurper.
These disputes among the Musulman rulers had lessened their strength,
and for a time the principality of Iconium was less formidable to the
Empire. Far different was the position of the Emir Ghāzī. In 1124 he
had seized upon the principality of Melitene, and then conquered Ancyra
and Comana, and occupied some of the Byzantine strongholds on the
coast of the Black Sea. In 1129, on the death of the Armenian prince
Thoros, he had turned towards Cilicia, and there was every sign that he
was about to contend with his co-religionist, the Atābeg of Mosul, for
his share of the spoils of the Latin princes of Syria. Thus a new enemy
threatened Antioch, and from this time we may discern the reasons which
urged John Comnenus to attempt the overthrow of the Dānishmandite
ruler.
The first expedition of John Comnenus proved abortive; the Em-
peror had hardly crossed into Asia when he learned that a conspiracy
against him had been hatched by his brother Isaac. On receiving this
news he resolved to return to Constantinople. Isaac the Sebastocrator
succeeded in avoiding punishment and escaped into Asia, where he
attempted to draw into the struggle against his brother not only the
Musulman princes, but also the Armenian Thoros and Gabras, Duke
of Trebizond, who had shortly before secured his independence. Isaac
met with but partial success, and only the Emir Ghāzi lent him support.
Even at a distance the Sebastocrator continued his intrigues; he main-
tained communications with various personages at the Court of Constanti-
nople; and when in 1132 John entered upon a campaign against the Emir
Ghāzī, he was soon forced to return to his capital, where a fresh plot, the
result of Isaac's intrigues, had been discovered. As soon as order was
restored the Emperor renewed the campaign, and during the winter of
1132–1133 he took from the Emir Ghāzī the important fortress of Cas-
tamona, which, however, was soon afterwards recovered by the Muslims.
On the death of Ghāzī, which took place next year (1134), the
Emperor decided to profit by the quarrels which immediately arose among
the Mohammedan princes to try his fortune in the field. An expedition
was set on foot against Mahomet, son and heir of Ghāzi, to which
Mas-ūd sent a contingent of troops in the hope of having his share in the
dismemberment of the Dānishmandite state. No advantage accrued to
the Empire from this alliance; the Muslim troops played false during
the siege of Gangra, and John was forced to fall back. Next year, how-
ever, he was more fortunate, and Gangra and Castamona fell into his
hands (1135).
--
CH. XII.
## p. 358 (#400) ############################################
358
Italian affairs
This success at last enabled the Emperor to attempt the realisation
of his designs upon Antioch. A series of negotiations with the Western
Emperor and with Pisa prepared the ground for this new campaign.
It was apparently not before 1135 that John Comnenus entered into
diplomatic relations with the Emperor Lothar who, while he was staying
at Merseburg, gave audience to a Byzantine embassy bearing instruc-
tions from the Greek Emperor to request help against Roger II, King of
Sicily. During the last few years the position of the Norman states in
Italy had sensibly altered. Not only had the Count of Sicily, Roger II,
added the duchy of Apulia to his dominions, but he had raised his pos-
sessions to the rank of a kingdom, and since 1130 had, to the great
indignation of the Byzantines, assumed the title of King. The new king,
intensely ambitious and more powerful than any of his predecessors, did
not confine himself to attacking the coasts of the Greek Empire, but
set up claims to the Latin states of the Holy Land, and in particular
to Antioch. Accordingly John Comnenus found it necessary, before his
departure for Syria to try his fortune in arms, to secure himself
against a fresh invasion of his dominions by the Normans of Italy
during his absence. It was with this object in view that he had recourse
to the Emperor Lothar, whom he urged to make a descent upon Italy
in order to oppose the new king, and to whom for the furtherance of
this design he promised considerable subsidies. Lothar responded to the
Byzantine embassy by sending Anselm of Havelberg to Constantinople.
An agreement was arrived at, and Lothar pledged himself to undertake
an expedition into Italy. He proved as good as his word, and we know
that in 1137, while still in Southern Italy, he received a Greek embassy
bringing him gifts from the Emperor. The negotiations of John Com-
nenus with the Pisans were in the same way dictated by a wish to detach
them from the Norman alliance, and ended in 1136 in a renewal of treaty
engagements.
Having thus secured his dominions against a possible attack by the
Normans, John Comnenus could at last undertake the long-meditated
expedition to restore Antioch and its surrounding territory to the Empire
(1137). But before invading the principality the Byzantine army had
another task to accomplish. The territory of the Empire no longer
actually extended as far as the frontier of Antioch, from which it was
now separated by the dominions of the Armenian Leo. This prince (a
descendant of Rupen, one of those Armenian rulers who, fleeing before
the advance of the Muslims, had established themselves in the Taurus
and in the neighbourhood of the Euphrates) had in 1129 succeeded his
brother Thoros. After an open breach with the Empire, he had made
himself master of the chief towns of Cilicia-Tarsus, Adana, and
Mamistra. His possessions thus barred the path of John's army, and
the conquest of Cilicia was the necessary prelude to the siege of Antioch.
In the early part of the campaign the Emperor met with unbroken
## p. 359 (#401) ############################################
John in Syria and Cilicia
359
success. Tarsus, Adana, and Mamistra were quickly captured, and then
came the turn of Anazarbus and the surrounding district. Leo, with his
two sons, Rupen and Thoros, was obliged to seek safety in the mountains.
Without stopping to pursue them, John at once took the road to
Antioch, for at that moment circumstances were eminently favourable to
the Greeks.
When John appeared before the city (end of August 1137) Raymond
of Poitiers, who, by his marriage with Constance daughter of Bohemond
II, had become Prince of Antioch, was absent from his capital. Although
aware of the impending attack by the Byzantines, Raymond had not
hesitated to go to the help of the King of Jerusalem, who had just suffered
a serious defeat at the hands of the Atābeg of Mosul, 'Imād-ad-Dīn
Zangī, at Hārim. When Raymond returned, the siege of Antioch had
already begun. The besieged, owing to the disaster which had just
befallen the Latins in their struggle with the Mohammedans, despaired
of receiving succour, and from the first a considerable party of them had
contemplated negotiations with the Emperor. Certain of the records
make it appear probable that the King of Jerusalem, on being consulted,
had admitted the validity of the Greek Emperor's claims, and had recom-
mended negotiation. Whatever may be the truth about these pourparlers,
it is plain that Raymond, threatened with the loss of his dominions,
preferred treating with John Comnenus. At the moment the Emperor
was bent above all on obtaining a formal recognition of his claims, while
for Raymond the main desideratum was the withdrawal of the Byzantines.
Once this point had been gained, other matters might be arranged as
circumstances should dictate. After some negotiation the Prince of
Antioch consented to take the oath of fealty to John Comnenus, and, as
a sign of his submission, to hoist the imperial banners on the walls of
the city. The Emperor in exchange bound himself to help the Latins the
next year in their struggle with the Muslims, but it was stipulated that
if by the help of the Basileus Raymond should recover Aleppo, Shaizar,
Emesa, and Hamāh, he should restore Antioch to the Greek Empire.
This agreement being concluded John returned to Cilicia. It seems
probable that it was on this occasion that he succeeded in capturing the
Armenian prince, Leo, who with his two sons was sent prisoner to
Constantinople, where not long afterwards he died.
Faithful to his engagements, John opened the campaign in the spring
of 1138. The Byzantine army, swelled by the Latin contingents, took in
succession Balat (between Antioch and Aleppo) and Bizāʻa. The allies,
however, failed to surprise Aleppo, and turned to besiege Shaizar on the
Orontes on 29 April 1138. Before long serious dissensions broke out
between the Latin princes and the Emperor. John, indignant at the
suspicious behaviour of the Prince of Antioch and of Joscelin, Count of
Edessa, seized upon the first pretext he could find to raise the siege and
grant the defenders conditions which they had never hoped for,
CH. XII.
## p. 360 (#402) ############################################
360
John and the Western -Empire
Returning northwards by the valley of the Orontes, the army fell
back upon Antioch, John making a solemn entry into the city. During
his stay there, the Emperor, in virtue of the feudal rule obliging a vassal
to hand over his castle to his suzerain whenever he was required by him
to do so, demanded possession of the citadel. The Latin rulers, not
daring a direct refusal, got out of the difficulty by stirring up a riot
in the city. In the face of the menacing attitude of the populace, John
for the time being ceased to urge his claims and quitted Antioch. The
Emperor once gone, the Latins again offered to treat. The result was a
hollow reconciliation.
The Greek army then set out on its return. While, on its march
towards Constantinople, it was securing the safety of the frontier by
police operations against brigands, Isaac Comnenus came to make sub-
mission to his brother and received his pardon. The sole result of the
campaign was the recognition of the imperial rights over Antioch, whereby
the prestige of the Emperor was strikingly increased, not only in the eyes
of his subjects but also in those of the Musulmans and Latins. No
practical advantage, however, was obtained.
In 1139 the war against the Musulmans was resumed. The Danish-
mandite prince Mahomet had taken several places in Cilicia from the
Byzantines, and then proceeded to ravage the country as far as the
Sangarius. John drove off these invading bands, and during the winter
of 1139-1140 laid siege to Neo-Caesarea. In this campaign John, son
of Isaac Comnenus, deserted to the enemy? On his return to Constanti-
nople (15 January 1141) the Emperor planned a new campaign, the object
of which was Antioch.
A series of diplomatic operations was again undertaken in order to
hold the King of Sicily in check during the Emperor's absence. Lothar
had died on returning from his Italian campaign, and had been succeeded
by Conrad III. In 1140 John asked Conrad to renew the alliance made
with his predecessor, and in order to set a seal upon the friendship
requested the hand of a princess of the imperial house for his youngest
son Manuel. Conrad in reply offered his sister-in-law Bertha, daughter
of the Count of Sulzbach. In 1142 another Byzantine embassy was des-
patched with instructions to treat of the question of a descent upon Italy.
Conrad in return sent his chaplain Albert and Robert, Prince of Capua,
to Constantinople. A Greek embassy carried John's reply, and brought
back the future Empress. These negotiations were disquieting to the
King of Sicily, who, in order to break up the league between his enemies,
sent an embassy at the beginning of 1143 to propose an alliance with
John.
1 He became a Musulman and married a daughter of the Sultan of Iconium.
Bayazid I claimed to be descended from this marriage. Cf. Du Cange, Familiae
byzantinae in the Historia byzantina duplici commentario illustrata, Paris 1680,
p. 190.
## p. 361 (#403) ############################################
John and the Principality of Antioch
361
While the negotiations with Conrad were going on, the Emperor
again set out for Antioch. The whole of the early part of the campaign
was devoted to police work in the neighbourhood of Sozopolis. The
army then marched to Attalia, and here a double blow fell upon the
Emperor. Within a short interval he lost, first his son Alexius, whom
he had associated in the government, and then another son Andronicus.
This twofold bereavement did not turn the Emperor from his purpose,
and on leaving Attalia the army took the road to Syria.
