A Dowry for the Sultan

by Lance Collins

  Manzikert is better known for the 1071 epochal defeat of a Byzantine army near the city, the Empire’s “terrible day” from which it never recovered. The story of the siege in 1054 is little known, though if valour and impossible odds are the measure, it stands as a Greek and certainly Armenian epic. The fortitude of ordinary people bought the tottering Byzantine Empire a seventeen year respite which was wasted by those in power in Constantinople. In this, the siege is a story for all time.

  I undertook a field trip to Malazgird in eastern Turkey in 2002. Remnants of the fortress were still there—not romantically perched alone, weathered but intact like some more famous sites—rather largely lost and forlorn, buried in the sprawl of an untidy Turko-Kurdish town. The feel of Kurdish rebellion lingered and while Turkish officials were friendly and local workman restoring some of the defensive walls, both interested in and informative about their work, the landscape had the air of remoteness and hardship. To visit this once flourishing region was a lesson in the impermanence of human affairs.

  With this in mind, I have sought to inform and entertain, hoping to do justice to the players in the story of those turbulent times.

  Lance Collins 6th January 2016

  Glossary

  Abbasid Caliphate The Sunni Islamic caliphate based in Baghdad. An objective of the Seljuk Turks, Baghdad was occupied by Tughrul in 1055.

  Armenian Church Founded in the 4th century, the Armenian Church recognised the single divine nature of Christ in contrast to the Orthodox and Catholic beliefs. This was the reason for religious persecution by Byzantium.

  Artsn (Place) Variously, Ardzen, Artsen. An un-walled city some ten miles northwest of Karin, overrun and pillaged by Seljuk Turks in 1048. It survived in Turkey as the hamlet of Khar Arz (literally ruins-of-Artsn) until renamed Kahramanlar in the 1980s.

  aventail Part of a helmet arrangement, the aventail is suspended from the back half of the helmet to protect the wearers neck (and occasionally, shoulders). Mail was preferred, but either a stiff single piece, or strips of leather were also used. Common in Eastern and Byzantine armour, it was seldom used in Western Europe.

  Azaz (Battle) Battle in August 1030 near Aleppo in Syria where the Byzantines were defeated.

  baban Seljuk name for the large stone-throwing catapult, possibly an early form of trebuchet, of Byzantine origin, employed against the walls of Manzikert in 1054.

  ballista See siege engines.

  banda (plural) or bandum (singular) Byzantine cavalry tactical formation of 300 men commanded by a count. It is roughly equivalent to a 19th Century cavalry regiment commanded by a lieutenant colonel. For ease in the novel, the more modern terms have been used: regiment (300 or more men), squadron (100) and troop (30).

  bard Horse armour, worn like a horse-rug, of mail, iron or horn lamellar, or glued felt to protect horses, especially from arrows.

  bezant The Latin term for nomisma, the gold standard of Byzantine currency.

  byrnie A mail shirt, short-sleeved and reaching the hips. From the 8th Century on, it was replaced, for those wealthy enough, by the knee-length or lower and longer-sleeved hauberk. It was probably still retained by poorer soldiers in western armies.

  Byzantine Army Although wily diplomacy was a factor, Byzantium, under constant attack on several fronts, owed its long survival to a remarkable military system. In the first decade of the 11th Century, under the Emperor Basil II (the ‘Bulgarslayer’), the Byzantine Army was virtually unparalleled in discipline, equipment, tactics and success. By 1054, although depleted by war, usury and mal-administration, the army remained sound in strategic doctrine and battle tactics. Cavalry was the dominant arm, but was supported by infantry, artillery, engineers, medical and logistics units. Depending on the skill of its commanders, it performed creditably if not flawlessly against the huge Patzinak invasion of Thrace. By 1054, much of the army available for eastern service—Aristakes puts the order of battle at 60,000 men—was concentrated at Caesarea (modern Kayseri). It seems few were deployed forward on the frontier before the campaign of 1054. Broadly, the army comprised:

  The Tagmata. High quality professional troops quartered in and near Constantinople. Although structures changed, the tagmas can be considered as:

  •Scholae—3000 strong, equivalent to a modern brigade, divided into 300 strong bandum, or regiments commanded by counts.

  •Excubitores—a brigade of cavalry.

  •Watch—cavalry—emperor’s bodyguard.

  •Numera—infantry garrison unit to guard Constantinople.

  •Walls—infantry garrison unit to guard Constantinople.

  •Optimates—a logistics unit, assisting with the baggage on campaign.

  •Hetaeria—imperial bodyguards.

  •Hicanti—cavalry.

  •Immortals—cavalry.

  •Varangian Guard—an imperial guard unit comprised variously of Vikings, Russians and after 1066, many Englishmen. There is some doubt about when it was formed, but it was certainly in being by the time of the disastrous Battle of Manzikert in 1071.

  •Byzantine Navy—The navy was considered part of the Tagmata.

  The Themes. These were the 46 regional military commands, of mostly irregular troops of varying quality, commanded by a military governor. Once the backbone of the Byzantine state, their military capability had been seriously depleted by 1054. It is estimated only some 5,000 troops defended Vaspurakan in 1054. They included cavalry, infantry, artillery, engineers, baggage and the like.

  Allies and mercenaries. Byzantium made full use of these, particularly from the early 11th Century. Franks, Varangians, Rus, Uze, Patzinks and later, Turks, are all mentioned.

  Ranks. These were bewilderingly bureaucratic, constantly changing and still argued. Warren Treadgold’s Byzantium and Its Army, 284–1081, covers them in detail. For the purposes of the story, the following are used.

  •Domestic—these were the senior army commanders, a modern field marshal. The Domestic of the Scholae was often appointed as overall commander on campaign.

  •Strategos—a general. For command of a theme, the term dux or catepano was sometimes used. Basil Apocapes was evidently a subordinate district commander, albeit of some influence and ability and hence, for the purpose of the novel, accorded ‘strategos’ as a courtesy title.

  •Turmarch—a subordinate fortress/district commander, subordinate to the strategos commanding a theme. A modern equivalent might be a brigadier.

  •Count—the commander of a regiment or similar level of responsibility; a modern lieutenant colonel.

  •Centarch—the commander of 100. The modern equivalent would be a regimental second in command, or a squadron or company commander, a major.

  •Tribune—a commander of fifty man, roughly equivalent of a modern lieutenant or junior captain.

  •Decarch—a commander of ten, a modern corporal, a section commander.

  cantle The raised rear of a saddle seat behind the rider.

  cataphract Byzantine medium cavalry trooper. Not light cavalry, nor as heavily armoured as the fully -armoured klibanophoroi.

  centarch See Byzantine Army—Ranks.

  chamfron The defensive armour for the fore part of a warhorse’s head.

  chukka A time division, or ‘quarter’, of the game of polo.

  circuit walls The extensive walls surrounding and protecting the circumference of a city or town.

  coif Mail armoured hood for the head and neck.

  corselet Body armour, generally short-sleeved or sleeveless, reaching the hips or below.

  coup de main An overwhelming surprise attack.

  crenelle An embrasure, in a parapet or breastwork, to shoot through.

  Cumans A pagan, nomadic East Turkic people, coming from NW Asian Russia who conquered southern Russia in the 11th Century. They both warred with and were employed as
mercenaries by Byzantium. In the latter part of the 11th century they conquered the Patzinaks.

  curtain-wall A curtain wall was a relatively thin wall, depending for its strength on the enfilading towers spaced along its length: commonly used in circuit walls, where strength was sacrificed for length.

  decarch See Byzantine Army—Ranks.

  Daylamis Also referred to as the Delmic Tribe. Mountaineers from south of the Caucasus, employed as infantry by the Abbasids. Daylamis were Shi’ite Muslims and predominately infantry.

  destrier Frankish name for a European warhorse. Not the heavy great-horse of the later medieval period, but a lighter hunter type.

  Diacene (Battle, 1049) Site in the Balkans of a disastrous Byzantine battle against the Patzinaks.

  domestic See Byzantine Army—Ranks.

  donjon A tower keep, the last bastion within the citadel.

  enceinte The wall or ramparts which surround a fortress; the area thus enclosed.

  Excubitores See Byzantine Army—Tagmata. .

  Fatimid Caliphate Shi’ite Muslim empire based in Egypt from June 969 AD.

  fief de hauberk A military fief, or landholding, held by a knight in return for armed service to an overlord. It was a cornerstone of the feudal system in Western Europe.

  foot Collective noun for infantry.

  gallery wall A gallery wall was a strong defensive wall in which covered or partially covered galleries were constructed, allowing defenders to operate engines of war from protected positions. The ruins at Manzikert indicate that at least some of the defences were gallery walls.

  ghazis Islamic border raiders, equivalent of the Byzantine akritai (borderers), especially on the frontier with the invading Turks.

  Ghaznavid Dynasty (AD 977–1186) A successor state to the Samanid Empire, this Turkic dynasty held power southwest of the Oxus River in Khorasan, Afghanistan, and northern India. The Qarakhanids, other successors to the Samanids, controlled the lands to the immediate east of the Oxus River. The Ghaznavids reached their zenith under Mahmud in the 1030’s, his son being defeated by the Seljuks at Dandanqan in 1040.

  ghulams Turkic professional soldiers of the Seljuk state and the Abbasid caliphate’s elite corps, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine tagmata. Forerunners of the Mamluks, they were a slave army of heavily armoured and armed horse-archers, who wielded considerable influence in Baghdad politics, not unlike the Praetorian Guard of imperial Rome.

  hand-gallop A quick gait, faster than a canter but rather less than a full, headlong, racing gallop: a collected, balanced pace where the horse is kept ‘in hand’, ready for any stopping, turning or jumping.

  hauberk Long military tunic of mail, either ring (iron rings sewn on a mostly leather backing) or, more commonly, chain mail split front and back for riding and marked by head and neck protection. From the early medieval period in the West, only knights were privileged to wear the hauberk. It was the armour de rigeur of Norman and Frankish knights of the late 11th and 12th centuries, superseding the earlier byrnie.

  Hetaeria See Byzantine Army—Tagmata.

  Hicanti See Byzantine Army—Tagmata.

  horse Collective noun for cavalry.

  Immortals See Byzantine Army—Tagmata.

  Kapetrou (Battle) Fortress near which was fought a battle in Armenia in 1048 where Byzantine (including Armenian) and Georgian troops intercepted but could not defeat a Seljuk raid withdrawing from raids, including the sack of Artsn) in 1048 CE. It is generally given as Pasinler in modern Turkey.

  keffiyeh Flowing fabric headdress of the Arabs.

  khutba Friday prayers in mosques.

  Kinik The tribe of the Ozguz in which Saljak/Seljuk, founder of the Seljuks, was born.

  knight See milites, miles.

  Kurds Kurdish dynasties arose during the six hundred years after the Arab invasion and Kurdish conversion to Islam. Most significant for the period of this story are the Ravvadid (also Rawwadid) Kurds who were based around Tabriz from 955 to the Mongol invasions in 1221. The Shaddadids ruled a predominately Armenian population in the Gandja districts but were not a significant influence in 1054. Other Kurdish dynasties were the Marwanids of the Diyarbakir region (990–1096) and the Hasanwaihids of Dinavar in the Kermanshah area (959–1015). The Marwanids, though professing friendship with Byzantium, proved to be decisive allies, or vassals, of the Seljuks during the campaign of 1054. There is evidently some disagreement whether the Marwanids were Kurds or Arabs.

  lamellar Form of body armour comprising overlapping plates, of iron, horn or leather, held together by leather or silk lacing. Very common in Iran and Central Asia, it was also popular in Byzantium. A number of sources illustrate lamellar cuirasses being worn over mail as additional protection.

  Latins Western Europeans. It was a reference to both the use of Latin language by many of those people, and their allegiance to the Catholic Church of Rome.

  line/lines A row (of soldiers), normally facing the enemy, for example, skirmish line or siege line. Or, as a direction, for example, a line of retreat, or lines of operations/communications. Or: soldiers’ accommodation (normally in the field), tents arranged in rows, horse lines and so forth. Also used to denote the extent of an area occupied by troops, for example, forward edge of siege lines.

  loosebox In a stable complex, an enclosed stall in which a horse can move freely about, lay down and so on.

  mangon/mangonel See siege engines

  mantelet A kind of shield or shelter for soldiers or sailors in war, a screen to cover besieging troops.

  majra An arrow guide, a piece of grooved timber held in the bow hand so a short dart could be drawn back against the string and released as an arrow. An ideal sniping weapon when the sniper did not want the telltale, long arrow shaft giving immediate warning of missile attack.

  merlon In fortifications, that raised part of battlements that separates two embrasures or crenelles.

  miles/milites The Latin singular/plural for a knight, specifically armoured horsemen. Dating back for some time, the term came into wider use in the 10th Century, later having linguistic variations such as knight or chevalier.

  money The currency and coinage of Byzantium changes over time, but the standard coin of the Byzantine empire was the gold nomisma (or solidus, the coin identified by the Crusaders as the byzant). There were 72 nomisma to the pound weight of gold. Leo’s salary would have been 206 nomisma (three pounds of gold) a year. This currency began to be adulterated in 11th Century. Silver coins included the miliaresion valued at one twelfth of a nomisma. Copper coins of lesser value were the five, ten, twenty and forty nummi, the 40 nummi coin being one follis. While the currency was into a long period of decline starting from about this period an everyday cloak would have cost about one nomisma.

  Moors North African Muslims of mixed Arab and Berber descent, who occupied southern Spain between the 8th and 15th centuries.

  naffatin A corps of specialist troops of the Abbasid infantry. These were armed with fire projectors and naphtha grenades.

  nakhara An Armenian landlord from one of the great landowning families.

  near side The left side of a horse, the side from which they are customarily mounted, due to most early riders being soldiers and because swords were usually worn on the left hip.

  off-side The right side of a horse, the opposite to that customarily used for mounting.

  Oghuz Turks Nomads from east of the Jaxartes River, they were in turn forced to westward migration into Islamic lands by the Kipchaks (later Polovtsi or Cumans). The Seljuks were a branch of the Oghuz, led by Seljak after whom they were named.

  paillasse A bed of straw, usually encased by a mattress cover of hessian or other cheap material.

  peribolos In the land defences of Constantinople, the stretch of ground between the ditch and fore-wall.

  Patzinaks Also known as Petchenegs. A pow
erful pagan sub-tribe of the Oghuz Turks and cousins of the Seljuks. The Patzinaks from southern Russia raided Constantinople through the Balkans, posing a significant threat to the Byzantines during the mid-11th Century.

  P’rang Armenian term for ‘Frank’.

  prick spurs Early form of European spurs, having no rowel, merely a point.

  princeps Byzantine Army appointment title for the chief of staff.

  Qarakhanid (or Karakhanid) A Turkic tribal confederation from Central Asia. After the collapse of the Samanids at the close of the 10th Century, the Qarluq confederation of tribes established the Qarakhanid Dynasty as the ruling force in Transoxiania (between the Oxus and Jaxartes Rivers).

  razzia Turkish/Islamic raid/raiding. Also ghazwa.

  Rum Turkish and Arabic term for ‘Romans’ and Byzantine Empire.

  Rus People from around of Kiev, a district by then showing strong Viking influence. Modern Russian culture originates from the Viking interrelationship with the surrounding population and Orthodox Christianity gained from Byzantium.

  Saracen Generic Latin and Byzantine term encompassing the peoples of the Middle East: Turks, Arabs, Persians, Egyptians and others.