The Battle of Manzikert 1071 | Part Two: Alp Arslan and The Seljuk Onslaught

[00:00:00] G'day guys, a big welcome back to the Anthology of Heroes podcast.

[00:00:04] In this podcast we share epic stories of figures and events that changed the course of history,

[00:00:09] and you've just tuned into part 2 of what has ended up as a 3 part series on the disastrous

[00:00:15] 1071 Battle of Manzikert.

[00:00:19] In our first episode we followed the reign of Emperor Constantine IX.

[00:00:24] Constantine's reign is particularly interesting because so much happened in it.

[00:00:27] You had the Normans in the west, the Seljuks in the east, Pechenegs in the Balkans, rebel

[00:00:31] generals, civil distress, inflation and just to top things off a major religious schism.

[00:00:36] There's a lot in there and listening to that episode will help reveal why one battle

[00:00:41] turned out to be such a disaster for an empire that looked so robust on paper.

[00:00:46] In part 1 we spoke about the Seljuks briefly but back then they were a peripheral annoyance

[00:00:51] to the Roman Empire.

[00:00:52] Here is where they really step into the spotlight.

[00:00:55] In this episode we're heading to the desolate wastes of Turkmenistan to watch the rise

[00:00:59] of two brothers, Chagri and Turgrul, the founders of the Seljuk dynasty.

[00:01:06] After charting their rise we're going to check back in with Byzantium because

[00:01:09] if you think things were bad under Constantine IX, well you ain't seen nothing yet.

[00:01:14] After a string of rubbish emperors we're going to follow the tragic reign of Roman

[00:01:17] Emperor Romanus IV, a man who in a different time could have been one of the greats.

[00:01:24] Finally we're going to introduce Alp Arslan, the so called heroic lion, a brilliant strategist

[00:01:30] whose achievements are still celebrated in many Islamic countries today.

[00:01:35] Specifically in this episode we're going to cover the early history of the Seljuks,

[00:01:39] the rise of Turgrul and Chagri, Alp Arslan's raids into Anatolia, the worsening crisis

[00:01:44] in Byzantium, the policies of Nizam al-Mulk, Emperor Romanus' eastern campaigns and

[00:01:50] the manoeuvring that took place just before the Battle of Manzikert.

[00:01:54] Be sure to check out our Patreon page where you can listen to ad-free episodes early along

[00:01:58] with bonus episodes.

[00:02:00] Still here?

[00:02:01] Well what are we waiting for?

[00:02:02] The 1071 disaster at Manzikert, part 2, Alp Arslan and the Seljuk onslaught.

[00:02:14] It's sometime in May in the year 1038 AD.

[00:02:18] Citizens of the Iranian city of Nishapur tentatively unbar the gates of their city,

[00:02:23] the mountains trembling they pull back the iron clamps and stand in silence.

[00:02:28] Nishapur had once been a great Islamic city, a cultural hotspot famed for its refinement

[00:02:33] and learning, but that was centuries ago.

[00:02:36] The mighty caliphate that the Prophet had left behind had long since fractured

[00:02:39] into a patchwork of warring states and Nishapur, like many other great Islamic

[00:02:44] cities, had become a prize to be fought over by petty warlords.

[00:02:48] And this latest group was the worst yet.

[00:02:51] Hideous, stunted savages who the aristocratic city dwellers considered barely human.

[00:02:56] The battered gates of the city shutted open and the conquerors brusquely pushed their

[00:03:01] way in.

[00:03:02] Plotting through the mud they came, one after the other.

[00:03:05] Perhaps a gasp rippled through the people of Nishapur as they cast judgmental looks

[00:03:09] upon their new masters.

[00:03:11] Clad in tattered clothing and streaked with mud, their distinctive features, slanted

[00:03:16] eyes, weathered bronze skin and thin, wispy beards set them apart.

[00:03:21] Flecks of mud from their filthy rags splattered onto the spotless, colourful robes of the

[00:03:25] Nishapurians.

[00:03:27] So these were the notorious Seljuks.

[00:03:31] Men as wild as animals, hideous figures that fought like demons.

[00:03:36] Their horses dropped dung and their riders spat and laughed as they looked around

[00:03:39] the glowing city.

[00:03:41] Their eyes gleaming as they dreamed of the treasure each building contained.

[00:03:45] The group suddenly fell silent and seemed to straighten in the saddles, as two men,

[00:03:50] indistinct from the rest, dismounted and walked over to a table of food the Nishapurians

[00:03:54] had prepared in their honour.

[00:03:56] Wearing the same filthy clothing as the rest of their men, the only thing that gave

[00:03:59] them away as leaders was the air of respect the men seemed to have for them.

[00:04:04] They were brothers and their names were Tugrul and Chagri.

[00:04:09] Approaching the table with the curiosity of wild creatures in a new habitat, they

[00:04:12] examined the delicacies that had been prepared for them.

[00:04:15] Tugrul picked up a fist-sized pastry, sniffed it, took a bite and reluctantly swallowed,

[00:04:22] before remarking to his brother, quote,

[00:04:25] These noodles are good, but lack garlic.

[00:04:28] The pastry wasn't noodles of course, but Tugrul had never tasted anything like it

[00:04:32] before so had no frame of reference.

[00:04:35] For the sake of their lives, the pompous Nishapurians stifled their laughter as

[00:04:39] the savages continually sampled their fancy foods.

[00:04:43] Uncivilised as these two brothers may have been, make no mistake, they were not fools.

[00:04:48] Tugrul had firmly established his reputation as a military genius.

[00:04:52] His warriors had seen many remarkable victories owing to his command, but it would be his

[00:04:57] skills in statecraft that would leave the civilised world in shock.

[00:05:01] Soon thousands would swarm to his banners and he would transform his followers from

[00:05:05] a horde to an empire.

[00:05:08] The very same Nishapurians who sniggered at his primitive table manners would soon

[00:05:12] be begging for a place at his table.

[00:05:14] Just two years later he would conquer all of Khorasan, in under 20 years, Baghdad.

[00:05:20] And 33 years later, his successor, Alp Arslan, would defeat the Roman Empire at

[00:05:26] the Battle of Manzikert, beginning a death spiral for the ancient superpower.

[00:05:31] So who were these Seljuks?

[00:05:33] Where did they come from?

[00:05:35] The Seljuk story begins in the 10th century, when a man named Seljuk left the service

[00:05:40] of the Khazars.

[00:05:42] The Khazars were a steppe confederacy, a loose group of tribes centred somewhere

[00:05:47] around the Crimean peninsula, modern Ukraine.

[00:05:51] Seljuk had been a warrior in service of the Khazar chief, but the two had a falling

[00:05:54] out.

[00:05:55] You don't know what happened, but he had to leave.

[00:05:57] With his cattle warriors and family, Seljuk left and began the long journey to Jand,

[00:06:03] in Kazakhstan.

[00:06:05] In his long caravan of men and animals, perhaps there were two children.

[00:06:09] Barely walking yet, these were Seljuks' grandsons, Turgrul and Chagri.

[00:06:15] Many of the Khazar elite adhered to the Jewish faith, so it's possible that Seljuk

[00:06:19] and his family were adherents to Judaism.

[00:06:22] If not, he would have been a follower of the traditional steppe religion, a kind

[00:06:26] of ancestor worship that revolved around the veneration of animal totems, particularly

[00:06:31] the grey wolf.

[00:06:32] But by this point, Islam was making inroads into Central Asia, and soon after arriving

[00:06:37] in Jand, Seljuk and his followers quickly embraced the religion of Muhammad.

[00:06:42] Most chieftains and khans on the outer steppe identified as Muslim, but their practices

[00:06:47] differed significantly from the Arabs or the Persians.

[00:06:50] The rough edges of steppe culture were very much visible under the blanket of

[00:06:54] their new religion.

[00:06:55] By the time old Seljuk passed away, at 107 years old according to legend, he'd

[00:07:00] managed to attract a core group of followers outside that of his immediate

[00:07:03] family.

[00:07:05] In fact, his influence had grown so much that bigger, bad, or

[00:07:08] war chiefs grew concerned.

[00:07:10] Rather than risk open battle with him, one of the warlords captured Seljuk's

[00:07:14] son, hoping that without a leader, the band would fragment and break away.

[00:07:19] It was a good plan.

[00:07:20] The thing about these steppe confederations, hordes, whatever you want

[00:07:23] to call them, the bands that held them together were very loose.

[00:07:27] More often than not it was a single, charismatic, powerful man who brought them

[00:07:31] together.

[00:07:32] And once he died or stopped providing with plunder, the warriors dispersed and went

[00:07:36] their separate ways.

[00:07:38] When Seljuk's son was imprisoned this is no doubt what his

[00:07:40] imprisoners thought would happen.

[00:07:42] But into the power vacuum stepped Toghrul and Chagri, nephews of the

[00:07:47] imprisoned war chief.

[00:07:49] The two men harboured a strong desire to avenge their unjustly imprisoned uncle,

[00:07:53] yet an even stronger aspiration drove them – to lead.

[00:07:57] Amidst the ever-changing allegiances of the Asian steppe, two brothers and their

[00:08:01] burgeoning army – perhaps now 2,000 strong – began to operate as

[00:08:05] mercenaries, taking payment from petty war chiefs to join them in combat.

[00:08:10] They fought well but always seemed to pick the wrong side.

[00:08:13] In a single brutal conflict the two brothers faced disaster.

[00:08:17] Utterly outnumbered and out-fought, the Seljuks were slaughtered.

[00:08:21] Both Toghrul and Chagri barely escaped the battlefield with their lives.

[00:08:26] Pursued relentlessly by the vengeful blades of steppe chieftains, they rode until

[00:08:30] their horses could no longer bear them.

[00:08:32] Marked men they knew they could no longer stay where they were, and leaving behind

[00:08:36] their family and animals, spirited south with only the most loyal

[00:08:39] followers in tow.

[00:08:41] By the time they reached the Zagros mountains only the toughest and most

[00:08:44] determined remained.

[00:08:46] Half dead and starving, the tiny band trudged over the first mountain range

[00:08:51] they'd ever encountered.

[00:08:52] As they journeyed through the foothills they encountered prosperity and wealth

[00:08:56] beyond their wildest dreams.

[00:08:58] Every family they passed, no matter how poor, were well-dressed and well-fed.

[00:09:03] The men here were fat and the women beautiful and powdered.

[00:09:08] The brothers had crossed into the land of the Ghaznavids.

[00:09:12] The Ghaznavids were a local power with roots in both Persia and the Asian steppe.

[00:09:17] Think of them as steppe warriors with a sprinkling of Persian sophistication.

[00:09:22] To the exhausted Turkic brothers, their strange, brightly coloured mosques,

[00:09:26] abundant fields and hilly terrain seemed alien.

[00:09:30] Even the religion the Ghaznavids practiced, though still Islam, was a world away from

[00:09:34] the basic rituals they'd performed on the steppe.

[00:09:38] But there was little opportunity to admire the magnificence of the landscape.

[00:09:41] The Seljuks found themselves in an incredibly dire situation.

[00:09:45] Exhausted, sick and impoverished, their worn out bows and starving horses

[00:09:50] hardly spoke to their prowess as warriors.

[00:09:53] Writing to the Ghaznavid governor, they asked, well begged, for protection.

[00:09:59] If the Sultan sees fit he will accept us as his servants so that one of us will pay

[00:10:04] homage to him at his exalted court and the other will undertake whatever service

[00:10:08] the Sultan commands and we will rest in his great shadow.

[00:10:12] He should grant us the province of Nasa and Farawa, which is on the edge of the

[00:10:16] desert so that we can put down our possessions and rest.

[00:10:20] We will not allow any evildoer from Mount Bakhan, Dihistan, the borders of

[00:10:25] Khwarezmum and the banks of the Oxus to appear and we will fight the Iraqi

[00:10:29] and Khwarezmin Turkmen.

[00:10:31] If, God forbid, the Sultan does not agree, we do not know what will happen,

[00:10:37] for we have nowhere else to go.

[00:10:39] The two brothers made their mark on the bottom of the ladder and prayed.

[00:10:43] Their followers were few and thinning out by the day and their families long

[00:10:47] lost back in Jand.

[00:10:49] If the Sultan refused them it was the end of the line for the House of Seljuk.

[00:10:54] Their plea soon made it to the desk of the Ghaznavid Sultan, a man named Masud,

[00:10:59] who was himself descended from Turkic people just like Turgrul and Chagri.

[00:11:04] Masud's grandfather, the founder of his kingdom had been a Turkic slave,

[00:11:08] a Mamluk, and his success had stemmed from settled people underestimating

[00:11:12] the havoc that a coalition of well led steppe warriors could wreak.

[00:11:17] Therefore he could think of nothing worse than inviting these untamable vagabonds

[00:11:21] to guard the northern flank of his realm.

[00:11:24] His realm was in the grips of a famine.

[00:11:27] The people were starving, rebellions were frequent and he was barely

[00:11:29] holding things together as is.

[00:11:32] He told Turgrul and Chagri to keep on walking because they weren't settling there.

[00:11:37] But the two brothers weren't going anywhere.

[00:11:41] Like vultures circling a dying line, they could sense that the Ghaznavid

[00:11:44] realm was on its last legs.

[00:11:47] Within a year, they twisted the Sultan's arm into giving them the land they requested,

[00:11:51] just pasture land they promised.

[00:11:53] We're simple herdsmen, they insisted.

[00:11:55] All we want is somewhere to graze our families and live out our days in peace.

[00:11:59] Unless they wanted another war, Masud had no choice but to give in.

[00:12:04] To Turgrul went the city of Nisa, Chagri got Dihistan, both in modern Turkmenistan.

[00:12:11] The Termites were now in the walls.

[00:12:14] Within mere months, the cities of Khorasan had shifted their allegiance to the Seljuk

[00:12:18] brothers.

[00:12:19] The Ghaznavid grip here was so feeble that the shift was little more than a formality.

[00:12:25] Sultan Masud had seen it all happening.

[00:12:27] Everything was going exactly like he knew it would, yet he was powerless to stop

[00:12:32] it.

[00:12:33] Gathering his diminishing forces, he launched assaults on the Seljuk strongholds,

[00:12:37] one after the other.

[00:12:38] But whenever he gained the upper hand against the brothers, they would retreat

[00:12:41] and vanish into their unforgiving northern steppe.

[00:12:44] Surviving on dried curds and suckling warm blood from their horses, the Seljuks would

[00:12:48] bide their time until the Sultan had left.

[00:12:52] Civilisation had brought Masud prosperity and influence, but it had dulled the edge

[00:12:56] of his grandfather's generation.

[00:12:58] His soldiers could not, and would not, venture into the steppe to pursue the Seljuks.

[00:13:04] On the 23rd of May, 1040, a mere five years had passed since a fateful letter

[00:13:09] had landed on Masud's desk, and his empire had all but crumbled.

[00:13:14] Near the modern city of Merv in Turkmenistan, the exhausted and starving army of the

[00:13:19] Gaznavids prepared for their final stand against Turkrul and Chakri.

[00:13:23] The once fertile and green countryside was now a barren wasteland.

[00:13:27] Masud's secret weapon, his Indian war elephants, must have been swaying from

[00:13:32] hunger with their riders scarcely in better condition.

[00:13:35] It had been death by a thousand cuts for his army.

[00:13:39] In every engagement the Seljuks had had the upper hand, there was no defeating

[00:13:43] only delaying them.

[00:13:45] The termites had spread to every supporting structure of his empire, and it was now so

[00:13:49] weak that one final push was all it would take to bring it down.

[00:13:53] His army fought well and bravely, but the outcome was already decided.

[00:13:57] Turkrul and Chakri vanquished the Gaznavid army.

[00:14:00] Sultan Masud fled to India and was murdered only a few weeks later by his own men.

[00:14:05] The Seljuks had torn apart their first realm.

[00:14:09] After a lifetime of struggle, they'd finally landed on a winning strategy.

[00:14:14] Masud and his Gaznavids were the first in a long line of crippled kingdoms that would

[00:14:18] eventually lead the Seljuks to the hallowed walls of the Roman Empire.

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[00:15:44] The lightning speed collapse of the Ghaznavid kingdom should have been a

[00:15:47] wake-up call to the petty rulers of Iran.

[00:15:50] These two brothers, these Seljuks, were tougher, smarter and more focused than

[00:15:55] your run-of-the-mill steppe warriors.

[00:15:57] But old feuds and grudges are hard to forget.

[00:16:00] More often than not, the brothers again found themselves employed as

[00:16:03] mercenaries in the local squabbles near and around Iran.

[00:16:07] Once they had money and manpower, that same winning strategy they'd used on

[00:16:11] the Ghaznavids was repeated.

[00:16:13] First to fall were the remnants of the Dalamites, the old rivals of the

[00:16:17] Ghaznavids.

[00:16:18] After them were the Kurds.

[00:16:20] Soundly defeated and chased back into their mountain fortresses,

[00:16:23] they would cause no further trouble for the Seljuks.

[00:16:26] It was around this time you could say that the Seljuk Horde took its first

[00:16:29] steps into becoming the Seljuk Empire.

[00:16:32] While many contemporary sources write with tears about the horrors of being

[00:16:36] subjected to these, quote, barely Islamised barbarians, it's worth

[00:16:41] remembering many of these cities had been in a perpetual state of war for

[00:16:44] over a century.

[00:16:45] Usually, Turgul and Chagri opted to keep the state apparatus in place.

[00:16:50] As long as the cities they conquered paid their taxes, the peace they

[00:16:53] enforced brought a sense of stability that hadn't been felt in this region

[00:16:56] for years.

[00:16:58] Clearly there were those that welcomed their new overlords.

[00:17:01] As evident by Khorasan poet Nasir Ikhuzro, a contemporary who blasted

[00:17:05] his fellow townsfolk for accepting Seljuk rule lying down.

[00:17:09] In one of his poems he wrote, quote, why are you deceived by the rule of the

[00:17:13] Turk?

[00:17:14] Remember the glory and strength of Mahmud of Zavullistan?

[00:17:17] He means the Ghaznavids.

[00:17:19] With their realm growing bigger by the day, the two brothers' goals took

[00:17:22] them in different directions.

[00:17:24] There are only scant references to this period but it seems as if

[00:17:27] Chagri wished to continue the well trodden path of a steppe warlord,

[00:17:31] sacking, burning, looting and partying.

[00:17:34] But Turgul had eclipsed that.

[00:17:36] He began to take the first steps towards true state building.

[00:17:39] After over a decade of overthrowing rival dynasties, he wanted to

[00:17:43] establish his own.

[00:17:44] Soon Turgul's usual demands of a conquered people, cash and

[00:17:48] hostages came with an additional one, for his name to be read aloud

[00:17:52] in Friday prayers at the mosques.

[00:17:55] When the brothers conquered Nishapur in 1038, Turgul forbid his army

[00:17:59] from looting the city until the holy month of Ramadan had concluded

[00:18:03] and once the date passed, he still refused to allow the customary

[00:18:06] looting his warriors were so used to.

[00:18:09] Moves like this raised his piety across the Islamic world but

[00:18:12] he was playing with fire.

[00:18:14] Turgul may have experienced a spiritual awakening but his

[00:18:17] warriors' loyalty to him was the sole factor keeping him in power

[00:18:21] and denying them their coveted loot were the surefire way to

[00:18:25] incite rebellion.

[00:18:26] When Chagri, whose men had also participated in the siege,

[00:18:29] found out about this, he was furious.

[00:18:31] The two brothers almost came to blows when Chagri refused to

[00:18:35] order his men to stand down but Turgul in a rage spat that he

[00:18:38] would kill him if he dared.

[00:18:41] The brothers were moving in different directions.

[00:18:44] With the Seljuk realm growing so rapidly, they seem to have

[00:18:47] agreed to divide it up.

[00:18:48] Chagri got the eastern provinces and slowly falls off

[00:18:52] the historical record.

[00:18:54] Turgul got the western provinces and it's around this time

[00:18:57] that his name starts to appear in Roman correspondence.

[00:19:01] Coins bearing Turgul's name soon began to filter through the

[00:19:04] grubby hands of merchants in Constantinople.

[00:19:07] For Turgul to be minting his own coins was a sure sign of

[00:19:10] his lofty ambitions.

[00:19:12] A new, formidable neighbour was setting up on the edge of

[00:19:14] Roman territory, steppe archers organised into an empire.

[00:19:19] And it wouldn't be long before the two entities would overlap.

[00:19:23] By the mid-1040s Turgul had a problem.

[00:19:26] His plans for statecraft had hit a snag.

[00:19:29] The Friday prayers at every mosque were commenced in his honour.

[00:19:32] He had viziers, government departments and recognition

[00:19:35] from the caliph himself.

[00:19:37] But the fact of the matter was he was a khan, a warlord,

[00:19:41] the leader of a fairly unruly nomadic horde.

[00:19:45] And the warriors that kept him in power expected him to

[00:19:47] behave like one.

[00:19:49] The duty of a warchief was, above all, to provide

[00:19:52] pasture land for the cattle of his followers.

[00:19:55] And we're not talking about a few goats and a bag of

[00:19:58] According to ACS Peacock, author of The Great Seljuk Empire,

[00:20:02] each Turkmen may have owned over a hundred sheep, each,

[00:20:06] let alone cows, donkeys or horses.

[00:20:08] That meant when Turgul conquered Nishapur in 1038,

[00:20:11] his 3,000-man army could have had 300,000

[00:20:15] sheep trailing behind them.

[00:20:17] That is a lot of sheep that need a lot of grass.

[00:20:20] Christian chronicler Bar Habraus tells us of how these

[00:20:23] enormous herds became like locusts to the drought-ridden

[00:20:26] region, quote,

[00:20:44] How was Turgul to cement the foundations of statecraft,

[00:20:48] law and taxation, while his troops ate their way through

[00:20:51] his empire like tourists at a free buffet?

[00:20:54] The answer was simple enough.

[00:20:57] Send them elsewhere.

[00:20:58] But where?

[00:21:00] As another horrified vassal of Turgul watched his

[00:21:03] ravenous army devour his winter possessions, he made

[00:21:05] a bold suggestion to the warchief, quote,

[00:21:08] My territories are too small for you and to support your needs.

[00:21:12] The best thing is to go attack Anatolia,

[00:21:15] to fight in God's path.

[00:21:17] Plunder and I will come in your wake and assist you.

[00:21:21] Anatolia, sometimes called Asia Minor as a part of

[00:21:24] modern Turkey, would have been well known to Turgul.

[00:21:28] A sweeping plateau of green pasture lands crisscrossed

[00:21:31] with rivers, the vassal king spoke true.

[00:21:34] Anatolia would be perfect.

[00:21:36] But guarding it were the Romans.

[00:21:39] The bulwark of the east, the Roman Empire, was a far

[00:21:42] greater foe than any emir or princeling that Turgul had vanquished.

[00:21:46] Even in the golden years of the early caliphates,

[00:21:48] the great Arab armies blessed by the prophet himself

[00:21:51] had not managed to conquer this ancient land.

[00:21:54] A war against Rome would not be an easy one.

[00:21:57] And Turgul, now moving into his senior years,

[00:21:59] had no wish to destabilise the recently won heartland

[00:22:02] of his empire with a long, hard campaign into foreign lands.

[00:22:06] But he knew someone that did.

[00:22:09] Since splitting the Seljuk realm, relations between

[00:22:11] Turgul and Chagri seemed to have been frosty at best.

[00:22:15] There was little contact between the brothers,

[00:22:16] but when their realms of influence crossed,

[00:22:19] they would both nominate governors to plot against the other.

[00:22:22] It seemed they passively worked to undermine the other,

[00:22:25] which might explain the appearance of Chagri's son

[00:22:28] sniffing around Turgul's territory.

[00:22:30] So, at long last, 30 minutes into this episode,

[00:22:33] we introduce Mohammed bin Dawud Chagri,

[00:22:36] soon to be known as Alp Arslan, the heroic lion.

[00:22:42] Alp Arslan was probably born in 1029,

[00:22:45] meaning by this point of the story he would have been in his late teens.

[00:22:48] He would have been old enough to remember the bad old days

[00:22:50] as his father and uncle struggled to make ends meet.

[00:22:53] Out of Chagri's ten or so children,

[00:22:56] Alp Arslan is mentioned the most frequently,

[00:22:58] indicating his favouritism or skill.

[00:23:01] It's fair to assume he would have accompanied his father

[00:23:03] on numerous campaigns,

[00:23:04] and he seems to have been a natural fit as a commander.

[00:23:08] While the physical and psychological traits

[00:23:09] of Chagri and Turgul are vague,

[00:23:12] Alp Arslan steps from the history books in vivid colour.

[00:23:16] According to Rashid al-Din,

[00:23:18] a Muslim statesman writing about 200 years after this time,

[00:23:21] Alp Arslan had a commanding presence

[00:23:23] that inspired others just by being near him.

[00:23:26] He was consistently focused and attentive,

[00:23:29] causing foreign emissaries to tremble in his presence

[00:23:32] as he seemed to perceive their true intentions.

[00:23:34] He was tall and carried himself with grace.

[00:23:37] But the most distinctive feature

[00:23:39] was his incredibly long mustaches,

[00:23:41] which he tied behind his head when firing arrows,

[00:23:44] which, according to Rashid al-Din, always found their mark.

[00:23:48] While his father, Chagri,

[00:23:50] treated Islam as a means to an end,

[00:23:51] Alp Arslan was said to be incredibly pious.

[00:23:55] Although he appreciated a good glass of wine,

[00:23:57] Alp Arslan was deeply committed to Islam,

[00:24:00] consistently keeping an Islamic judge,

[00:24:02] well-versed in Sharia law, by his side at all times,

[00:24:06] even in battle.

[00:24:07] His uncle Turgul knew a rival when he saw one,

[00:24:10] and it seems likely that he pushed Alp Arslan

[00:24:12] to begin his raids west.

[00:24:14] Let the Romans deal with him,

[00:24:16] with any luck he won't return.

[00:24:18] But return he did,

[00:24:20] and with each successful raid

[00:24:21] the young leader's reputation grew.

[00:24:23] With the perfect blend of Islamic piety

[00:24:25] and raw, Turkic power,

[00:24:27] he was like nothing that had been seen in Byzantium.

[00:24:30] As we saw in the last episode,

[00:24:32] the Byzantine response to these rumblings in the east

[00:24:34] was weak to nonexistent.

[00:24:37] The Roman Empire was spiralling.

[00:24:39] Basil II's hard-won conquests

[00:24:41] of the past few centuries

[00:24:42] were protected only by a sparse network of fortresses,

[00:24:45] which Alp Arslan and his raiders slipped right past.

[00:24:49] The thumping that Turgul hoped

[00:24:51] his troublesome nephew would get never came.

[00:24:54] Instead, Alp Arslan returned across the border,

[00:24:56] laden with cartloads of treasure and miles of slaves.

[00:25:00] By 1055, Turgul found himself compelled

[00:25:03] to enlist the aid of his popular nephew

[00:25:06] to quell a revolt in Baghdad,

[00:25:08] a humbling experience for the warlord.

[00:25:11] The young, stronger lion

[00:25:12] encircled its proud elderly uncle.

[00:25:15] Chagri died in 1059

[00:25:17] and Turgul followed him a few years later.

[00:25:19] Though another candidate was raised up for succession,

[00:25:22] Alp Arslan swatted away his half-brother like a fly.

[00:25:26] For the first time, the great Seljuk Empire

[00:25:28] stretched from modern Iraq to Tajikistan

[00:25:32] and there was no doubt as to who would lead it.

[00:25:39] The gates of heaven's wrath opened upon our land.

[00:25:43] Numerous troops moved forth from Turkestan.

[00:25:46] Their horses were as fleet as eagles

[00:25:48] with hooves as solid as rock.

[00:25:51] Well-girded, their bows were taut, their arrows sharp.

[00:25:54] They shot arrows like lions and like lion cubs,

[00:25:58] they mercilessly threw the corpses of many people

[00:26:00] to the carnivorous beasts and birds.

[00:26:03] God poured his wrath down upon us

[00:26:05] by the means of a foreign people,

[00:26:08] for we had sinned against him.

[00:26:10] This was how Armenian historian,

[00:26:13] Aristaaki's last of Ötzi,

[00:26:15] described the destruction of his homeland

[00:26:17] under the hooves of Alp Arslan and his warriors.

[00:26:20] The Kingdom of Armenia, which occupies roughly

[00:26:23] the same area as the modern country of Armenia,

[00:26:26] was one of a few Christian buffer states

[00:26:28] that bordered the Byzantine Empire.

[00:26:30] These semi-independent kingdoms dotted across the Caucasus

[00:26:33] acted as important barometers

[00:26:35] for the safety of the Roman heartland.

[00:26:38] To get to Rome and Anatolia,

[00:26:39] a hostile power needed to pass through

[00:26:41] the lands of Armenia

[00:26:43] and Alp Arslan had just done that.

[00:26:46] And not just pass,

[00:26:47] Armenia had been transformed into a smoking ruin.

[00:26:51] Aene, a city known as the City of 1001 Churches,

[00:26:55] had been utterly ruined

[00:26:57] with a kind of methodical venom

[00:26:59] that immediately sent shockwaves back to Constantinople.

[00:27:03] Alp Arslan's expedition was launched

[00:27:05] purely to keep his Turkmen rebel happy.

[00:27:07] His men needed plunder

[00:27:08] and if they didn't get it from outside his empire,

[00:27:11] well, they'd start looking within it.

[00:27:13] Alp Arslan may have expected

[00:27:14] that this expedition, like all his others,

[00:27:17] would be met by a pretty limp response,

[00:27:20] a threatening letter by some weak-willed emperor

[00:27:22] whose only motivation was holding onto his head

[00:27:24] from one day to the next.

[00:27:26] But he was wrong.

[00:27:27] Around the same time

[00:27:28] as Alp Arslan's accession to the throne,

[00:27:31] the Byzantine Empire got a new emperor

[00:27:33] and from the day he took the throne

[00:27:35] he drew a line in the sand.

[00:27:37] His battered empire would no longer be a punching bag

[00:27:39] for Pechenegs, Normans or Seljuks.

[00:27:42] The buck stopped here.

[00:27:44] His name was Romanus Dogenes

[00:27:47] and he took the throne as emperor Romanus IV.

[00:27:51] We spent the entirety of this episode

[00:27:53] following the rise of the Seljuks

[00:27:55] so it's time to check back in with the Romans.

[00:27:57] 13 years had now passed

[00:28:00] and time had not been kind to the empire of Caesars.

[00:28:04] Our last episode ended on the deathbed

[00:28:06] of Constantine IX.

[00:28:08] His reign had lasted 12 years

[00:28:11] and the energetic emperor had done an adequate job

[00:28:13] holding the empire together

[00:28:15] considering the number of concurrent invasions he faced.

[00:28:19] After his death, Empress Theodora took over again.

[00:28:22] The 75-year-old woman ruled for just a year

[00:28:25] before dying of natural causes.

[00:28:27] Her death brought the prestigious

[00:28:29] Macedonian dynasty to an end.

[00:28:32] The godly bloodline of Basil II was gone.

[00:28:36] Never again would the Roman Empire be graced

[00:28:38] by such excellent warriors concurrently.

[00:28:41] Following her death,

[00:28:42] eunuchs raised up another ancient geezer,

[00:28:45] Michael the Old.

[00:28:46] The ultimate civilian emperor,

[00:28:48] Michael further sidelined the military.

[00:28:51] In the Roman Empire,

[00:28:52] power flowed from Constantinople, literally.

[00:28:55] The city was more than a capital,

[00:28:57] it was the pulsing heart of the empire.

[00:28:59] Besieging the city was almost impossible

[00:29:02] thanks to its harbour and enormous walls

[00:29:04] and this had led to a robust centralised administration.

[00:29:08] Fodder, ammunition and crucially, soldiers' pay

[00:29:11] came directly from Constantinople.

[00:29:14] The central government held power which could and was

[00:29:17] distributed and revoked depending on the need.

[00:29:20] Armies were supplied, sent out to meet a threat

[00:29:23] and then dispersed.

[00:29:24] But in the mid-seventh century,

[00:29:26] a new system was implemented known as the Themes System.

[00:29:30] A theme was a localised militia

[00:29:32] that worked to defend their territory.

[00:29:34] The Themes System was born out of necessity

[00:29:36] as a way to slow down the rapid conquest

[00:29:38] of Muhammad's armies.

[00:29:40] Overall it had achieved what it was meant to do,

[00:29:43] but now, 400 years later, that threat had passed

[00:29:47] and the central government now had to contend

[00:29:49] with regional commanders who could and did

[00:29:52] act like almost independent warlords within the empire.

[00:29:56] These men were very influential in their community.

[00:29:58] Usually noblemen or farming magnates,

[00:30:01] they shared the hardships of their countrymen

[00:30:03] and served their interests,

[00:30:05] as opposed to that of some distant courtroom

[00:30:07] thousands of kilometres away.

[00:30:09] Some of these men could call up five, 10,000 soldiers

[00:30:12] and they could and did argue back

[00:30:15] against the central government.

[00:30:17] The legacy the Themes System left behind

[00:30:19] was a delicate power-sharing arrangement.

[00:30:22] The emperor could now not as easily

[00:30:23] force new taxes or levy troops.

[00:30:26] Now when his delegates came knocking,

[00:30:28] powerful men asked,

[00:30:30] "'Yeah, what's in it for me?'

[00:30:31] before deciding whether to obey their orders.

[00:30:34] Times had changed but Emperor Michael the Old

[00:30:37] couldn't seem to grasp it.

[00:30:39] Disconnected from the reality of life on the borderlands,

[00:30:42] he continued to sideline, ignore

[00:30:44] and insult his military aristocracy.

[00:30:47] Contemporary historian Michael Sellos

[00:30:50] summarises their frustration, quote,

[00:30:53] "'For a long time the soldiers had found

[00:30:54] the situation of the state to be intolerable

[00:30:57] because the emperor was always chosen

[00:30:58] from among the other side.

[00:31:00] When the need arose for some to conduct hard battles

[00:31:03] and resist adverse fortunes,

[00:31:05] those who lived in Constantinople

[00:31:06] could sit back and relax as if in a great castle

[00:31:10] while those who lived far away from the city

[00:31:11] and the countryside suffered terribly,' end quote.

[00:31:15] You can kind of see why they're annoyed, can't you?

[00:31:17] They're trying to fight off enemies

[00:31:18] that are getting craftier and more numerous

[00:31:21] while an emperor, some guy they'd barely even heard

[00:31:23] of a few days ago, thousands of miles away,

[00:31:26] is swapping out the commanders

[00:31:27] and giving them nonsense orders.

[00:31:29] Sellos goes on to say, quote,

[00:31:31] "'For these reasons they were ready to protest

[00:31:33] against this situation in a most violent manner

[00:31:36] and they lacked only a spark to set off their explosion.'

[00:31:39] And then it happened.

[00:31:40] During the festival of Easter in 1057,

[00:31:43] the most influential figures of the empire

[00:31:45] were summoned to the capital

[00:31:47] to receive their yearly salary.

[00:31:49] Everyone who was anyone was there.

[00:31:51] Dressed in their finest silks,

[00:31:52] they waited patiently in the beautiful Iasophia Church

[00:31:56] for the inauguration speech of the emperor.

[00:31:58] It was on these occasions

[00:31:59] they could look forward to an acclamation,

[00:32:01] a new title or maybe even a promotion.

[00:32:04] But as the aged emperor stalked out

[00:32:05] into the glistening halls,

[00:32:07] it was clear that none of these would be forthcoming.

[00:32:10] According to Michael Sellos,

[00:32:11] almost every military commander there

[00:32:13] was dressed down for his failings.

[00:32:16] The emperor barely had a kind word to say between them,

[00:32:19] but it was when he reached a man named Isaac Komnemnos

[00:32:22] that he really blew up.

[00:32:24] In front of everyone,

[00:32:25] he unleashed a torrent of abuse at Isaac Komnemnos,

[00:32:28] blaming him for nearly every one

[00:32:30] of the emperor's recent failings.

[00:32:32] He declared that he had corrupted the army

[00:32:34] and stolen funds set aside for the population.

[00:32:37] When his fellow commanders

[00:32:38] attempted to defend their colleague,

[00:32:39] the emperor told them to shut up

[00:32:41] and kept the abuse coming.

[00:32:42] He ranted that Komnemnos had shown

[00:32:44] no signs of gallantry or leadership

[00:32:46] and that he'd used the army as a vessel

[00:32:48] to enrich himself and win glory.

[00:32:50] When he'd finally finished,

[00:32:52] Komnemnos stood silent, stunned.

[00:32:55] He'd come expecting a promotion

[00:32:56] and instead had been humiliated

[00:32:58] and insulted in front of everyone.

[00:33:01] The aristocracy left soon afterwards.

[00:33:04] They were incredulous at the way they'd been treated.

[00:33:07] It should be no surprise that barely a few months later,

[00:33:10] a group of disgruntled soldiers

[00:33:11] conveyed at the residence of Isaac Komnemnos.

[00:33:15] They were there with a singular purpose,

[00:33:17] to raise the commander as the new emperor.

[00:33:20] The rebellion had already begun

[00:33:22] and these men were as good as dead

[00:33:23] if they didn't succeed.

[00:33:25] We don't know if Komnemnos wanted to be emperor,

[00:33:27] but when an army of cagey veteran soldiers

[00:33:30] rocks up at your door,

[00:33:31] you can't exactly turn them away.

[00:33:33] Komnemnos was a good bet.

[00:33:35] Bred from aristocratic stock,

[00:33:37] his father had been a close confidant

[00:33:39] of the godly Basil II back in the glory days of the empire.

[00:33:43] He was level-headed in battle

[00:33:44] and most importantly, he was a military man, one of them.

[00:33:48] Isaac Komnemnos was hailed emperor by his mob.

[00:33:52] The rebellion was short and bloody.

[00:33:54] Roughly matched in size and training,

[00:33:56] the two Roman armies met at the Battle of Hades.

[00:33:59] Romans slew Roman in the first of many, many civil wars

[00:34:03] that would soon become synonymous

[00:34:05] with the spiralling Byzantine Empire.

[00:34:07] By the end of the year,

[00:34:09] Isaac Komnemnos sat on the throne of Byzantium

[00:34:11] as the new emperor.

[00:34:13] Crucial to his rise had been patriarch Michael Coraleus.

[00:34:17] If you'll remember in our last episode,

[00:34:19] Coraleus was the outspoken patriarch of Constantinople

[00:34:23] who had been at least partially responsible

[00:34:26] for the great schism between the East and West Church.

[00:34:29] Coraleus had been around for almost as long

[00:34:31] as the wall paint inside the Hagia Sophia

[00:34:34] and absolutely reveled in yet another opportunity

[00:34:37] to play kingmaker and assert his position

[00:34:39] above the emperor.

[00:34:41] But Isaac Komnemnos immediately made it clear

[00:34:43] that he wouldn't be a puppet to the patriarch,

[00:34:45] the court eunuchs or even the military,

[00:34:48] the ones that put him there.

[00:34:50] Komnemnos took the throne with an agenda

[00:34:52] and that was to fix Rome.

[00:34:54] For decades, he'd sat on the sidelines

[00:34:56] bemoaning the moronic decisions

[00:34:58] made by distant palace emperors.

[00:35:00] Now he had his chance to fix it

[00:35:02] and he wasn't gonna mess it up.

[00:35:04] Dark, brooding and laconic,

[00:35:06] on his coins we see the 59-year-old standing tall

[00:35:09] hand on the hilt of his sword ready for a fight.

[00:35:12] That sword first slashed through the voluntary gifts

[00:35:15] past emperors had paid.

[00:35:17] There was no money for that.

[00:35:18] Next, it came down on the bloated state salaries

[00:35:21] given to the bureaucrats.

[00:35:22] Forget it.

[00:35:23] After, church donations fell into his crosshair,

[00:35:26] putting him squarely at odds with Patriarch Coraleus.

[00:35:29] As church endowments were cut one by one,

[00:35:31] the up-jumped patriarch confronted the emperor,

[00:35:34] reminding him about how much he owed him.

[00:35:37] The patriarch whispered menacingly into his ear, quote,

[00:35:40] "'I made you.

[00:35:41] I can unmake you.'"

[00:35:43] That was one threat too many

[00:35:45] and the emperor moved to have the old windbag sent away.

[00:35:48] Komnemnos soon got him put on trial for treason

[00:35:51] and thankfully,

[00:35:52] away from the spotlight he'd become so accustomed to,

[00:35:55] the patriarch died of natural causes.

[00:35:57] The stage was set for a promising rule,

[00:36:00] but barely a year later,

[00:36:02] Komnemnos fell into a fever and died soon after.

[00:36:07] He left the throne with the most woefully inept ruler

[00:36:10] we'll meet in this series,

[00:36:12] Constantine Dukas,

[00:36:13] crowned as Constantine X.

[00:36:17] It's fair to say that imperial power

[00:36:18] had stalled up to this point,

[00:36:20] but Constantine X slams that lever into full gear.

[00:36:24] He is where the wheels really fall off.

[00:36:27] His reign is not well-sourced,

[00:36:28] we don't really know how he got the job,

[00:36:30] but he was a member of the Dukas family.

[00:36:32] The Dukas family, much like the Komnemnos family,

[00:36:35] were extremely powerful families

[00:36:37] that were coming to dominate Byzantium.

[00:36:40] From this point in the history

[00:36:41] until the end of the Roman Empire,

[00:36:43] these families and a few others

[00:36:45] will always be somewhere close to the reins of power.

[00:36:48] Their tightly-knit clans spent their days scheming

[00:36:51] on ways to claim the imperial throne.

[00:36:54] Once they got it,

[00:36:55] they spent untold sums of money

[00:36:56] trying to keep the other families down.

[00:36:59] And as we'll see at Manzikert,

[00:37:01] they were more than happy to throw the empire

[00:37:03] into turmoil if it meant they were the rulers

[00:37:06] of whatever was left.

[00:37:08] Constantine X quickly reversed

[00:37:10] most of the previous emperor's

[00:37:12] budget-tightening measures.

[00:37:13] Gifts, salaries, church donations,

[00:37:16] he bought them all back.

[00:37:17] When his advisors asked where he'd get the money from,

[00:37:20] he probably shrugged and gestured vaguely

[00:37:22] towards the army.

[00:37:24] Just as our past land was ramping up his raids

[00:37:26] in the east, Constantine X stood down further units.

[00:37:30] It also seemed like he reduced the maintenance

[00:37:32] for border fortresses,

[00:37:33] completely disbanded the specialist units near them

[00:37:36] and slashed the quality of the equipment

[00:37:38] the soldiers used.

[00:37:40] As I said, sources are really spotty at this time,

[00:37:42] but it seems like Constantine X

[00:37:44] put all his cards into diplomacy,

[00:37:46] banking on being able to talk his enemies

[00:37:48] out of attacking his vulnerable empire.

[00:37:51] Obviously, he was wrong.

[00:37:52] In these tumultuous years,

[00:37:54] the Normans mopped up the last of Roman resistance

[00:37:57] in southern Italy and circled their very last holdout,

[00:38:00] the stronghold of Bari,

[00:38:02] located on the heel of the Italian peninsula.

[00:38:05] The Roman governors again begged for reinforcements

[00:38:08] to shore up their deserting armies,

[00:38:10] but Constantine X had nothing to give.

[00:38:13] The throne room was in chaos,

[00:38:15] as his overpaid, underqualified courtiers

[00:38:17] received news of a new sultan in the east.

[00:38:20] Al-Baslan and his forces had just sacked Ani.

[00:38:24] The city of 1001 churches

[00:38:26] was a major trading hub in Armenia

[00:38:28] that had been officially annexed by Rome

[00:38:30] about 20 years ago.

[00:38:32] Boasting huge walls

[00:38:33] and backed up against a quick flowing river,

[00:38:36] the city was thought to be impregnable.

[00:38:39] Al-Baslan's sophisticated use of tunnels

[00:38:41] and battering rams proved any doubters

[00:38:44] that his band of Seljuks were a far greater threat

[00:38:46] than some rag-tag bunch of horse archers.

[00:38:49] 12th century historian,

[00:38:51] Matthew of Edessa,

[00:38:52] tells us how Al-Baslan entered his city.

[00:38:55] Quote,

[00:38:56] All the troops of the empires ones had sharp daggers,

[00:38:58] one in each of their two hands

[00:39:00] and one held in between their teeth.

[00:39:02] In this manner,

[00:39:03] they generally began to destroy the city mercilessly,

[00:39:06] cutting down such a multitude of people in the city

[00:39:08] that it was as though they were mowing green grass,

[00:39:12] piling up bodies one on top of the other

[00:39:14] as if they were throwing rocks onto a heap.

[00:39:17] In a moment, the entire city billowed in blood,

[00:39:19] all the grand princes of the house of the Armenians

[00:39:22] and the ranks of the Azats

[00:39:23] stood before the Sultanate iron chains.

[00:39:26] Countless, numberless, bright-faced boys

[00:39:29] and charming girls were taken along with their mothers.

[00:39:31] Many blessed priests were buried alive

[00:39:34] while others had their skin flayed

[00:39:36] from their bodies from head to toe.

[00:39:39] He then goes on to say,

[00:39:40] The silver cross the size of a man

[00:39:42] which they had thrown down,

[00:39:44] they took and put it under the threshold

[00:39:46] of the door of the mosque in the city of Naktichavan

[00:39:50] to be stepped on where it remains to this day.

[00:40:03] History is complicated.

[00:40:05] The story of human progress is long, messy

[00:40:09] and riddled with controversies big and small.

[00:40:12] On Conflicted, we dive headfirst

[00:40:14] into history's most infamous events

[00:40:16] and contentious figures.

[00:40:18] We try and untangle the good from the bad,

[00:40:21] the facts from the fiction

[00:40:23] and the monsters from the misunderstood.

[00:40:25] Was Genghis Khan a murderous butcher or a civic pioneer?

[00:40:30] Did the allied powers go too far

[00:40:32] in firebombing the German city of Dresden

[00:40:35] at the twilight of World War II?

[00:40:37] And how did the Marquis de Sade

[00:40:39] acquire such a sinister reputation

[00:40:42] and was any of it true?

[00:40:44] These are just a few of the tough questions

[00:40:46] we wrestle with and investigate on Conflicted.

[00:40:50] So if you love history or just enjoy a good story,

[00:40:53] please join me,

[00:40:54] your host, Zach Cornwell,

[00:40:56] for a fascinating new topic each and every month.

[00:40:59] Conflicted, a history podcast is available on Spotify,

[00:41:03] Apple or wherever else you get your podcasts.

[00:41:06] I hope to see you soon.

[00:41:18] Around 10,000 BCE,

[00:41:20] families and tribes of the ancestors

[00:41:22] to the people of Britain

[00:41:23] would arrive in the southern part of the island

[00:41:25] after crossing from land that bridged from Europe.

[00:41:28] The Welsh built houses, communities, kingdoms

[00:41:31] and continued to survive through Romans, Saxons,

[00:41:34] Danes and Normans.

[00:41:35] The language and culture influenced by these sources

[00:41:37] continue to change and thrive,

[00:41:39] becoming ancient and modern at the same time.

[00:41:42] Join me as we travel through the history,

[00:41:44] meeting the kings, queens, nobles and everyday people

[00:41:47] that create and grew modern Wales

[00:41:50] from the seeds of the ancient past.

[00:41:52] Creosau and welcome to the Welsh History Podcast.

[00:41:57] The fall of Arnie was a disaster,

[00:42:00] but for whatever reason,

[00:42:01] Constantine X did nothing.

[00:42:04] Historians are at a bit of a loss as to why.

[00:42:06] I mean, he was pushed on all fronts, sure,

[00:42:08] but this was a major incursion into Roman lands.

[00:42:12] Armenia held strategic importance

[00:42:14] as the gateway to Anatolia,

[00:42:16] where the empire sourced much of its food

[00:42:18] and reared all of its horses.

[00:42:20] Unlike their outposts in southern Italy,

[00:42:22] this region was not expendable.

[00:42:25] Historian Anthony Caldellus speculates

[00:42:28] whether the emperor who was known for his piety

[00:42:30] might have viewed the disaster

[00:42:32] as some form of divine retribution.

[00:42:35] Arnie had only recently been annexed by the Roman Empire

[00:42:38] about 20 years prior,

[00:42:39] and his population adhered to a different form

[00:42:41] of Christianity which the Roman clergy disdained.

[00:42:45] Did the emperor leave this incursion unchecked

[00:42:47] because he interpreted it as God's justice?

[00:42:51] Divine retribution or not,

[00:42:53] Alp Arslan's bold incursion confirmed to him

[00:42:56] that the empire was weak

[00:42:57] and that could be exploited for his personal gain.

[00:43:01] While focusing on his main rival, the Fatimid Caliphate,

[00:43:04] he now knew he could deploy his more aggressive soldiers

[00:43:07] into Byzantium to sow discord.

[00:43:10] As the Roman Empire spiralled,

[00:43:12] Alp Arslan continued his uncle's legacy,

[00:43:15] doing all he could to legitimise himself

[00:43:17] as an enlightened Islamic Amir.

[00:43:20] A key figure in his success was his vizier,

[00:43:23] Nizam al-Mulk.

[00:43:25] Nizam al-Mulk is widely celebrated

[00:43:27] for his contributions to Islamic statecraft,

[00:43:30] winning him the title,

[00:43:31] The Most Important Statesman in Islamic History.

[00:43:35] al-Mulk had been a person of importance

[00:43:36] under the reign of Turgl,

[00:43:38] but it was under Alp Arslan

[00:43:39] where he really starts to shine.

[00:43:41] An early system of Islamic feudalism,

[00:43:44] known as the Iqtar,

[00:43:45] had been growing in popularity

[00:43:47] in the last century or so.

[00:43:48] It was, at a basic level,

[00:43:50] the right to levy taxes from inhabitants

[00:43:52] on a specific plot of land.

[00:43:54] al-Mulk gave this policy a Seljuk twist.

[00:43:58] By granting pockets of recently conquered land

[00:44:00] to prominent Seljuk figures,

[00:44:03] be they brothers or cousins of Alp Arslan

[00:44:05] or esteemed Seljuk chiefs,

[00:44:07] he intricately linked each of them

[00:44:09] to a parcel of newly conquered territory,

[00:44:12] binding them to Alp Arslan

[00:44:13] with a golden leash of tax collection privileges.

[00:44:17] It was a clever move

[00:44:17] because he was seamlessly replacing

[00:44:19] one volatile stream of income

[00:44:21] with a more reliable one.

[00:44:23] To keep the money flowing into their pockets,

[00:44:25] all these princelings needed to do

[00:44:26] was make sure their fief was peaceful

[00:44:28] and keep Alp Arslan on the throne.

[00:44:31] al-Mulk also came up with the madrasa education system,

[00:44:34] which still remains widespread

[00:44:36] in the Islamic world today.

[00:44:38] With such a brilliant statesman at home,

[00:44:40] Alp Arslan had free reign to campaign ruthlessly.

[00:44:43] Shia, Christian or pagan,

[00:44:45] there seemed to be none

[00:44:46] that could stand against him and his Seljuks.

[00:44:49] But with the coming of the new year in 1068,

[00:44:52] that easy plunder came to a halt.

[00:44:55] Rome had a new emperor

[00:44:57] and not some Nancy Boy bureaucrat

[00:44:58] or a toothless octogenarian,

[00:45:00] but a real military emperor.

[00:45:03] And immediately it was clear

[00:45:05] things were about to change.

[00:45:07] Sickly and old,

[00:45:08] Constantine X died in May 1067.

[00:45:11] The treasury was near empty.

[00:45:12] The borders had collapsed

[00:45:14] and the army was demobilised and demoralised.

[00:45:17] So what was the last thing the emperor did?

[00:45:19] Exact a deathbed promise

[00:45:21] from his young wife not to marry.

[00:45:23] His widow, Eudokia, reluctantly agreed.

[00:45:26] But once the emperor had died,

[00:45:27] she began the new search for a husband immediately.

[00:45:30] The new church patriarch deliberated

[00:45:32] on whether to allow a new marriage.

[00:45:34] After all, she did promise.

[00:45:35] But eventually he reneged,

[00:45:37] realising that such a decision would quote,

[00:45:39] contribute to the destruction of the Roman Empire.

[00:45:42] This was the end game.

[00:45:44] Things were desperate.

[00:45:46] So desperate that the usual rig roll

[00:45:48] of palace emperors, court eunuchs,

[00:45:49] favourites and pretenders were all skipped.

[00:45:52] But everyone knew it.

[00:45:54] They needed someone who could hold a sword.

[00:45:56] There was only one man for the job.

[00:45:58] Romanus IV had royal blood on his mother's side

[00:46:02] and a famous general on his father's side.

[00:46:04] He had devoted his life to soldiering,

[00:46:07] actively engaging in frontline combat

[00:46:10] as an acritie, a border soldier.

[00:46:13] The acritie were renowned as the toughest of the tough,

[00:46:16] representing the remaining core

[00:46:17] of what had once been an invincible army

[00:46:20] under Basil II.

[00:46:22] The empire's borderlands were perilous

[00:46:25] and the acritie who inhabited these territories

[00:46:27] became legendary figures.

[00:46:29] Their heroic deeds inspired songs

[00:46:30] that patriotic Greeks still sing to this day.

[00:46:34] Romanus IV was firm and disciplined in his own life

[00:46:37] and expected the same of his soldiers.

[00:46:39] When he caught one of his soldiers stealing a donkey,

[00:46:41] he had the man's nose cut off.

[00:46:43] He was harsh, bordering on severe,

[00:46:45] but so were the times.

[00:46:46] And it's not hard to imagine a miniature shrine

[00:46:48] to Basil II sitting in the emperor's chapel.

[00:46:51] Like the great man himself,

[00:46:52] he made it clear that his reign would be dedicated

[00:46:55] to a singular purpose,

[00:46:57] to restore the tarnished glory of Rome.

[00:47:00] His contemporary, Michael Atalietes,

[00:47:02] said of him simply, quote,

[00:47:04] "'One thing alone satisfied him,

[00:47:06] that he marched against his foes.'"

[00:47:09] But jumping on the imperial throne

[00:47:10] wasn't as easy as just marrying in.

[00:47:13] Constantine X had left not just a widow, but a son.

[00:47:16] And though the royal court might have been willing

[00:47:18] to let the empress's vow of celibacy slide,

[00:47:21] it was much harder to remove a legitimate heir.

[00:47:24] So as a kind of compromise,

[00:47:26] Romanus IV agreed to make Constantine X's son

[00:47:30] his co-emperor.

[00:47:31] But it didn't stop there.

[00:47:32] With the son came two younger brothers.

[00:47:35] Having already been elevated as co-emperors

[00:47:37] and junior emperors by their father,

[00:47:39] Romanus couldn't exactly strip them of those titles

[00:47:41] either without causing ripples.

[00:47:43] So this gaggle of hangers on was the new ruling family.

[00:47:47] Looking at a coin from this period,

[00:47:49] it makes it clear how crowded the throne was.

[00:47:51] On a single coin, there were now six figures.

[00:47:54] Romanus IV, his wife, Jesus Christ,

[00:47:58] and three of Constantine X's sons.

[00:48:01] Why am I harping on about this?

[00:48:02] Because as I mentioned before,

[00:48:03] all of these men were members

[00:48:05] of one ultra-influential family,

[00:48:08] a family that was as petty, vengeful,

[00:48:10] and vindictive as they were wealthy,

[00:48:13] the Dukas family.

[00:48:14] And Romanus IV was now surrounded by them.

[00:48:18] The family's deep entrenchment in the court

[00:48:20] added significant complexity to the emperor's role.

[00:48:23] While some members of the Dukas clan

[00:48:25] may have reluctantly accepted the need

[00:48:27] of having a true soldier emperor

[00:48:29] for the greater good of the Roman world,

[00:48:31] one did not, Andronicus Dukas.

[00:48:35] We have no physical descriptions for this man,

[00:48:37] but if you need someone to picture in your mind,

[00:48:38] conjure up Littlefinger from Game of Thrones.

[00:48:41] Because it was this man,

[00:48:43] perhaps sneering from the back of the emperor's coronation,

[00:48:46] who would ultimately bear responsible

[00:48:48] for the impending disaster

[00:48:50] that would soon befall the Roman Empire.

[00:48:57] Romanus soon realized

[00:48:58] that he had his work cut out for him.

[00:49:00] Things in the capital were not the same as the borderlands.

[00:49:03] Endless bureaucracy hampered his ability

[00:49:05] to react quickly,

[00:49:06] and over-the-top ceremonies sapped energy

[00:49:08] that could have been spent planning campaigns.

[00:49:12] The relationship with his wife was also a source of stress.

[00:49:15] The empress seemed to believe

[00:49:16] that because she had raised him to this position,

[00:49:18] he was subservient to her.

[00:49:20] Romanus saw things differently.

[00:49:23] How he became emperor was now irrelevant.

[00:49:26] Now that he was in control,

[00:49:27] there was only one thing on his mind, reconquest.

[00:49:30] As soon as he could,

[00:49:31] Romanus assembled an army and marched east.

[00:49:34] The emperor was well aware of what was required,

[00:49:37] a massive display of force

[00:49:38] to instil fear against the Seljuks.

[00:49:41] With a few skirmishes and sackings,

[00:49:43] Romanus aimed to deter the Seljuks

[00:49:45] from venturing into Roman territory

[00:49:47] in the upcoming campaigning season.

[00:49:49] Escaping the buzzing intrigue and plotting

[00:49:51] of the Ducis faction in Constantinople,

[00:49:54] the fresh country air and the sounds of marching boots

[00:49:57] must have offered a sense of relief

[00:49:58] as the imperial army headed east.

[00:50:01] Marching behind him was the largest eastern army

[00:50:03] in almost two decades.

[00:50:05] One could almost believe that the elite army

[00:50:07] of old Basil II had returned.

[00:50:10] But if you looked a little closer,

[00:50:12] well, here's a quote from a contemporary

[00:50:14] who watched as the procession marched by, quote.

[00:50:17] It was something to see the famous units

[00:50:19] and their commanders now composed of just a few men

[00:50:22] and these bent over by poverty

[00:50:23] and lacking proper weapons and war horses.

[00:50:26] For long they had been neglected

[00:50:28] since no emperor had gone on an expedition

[00:50:30] to the east in many years

[00:50:31] and they had not received

[00:50:32] their allotted money for supplies.

[00:50:35] Decades of neglect now reared its ugly head

[00:50:38] and the emperor knew it.

[00:50:40] Romanus could not change the past

[00:50:41] but he did everything he could to drill the army

[00:50:44] and inspire a sense of pride in his men.

[00:50:46] He wanted them to feel as he did

[00:50:48] when he fought for his empire and his god.

[00:50:50] Northern Syria was the first to feel the crush

[00:50:53] of imperial boots once again.

[00:50:55] Made up of small, mostly Arab principalities,

[00:50:58] the Seljuk hold here was weak

[00:50:59] and any emirs at who recently switched loyalties

[00:51:02] were dealt with harshly.

[00:51:04] Hierapolis, modern day Manbij in northern Syria

[00:51:08] was the first test for his demoralised army

[00:51:11] and with the guiding hand of Romanus,

[00:51:13] they performed well.

[00:51:14] As the campaigning season drew to a close,

[00:51:16] Romanus debated whether to march on

[00:51:18] to the strategically vital city of Aleppo

[00:51:21] but ultimately decided against it,

[00:51:23] realising his army was too inexperienced

[00:51:25] for such an expedition.

[00:51:26] The army returned to Constantinople in January 1069.

[00:51:31] Despite some setbacks,

[00:51:32] the expedition had been largely successful.

[00:51:35] Trust and confidence in the imperial throne

[00:51:37] had been restored

[00:51:38] and morale around the troops had gradually improved.

[00:51:42] Most importantly, Alp Arslan had been put on notice.

[00:51:45] Any aggression against Rome

[00:51:47] would be met with a fierce response.

[00:51:49] While it was a promising start,

[00:51:51] the emperor understood that instilling fear

[00:51:53] in the Seljuks would require sustained effort

[00:51:55] over many years.

[00:51:57] Maintaining a constant presence of elite troops

[00:51:59] in the east was neither feasible or cost effective.

[00:52:03] If only there were a core of elite soldiers

[00:52:06] ready to guard the frontier.

[00:52:08] And of course, there were.

[00:52:10] The Normans.

[00:52:12] Roger Crispin was a Norman captain

[00:52:14] who had just finished up his service in southern Spain.

[00:52:17] With more than a few victories

[00:52:19] against the Moors under his belt,

[00:52:21] perhaps Romanus figured that he was motivated

[00:52:23] by some kind of religious zeal,

[00:52:25] a different breed to the other Normans

[00:52:27] he dealt with in southern Italy.

[00:52:29] But no.

[00:52:31] Crispin and his company were sent to the borderlands

[00:52:33] and almost as soon as they got there,

[00:52:35] rebelled against the emperor

[00:52:36] and began terrorising and extorting the locals.

[00:52:39] Crispin employed the time-tested Norman strategy.

[00:52:42] Answer a call for assistance, cause chaos,

[00:52:45] defend the area from the ruler

[00:52:46] who originally requested your service,

[00:52:48] wait for that ruler to tire of the conflict

[00:52:50] and acknowledge you as their vassal,

[00:52:52] rinse and repeat.

[00:52:54] Crispin entrenched himself effectively,

[00:52:56] defeating five Roman armies sent to capture him.

[00:52:59] It was only when Romanus himself marched out,

[00:53:01] flanked by his fearsome Viking bodyguards

[00:53:04] that Crispin finally surrendered.

[00:53:06] Even after Crispin's arrest,

[00:53:07] the countryside saw little improvement.

[00:53:10] His leaderless followers resorted to banditry

[00:53:12] and continued to terrorise citizens in smaller villages.

[00:53:16] As usual, the decision to hire Normans

[00:53:18] always seemed so tantalising.

[00:53:21] For just a few thousand gold pieces,

[00:53:22] an elite foreign army will demolish your enemy

[00:53:25] and everything will be back to normal.

[00:53:27] But it never turned out to be that straightforward.

[00:53:30] For the next two years,

[00:53:31] Romanus' military campaigns continued

[00:53:33] but none had the same results as the first.

[00:53:36] He rebuilt fortifications in the borderlands

[00:53:38] and did what he could with the army,

[00:53:40] but in the capital there were problems.

[00:53:42] Drowning in a sea of Dukas family members,

[00:53:45] Romanus had cozied up

[00:53:47] to the other major influential family,

[00:53:49] the Komnemnoi.

[00:53:50] You might remember the promising

[00:53:52] but short-lived reign of Isaac Komnemnos from earlier.

[00:53:55] Marrying his son

[00:53:56] to an influential Komnemnoi baroness,

[00:53:59] Romanus ran the risk of upsetting the Dukas family

[00:54:02] but he had few other options.

[00:54:04] He needed some muscle in the capital

[00:54:06] and without a counterweight to the Dukar,

[00:54:07] he was vulnerable.

[00:54:09] As we'll see, it would prove too little, too late.

[00:54:13] Numerous expeditions were sent out west

[00:54:15] but Alp Arslan now had learnt to parry

[00:54:17] and predict these counterattacks.

[00:54:19] His raiders could disappear quickly in a puff of smoke

[00:54:22] and the sluggish Roman army

[00:54:23] had no way of following them.

[00:54:25] In the year 1070,

[00:54:27] he raided all the way to the city of Colossee,

[00:54:29] only a few hundred miles south of Constantinople itself.

[00:54:34] Fear gripped the citizens of the capital

[00:54:36] as they heard of the sacking of the city,

[00:54:38] of infidel hordes hacking apart

[00:54:40] the famous statue of Archangel Michael

[00:54:42] and butchering the townsfolk

[00:54:43] that had gathered beneath his holy feet.

[00:54:46] Two years into Romanus' rule

[00:54:48] and things had only got worse.

[00:54:50] The Seljuks had grown bolder

[00:54:52] and were raiding even deeper than before.

[00:54:54] If nothing was done,

[00:54:55] they would soon be at the gates of Constantinople itself.

[00:54:59] Romanus had to do something

[00:55:00] and he had in front of him two options.

[00:55:02] More conservative advisors insisted

[00:55:05] that they should fall back to the old defensible lines,

[00:55:08] give up Basil II's conquest

[00:55:10] and leave Armenia to its fate.

[00:55:12] But his younger, more fiery counsellors

[00:55:14] insisted he go big,

[00:55:16] a huge show of force to send his vermin back

[00:55:19] to where they came from.

[00:55:21] Romanus, a career soldier

[00:55:22] who was used to military solutions,

[00:55:24] went for the latter.

[00:55:26] Standing in his council chambers,

[00:55:28] the emperor scanned the map of his withering empire.

[00:55:31] His finger traced the rivers and mountains

[00:55:34] until it fell on the recently fallen fortress

[00:55:38] of Manzikert.

[00:55:40] And on that cliffhanger is where we leave it for today.

[00:55:43] In two weeks, we've got the battle itself

[00:55:45] so make sure you're subscribed.

[00:55:47] As ever, thanks to our generous patrons

[00:55:49] and a big shout out to our Justinean tier members.

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[00:55:55] Sam, Sarah, Seth and Tom.

[00:55:58] Cheers guys.

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