Romanos IV Diogenes - Campaigns Against The Turks

Campaigns Against The Turks

Romanus IV was now the senior emperor and guardian of his stepsons and junior co-emperors, Michael VII, Konstantios Doukas, and Andronikos Doukas. However, his elevation had antagonised not only the Doukas family, in particular the Caesar, John Doukas who led the opposition of the palace officials to Romanos' authority, but also the Varangian Guard, who openly expressed their discontent at the marriage of Eudokia. Romanos therefore decided that he could only exercise his authority by placing himself at the head of the army in the field, thereby focusing the whole government's attention on the war against the Turks.

By 1067, the Turks had been making incursions at will into Mesopotamia, Melitene, Syria, Cilicia and Cappadocia, culminating with the sack of Caesarea and the plundering of the Church of St Basil. That winter they camped on the frontiers of the empire, and waited for the next year's campaigning season. Romanos was confident of Byzantine superiority on the field of battle, looking on the Turks as little more than hordes of robbers who would melt away at the first encounter. He did not take into account the degraded state of the Byzantine forces which had suffered years of neglect from his predecessors, in particular Constantine X. His forces, mostly composed of Sclavonian, Armenian, Bulgarian, and Frankish mercenaries, were ill-disciplined, disorganised and uncoordinated, and he was not prepared to spend time in upgrading the arms, armour or tactics of the once feared Byzantine army. It was soon evident that while Romanos was not devoid of military talent, his main flaw was his impetuosity.