The face of Christ

In early 942, after helping to exterminate the Russian fleet, John Curcuas rushed back to the East. To his relief, he arrived to find the Roman defences intact. His great enemy, Sayf al-Dawla, was still distracted by the crumbling Caliphate in Baghdad. While the Arabs fought each other, now was the time for Curcuas to resume his offensive. 

This was the moment he had spent over twenty years waiting and planning for. Curcuas ranks high among the pantheon of Roman generals, and was described as the equal to Trajan and Belisarius. Yet, unlike his famous predecessors, he fought no great battles, won no flashy victories. His great virtues as a commander were patience and consistency. Instead of charging into battle, trumpets blaring, he slowly reconquered lost territory, one step at a time. 

Finally, in 942, all was ready. In January he swept down into the province of Aleppo, stormed Hamus and captured (according to Arab sources) ten to fifteen thousand prisoners. The Arabs countered with a raid into Tarsus, while Curcuas returned to imperial territory to rest his troops, rearm and resupply. 

Then, in the autumn, he set off on a huge clockwise loop that took the army past Lake Van and westward to the great fortress-city of Amida on the banks of the Tigris. Now known as Diyarbakir, the city even today retains its tremendous medieval walls, including spectacular Islamic reliefs above the Harput gate that date from 910. These were in place when John Curcuas came storming into town.

The army drove onward through the winter months, into the very heart of Mesopotamia. Curcuas swung south-east to capture Nisibin (Nusaybin in Mardin province, Turkey) and thence west to direct his main attack against the city of Edessa. Though a Muslim city, Edessa was famed for possessing two precious Christian relics: the letter which the ailing King Agbar I had received from Jesus Christ in reply to an invitation to come and cure him, and the Saviour's own portrait, miraculously imprinted on a cloth. This image was known as the 'Mandylion'. In fact both objects were thought to be spurious - the letter had been declared a fake by Pope Gelasius in 494, while the portrait is not heard of before the fifth century. 

Curcuas, however, was determined to have the Mandylion. Although a military man, he had been raised and educated by a bishop, and probably had no doubts that the relic was genuine. He sent word to the inhabitants of Edessa, offering peace and the return of his prisoners in exchange for the Mandylion. 

Yet the portrait was just as important to the Edessans. In the eyes of Islam Jesus was one of those 'close to God', and his image a sacred trust. They pleaded with Curcuas to give them time to ask advice of the Caliph at Baghdad. He agreed, and spent the next year ravaging Mesopotamia and capturing more cities, including Dara and Ras al-Ain. 

In spring 944 the Edessans received an answer. Since the Caliph was unable to break the siege of Edessa, the citizens had his permission to surrender the Mandylion. With much ceremony it was carried from the city and placed in the hands of Curcuas, who immediately sent it to Constantinople. There it was formally received by the emperor, Romanos I, and his three young co-Emperors. These were his two surviving sons and his son-in-law, the Porphyrogenitus (born in the purple), Constantine. 

The reception was marred by two embarrassing incidents. First, Romanus's drunken sons had a good look at the Mandylion and declared they couldn't see the imprint of Christ's features. It was just a bit of cloth. Then, a joker (or a madman) in the crowd suddenly shouted: 

“Constantinople, accept the glory and the blessing; and you, Constantine, accept your throne!” 

Even so, the capture of the Mandylion made John Curcuas the hero of the hour. In late summer he crossed the Euphrates and ended his triumphant campaign at Marash, one of the great road centres of the frontier. Under his leadership the Empire had reconquered vast swathes of territory and reached cities where no Roman had set foot since the days of Heraclius. 

Roman chroniclers hailed Curcuas as the man who brought the frontier to the Euphrates, but they were (for once) guilty of under-praising. He had, in fact, brought it to the edges of the Tigris, and laid the groundwork for the next generation of even more talented Roman commanders. 

(The image shows the surrender of the Mandylion by the Edessans, from the Madrid Skylitzes)

Meanwhile in Wales...

 

In 1298, while all hell broke loose in Scotland, Gascony and Flanders, Wales was at peace. Or, at any rate, as peaceful as it got. Three years previously much of the country had been in revolt against Edward I. Now it was becalmed, possibly because the king had taken so many fighting men out of Wales to serve in Scotland and Flanders. 

One Welsh family was moving up in the world. The roll of household expenses for the Bishop of Kington record that, on 27 May 1298, His Grace was entertained by Philip ap Hywel to dinner at Hergest (now Hergest Court, pictured). Philip was the eldest son of Hywel ap Meurig, a crown loyalist who had bitterly opposed the late Prince Llywelyn. 

After his father's death in 1281, Philip emerged as a prominent royal official. In 1290 he took custody of the lands and castles of the rebel Rhys ap Maredudd, for an entire year for a fee of £200. In the following years he served as the steward and tax officer of Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford. In 1297, Philip foiled an attempt by the king's agent, Morgan ap Maredudd, to undermine Bohun's power in Brecon. Somehow Philip remained in royal favour and was commissioned to raise men in West Wales and the March for Flanders. In 1299 he was appointed constable of Builth castle for five years. He must have been one smooth-tongued operator. 

During the reign of Edward II, Philip was made directly responsible for the defence of Wales against the threat of invasion from the Bruces. If Edward Bruce had tried to land in Wales from Ireland, he would have been confronted by a royal army led by Philip ap Hywel and his brother Rhys. As it was, Bruce lost his head at Faughart, and the crisis passed.

General John (VIII)

In June 941, while campaigning in the east, John Curcuas received dire news from the emperor, Romanos I. Constantinople was under threat, this time from an utterly unexpected quarter. A mighty Russian fleet, perhaps as many as fifteen thousand ships, was bearing down on the capital. 

The invasion fleet had been dispatched by Igor, Grand Prince of Kiev. This was not the first time the Rus had attacked the Empire; they had briefly raided Constantinople eighty-one years previously, during the reign of Leo VI. In 941, however, the Rus launched a full-scale invasion.  

To make things worse, the Roman forces were scattered. The army was away on the eastern frontier, the navy divided between the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. Until they returned - if they returned in time - the city's only defense was fifteen ancient hulks, long since condemned to the scrapyard.

While Curcuas rushed back from the east, Romanos ordered his shipwrights to work round the clock to repair the hulks. They were armed with the terrible secret weapon known as Greek Fire, and placed under the command of Theophanes, the protovestiarius or high court official. 

Greek Fire was well-known to the empire's Saracen enemies, but to the Rus it came as a total surprise. As the first of their ships went up in flames, the remainder swung aside from the Bosphorus to raid up and down the Black Sea coast. For weeks their warriors terrorised the coastal towns and villages - especially on the Roman clergy, some of whom were used as target practice, while others had iron skewers driven through their skulls.

The local military governor, Bardas Phocas, kept the invaders occupied until Curcuas came rushing back with the main army. Together they managed to drive back the Rus. Meanwhile the navy was also on its way, each squadron sent straight into action as soon as it arrived.

By early September the Russian fleet was trapped. When they tried to slip through the blockade, Theophanes set the whole sea aflame with 'winged fire'. The Russian ships went up like tinder, and hundreds of Rus warriors burnt alive when they jumped into the oil-covered water. Only a handful escaped the slaughter and returned to tell their master, Igor, of his catastrophic defeat.

Theophanes was given a hero's welcome in Constantinople. The emperor Romanos, usually a merciful man, had all the Rus prisoners executed in front of the Russian ambassador. 

As for John Curcuas, there was no rest or respite. As soon as the Rus threat was dealt with, he turned about and marched straight back to the East. He had unfinished business to attend to. 

General John (VII)

After his conquest of Melitene (Malatya) in 934, John Curcuas relaxed his efforts. No serious Roman-Arab fighting is reported for several years, although an Arab invasion of Armenia was repulsed (by the Armenians, without Roman help) in 936.

In 938 the Romans started to negotiate peace with the Caliphate at Baghdad. This was due to several reasons. The Romans wanted to make the conquest of Melitene permanent, so it could be converted into a new theme, or military & administrative district. Constantinople and Baghdad also had a common desire to deal with the rising power of the Hamdanid dynasty of Mosul.

This family now controlled all the Muslim frontier provinces from Mosul to Aleppo, and were led by an energetic young warlord, Sayf al-Dawla, called 'The Sword of the Dynasty'. 

To seal the agreement with Baghdad, Emperor Romanos I sent a letter to the Caliph - the Greek text in gold, the Arabic in silver - suggesting an exchange of prisoners. The exchange took place on the Lamus river in October, but there was an excess of 800 Muslim prisoners. To balance this, the Caliph spent six months looking for an equivalent number of Romans in Arab custody. At the same time Romanus sent an embassy to the governor of Egypt, requesting alliance. 

Eager to fight the Romans, Sayf did not consider himself bound by any of these truces. He boldly attacked the army of John Curcuas, numbering 100,000 men, in the region of Samasota. After a month of skirmishing, Sayf ambushed the vanguard of the Roman army and inflicted a heavy defeat on it, capturing seventy of Curcuas's officers and carrying away the Domestic's 'throne' or personal chair. 

The emperor, Romanos, held his hand. Constantinople and Baghdad were at peace, and he was reluctant to endanger the truce. Sayf, however, chose to press his advantage. 

(Attached is an image of Sayf al-Dawla and his court) 



 

Lord of the Passes (1)

Melias (in Greek) or Mleh (Mleh-Mec, 'Mleh the Great', in Armenian sources) was a famous Armenian prince who fought alongside the Romans against the Arab caliphates in the early tenth century. He seems to have become a folk-hero, and may have inspired the character of Melementzes in the epic poem, Diogenes Akrites. This is one of the tiny handful of 'acritic' epics, celebrating the exploits of border lords in Anatolia, to have survived into the modern era.

The historical Melias appears frequently in Roman and Arab sources. He came from an Armenian noble family, and was probably the grandson of Mliah, prince of Varazhnunik, killed by the Arabs in 853. Melias himself first appears as a vassal of Ashot the Long-Armed, an Armenian prince, who entered Roman service in 890. 

Melias first saw action at the disastrous battle of Bulgarophygon in 896, where the Bulgars destroyed the Roman army. His master, Ashot, was killed, along with most of the Armenian contingent. Melias was one of the few who managed to escape. 

He returned to imperial service in the East, and led a troop of Armenian border fighters, the famous Akritai, against the Arabs of Tarsus. Between fighting the Arabs, he led the life of a robber baron, stealing cattle from pastures and horses from the Roman army. He might be compared to 'Border Reiver' chieftains on the Anglo-Scottish border, centuries later. 

Despite his crimes, Melias was too useful to be punished. Emperor Leo the Wise made him tourmarches or governor of a mountainous frontier zone near the Tarsus mountains. The idea was that Melias and two other Armenian chiefs would hold the line against the Arabs, enabling the main army to operate elsewhere.

Melias did far more than that. Of these new border-guardians, he was the only one to survive and prosper. While his comrades were killed in battle, or accused of treason, he pushed further into the mountains and captured the old fortress of Lykandos. The Arabs failed to dislodge him, and referred to Melias as sahib al-Durab (Lord of the Passes).

In recognition of his success, Melias was made strategos of Lykandos, along with the rank of patrician and magistrate. In 917 he was sent to take part in another campaign against the Bulgars, in which the Romans fell to another heavy defeat. According to Leo the Deacon, writing 75 years later, the bones of slaughtered Roman soldiers could still be seen:

"...And even now there could be seen piles of bones at Anchialus, where the fleeing army of the Romans was disgracefully slain..."

The bones of Melias, however, were not among them. Once again he escaped the bloody field, and went back to the East. The most glorious part of his career lay ahead.  

General John (VI)

The year 931 opened with a string of Arab victories. In March the Arab general, Munis, led three successful raids into Roman territory from his base at Tarsus. At the same time a fleet of eleven warships set sail to attack the Empire from Egypt, though their fate is unknown.

Several months later, in August, another Arab army invaded Anatolia and drove all the way to Ancyra, capturing prisoners worth 136,000 dinars. 

However, the Romans under their Domestic, John Curcuas, now launched a counter-offensive in the East. In response to a plea from Armenian princes, under attack by the Arabs, he marched into Ahlat (eastern Anatolia), captured a city and took a large number of captives. 

Curcuas was now very close to Melitene (Malatya), one of the chief Arab cities on the frontier. Alarmed by his presence, the citizens appealed for help. In response an Arab army, led by a powerful ruler of Mosul, arrived in time to drive Curcuas back.

The Domestic was a cautious general, keen to avoid pitched battles, but also a persistent one. He returned in the following years, engaging in skirmish warfare and taking more prisoners. Finally, in 934, he crossed the border at the head of a field army of 50,000 men. They included the Armenian folk-hero, Melias, and his crack mountain fighters.

Curcuas chose his moment carefully. He launched his final offensive against Melitene at a time when the fall of the Caliph, Quahir, was occupying the Muslim world. As a result, the Domestic met with no serious opposition in his advance on the city. Most of the population fled, and Melitene surrendered on 19th April. It was quickly incorporated into the Empire and subjected to heavy tribute.

(Attached is an image of the fall of Melitene in 934)

General John (V)

Although the Romans could not establish a permanent occupation of Armenia, it was still possible to secure the frontier. In 930 the Domestic, John Curcuas, and his brother Theophilus, were assigned to this task.

The brothers targeted the city of Theodosiopolis, now Erzurum in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. At the time it was of prime strategic importance: one road ran from the city down the Araxes river into Armenia, another over the hills to Manzikert. 

While the city was held by the Arabs, the surrounding countryside was occupied by the people of Iberia (modern Georgia). Although nominally allies against the Muslims, the Iberians had no desire to see the Roman Empire entrenched on its borders. So, while pretending friendship with John Curcuas, they secretly supplied the Arab defenders of Theodosiopolis with provisions from a neighbouring town, Cetzeum.

When they became aware of this, the Curcuas brothers asked to be allowed to occupy Cetzeum for the duration of the siege. This request was angrily refused by the governor, on the grounds that it would make him unpopular with the other local Armenian princes. He would only permit a Roman officer to enter the city, who could be easily ignored. 

At the same time the Iberians demanded to be given possession of any Arab towns and fortresses conquered by the Romans. To enforce their claims, they produced forged charters or 'golden bulls', which they pretended had been granted to them by the emperor, Romanos I.

Showing considerable tact, John Curcuras let all of this pass. He needed the Iberians to secure his flank, so he smiled at their requests and did nothing. Meanwhile his equally capable brother, Theophilus, burnt and ravaged the countryside and took prisoner a local emir, who consented to give his son as a hostage and join the imperial army. 

Finally, after a siege of seven months, the Romans captured Theodosiopolis. It became a vassal tributary state, but John Curcuas still had to step carefully. To keep the Iberians sweet, he granted them all conquered territory north of the Araxes. 

(Attached is a pic of a building at Erzurum from the later Seljuq era)