In the 10 years between Manzikert & the reign Alexios Komnenos Byzantine rule in Anatolia effectively disappeared. Since this cataclysmic decline began with the disaster at Manzikert, many historians attribute Byzantine collapse to this battlefield defeat, but they are wrong.
Although the Seljuks scored a decisive victory at Manzikert, Byzantine casualties were low. Half the field army was near Khliat & so was fairly intact, the rearguard under Doukas left the field without fighting at all, & many of the units that fled escaped with minimal losses.
Instead of running down the retreating Byzantines who regrouped at the fortress of Manzikert, the Seljuks focused their efforts on isolating & crushing Romanos’s beleaguered center, comprised of the Varangians, other Palace Guard units, and Armenian heavy infantry.
Historian John Haldon estimates that Byzantine losses were around 2,000 men, or 10% of the army. Even a high estimate of 4,000 leaves the Byzantine army bruised, but not broken. However, these losses were concentrated in the Varangians, Palace Guards, & Armenians, the elite.
Even considering the culling of the military elite, many thousands of soldiers in the field army survived. Tens of thousands remained manning garrisons in the cities & fortresses of the Empire. So why did Byzantine rule collapse? We must look at the political situation.
Romanos signed a peace treaty with Alp agreeing to hand over Antioch, Edessa, Hierapolis, & Manzikert. Alp also demanded a ransom payment of 1.5Â million gold pieces, & an annual sum of 360,000 coins. Although a serious setback it preserved the Anatolian core of the Empire.
More pressingly, The Doukid clan deposed & blinded Romanos, nulling the treaty. Michael VII Doukas & his family were abysmal rulers. Surrounded by sycophants at court, Michael increased taxation, neglected the army, & spent the budget on his luxurious lifestyle at the capital.
Beyond the ornate halls of the palace, the Empire began to collapse. A Bulgarian rebellion broke out, only suppressed by the brilliant general Bryennios. The situation in Anatolia grew increasingly dire. Soldiers & administrators went unpaid, weakening Constantinople’s control.
With the army in disarray, Turkish raids penetrated farther into Anatolia with more devastating consequences than ever before. Issac Komnenos was sent to defeat them in 1073. Issac was crushed near Caesarea & captured.
This defeat continued the spiral of neglect. Soldiers abandoned their posts or turned to brigandry, citizens were left vulnerable to raiders, & mercenaries defected. Gabras & Philaretos, the governors of Trebizond & Antioch went rogue, refusing to take orders from the capital.
The most notable defection was Roussel de Bailleul who set up a Norman kingdom, supported by the citizens who sought protection Constantinople couldn’t provide. Within a few short years, Constantinople’s ineptitude had cost it control over all but the Aegean coast of Anatolia.
Roussel, after defeating an army under John Doukas & capturing him, crowned him emperor & aided his campaign against his nephew. John sacked Chrysopolis, a city just across the Bosphorus from Constantinople. Byzantine disarray was extreme, even the Doukids now fought one another.
These internal conflicts were bleeding the Byzantine military dry & Michael, in desperation, sought the help of the Turks. Michael recognized their conquests in Anatolia in exchange for warriors, defeating & captured his uncle in 1074.
The invitation of Turks into Byzantine internal wars & recognition of their conquests in the erstwhile Byzantine heartland was a devastating blow to Byzantinum, doubly harmful as it validated the loss of core regions & sanctioned the killing of Byzantines by Turks in civil wars.
Michael’s ineptitude encouraged further suicidal conflict. Virtually every great & capable general rebelled, trusting only his own abilities to reverse the Empire’s course in the face of stupefying imperial incompetence.
Bryennios & Botaneiates simultaneously revolted in 1077 in the Balkans & Anatolia, garnering support from the people over the rapid decline of the Empire’s fortunes. Bryennios allowed his troops to ravage the suburbs of Constantinople.
This convinced the citizens of the capital to support Botaneiates instead, deposing the inept Michael VII in March 1078. Michael retired to a quiet life as a cleric. Bryennios refused a position in the new administration. Alexios Komnenos was sent to fight the famous general.
Alexios met Bryennios with a force of Franks, Turks, and Byzantine troops at Kalavyre on the Halmyros River. Alexios’s army was smaller & less experienced, but he bested the famed general through superior tactical maneuvers, feigning a retreat.
Basilakes, another Manzikert veteran, rallied Byrennios’s survivors & launched his own rebellion. Alexios defeated him by ambushing his camp at night. This constant infighting destroyed the Western Tagmata, making the Balkans vulnerable to the Normans across the Adriatic.
Even in Anatolia, rebellions continued. Alexios refused to fight his kinsman, Nikephoros Melissenos who had seized what remained of Byzantine Anatolia with the support of the Turks.
Botaneiates was a good emperor, instituting law reforms, restoring church property stolen by Michael VII, forgiving debts, & obtaining the submission of Antioch & Trebizond. Attaleiates says he, “attended the festivals of the capital & frequently bestowed gifts to his subjects.”
The problem was that as a usurper & outsider at court, Botaneiates could not gain legitimacy. Alexios, seeing Botaneiates could never unite the flagging empire & squabbling aristocrats, accepted an invitation from his Doukid relatives to ally & overthrow Botaneiates.
Alexios, knowing the loyalty of the Varangians (attested in his daughter’s Alexiad) instead bribed some German soldiers to betray the emperor & allow his men into Constantinople. Botaneiates, recognizing the futility of continued struggle, abdicated & became a monk.
Alexios’s first days in Constantinople must have been sobering. The armies had been cannibalized by civil war, the coinage debased, treasury empty, & administration in disarray. For a decade Turks ravaged Anatolia, sinking roots & capturing Byzantine outposts until none remained.
External threats loomed on the horizon, even as internal divisions & religious strife continued to simmer. The Normans & Pechenegs looked hungrily at the Balkans, the Turks gobbling up Anatolia. Alexios needed do the impossible, preserve the empire with almost nothing but wits.
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