Roussel’s decisive victory against the byzantines at the Sangarios river (1074)
Authors
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Antonios Vratimos
Sakarya University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5908-4494
Abstract
The battle at the river of Sangarios, near the bridge of Zompe, is generally treated in the framework of the internal uprisings and rebellions that marred the empire in the eleventh century. However, it was more decisive than that of Mantzikert (1071) in the sense that the victory of the Frankish chieftain Roussel drastically diminished the numbers of the imperial armies, leaving the easternmost provinces open to constant raiding and unrestrained plundering by the Seljuk Turks. In this paper, I reconstruct the deadly battle through the texts of the Greek historians Attaleiates and Bryennios and try to throw light on the reason for this defeat. There are data to suggest the possibility that Nikephoros Botaneiates – the future emperor – betrayed his fellow commander, the caesar John Doukas.Keywords:
Sangarios River, Bridge Zompe, John Doukas, Botaneiates, Bryennios, AttaleiatesReferences
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