Class 01: The Alexiad, Suleyman's reign and the first crusade
(part 03)
Last we left off, Suleyman had defeated the byzantines in the first Alexiad war. Peace followed for about half a year after the quick war, until Suleyman turned his sights down south, towards the small independent principality of Cilicia. Now, before you present your questions as to why the small principality hadn't been added to the Sultanate of Rum when the Seljuks pillaged trough most of Armenia, I'll answer straight trough: We do not know exactly. Perhaps the writings of the time were inaccurate and Cilicia was actually a part of Rum since the beginning, or perhaps it was conquered from the Byzantines. But the common explanation is that it was a simple, independent remnant state.
The war itself was a mere curiosity with no real interesting battles involved, although the religion of Cilicia is an interesting thing. A small sect of Christianity known as Apostolicism. The sect was in a way similar to the other eastern sects of Christianity that had split off years prior, but the Apostolics were perhaps the smallest. Cilicia was under dire times due to the attack, so the Prince of Cilicia formed the holy order of Saint Blaise. The order's battlefield experience was short lived.
After the quick integration of Cilicia, Rum had gained a rather natural border. There was a small enclave of Byzantine influence still on Armenia in the form of Trebizond, but this could be easily removed, Qurha was proving for an effective target for future expansion. Suleyman had a whole buffet, and the army was his fork.
But instead of expanding, Suleyman called for a Furusiyaa. A grand surprise, if a positive one. Most had expected Suleyman to consolidate his power trough further expansion projects, but a longer period of peace to gather the strongest warriors true Rome could muster sounded like an attractive proposition to most. Muhammad had this to write of the Furusiyaa.
"Suleyman called for a Furusiyaa on the morn of a warm summer day. White pigeons flew trough the Sultanate as a call to arms for all of the warriors in the land to come and prove themselves. Food was carted from as far as Baghad to feed the competitors, and a small, more traditional tournament area was even prepared for the greek subjects. While Suleyman later discovered the Greeks had not ever participated in tournaments before, he did not cancel the order. In his compassion he allowed the Greek commonfold pray to their Christ."
Modern Turkish history except Johan Grenlund has theorized that the Furusiyaa was to gather the best warriors Rum had to offer for a future campaign.
The Furusiyaa had just begun when the horrible news came. Jerusalem, the city where Muhammad had risen up into the skies, had been taken by the followers of Christ. While these news did not stop the Furusiyaa and the festivities that were connected to it, the guards around the Greek section of the tournament grew rather rowdy. The estimates of death and other such accidents differ widely from historian to historian. A legend tells that Suleyman, upon hearing these news, took especial interest in each fighter, and he promised that he, quote, "would take a city just as important from the followers from Christ, and that Muhammad, blessed be his name, would land on that same city", end quote.
Caliph Al- Muqtadi and Suleyman held tight contact trough letters ever since Jerusalem fell. These letters can now be found in "Suleyman The Magnificent", as written by Nikephoros. We won't look trough them in detail now, but you can ask me for copies later on. Anyhow, the result of these letters ended up in the Caliph's own personal permission for Suleyman to declare a
Jihad upon the Christians in Byzantium.
War was declared on the fifth of August, 1084.
The battle of Heraclea was one of the first battles, near the Byzantine heartlands. Suleyman quickly pierced his men into their heart, cutting a bloody swathe of Christian corpses in his way. Byzantium weeped that day, and those tears were of blood.
Skimming trough a few more battles in the Byzantine heartlands, we arrive back to the Turkish homeland. Winter had come, and Suleyman had ordered his troops to return to Armenia to stock up before returning to wage war upon the Byzantines. On his way back, near the coast of Constantinople, Alexios and Suleyman encountered each other again, for the last time. These two rivals held great respect for each other, and as their troops clashed against each other in a bloody spectacle recorded point by point in The Alexiad, the two men fought.
And so Byzantium crumbled.
The new emperor, Isaakios the second Komneos, was nothing to write home about. A man of the book, lawful and an experienced bureocrat, he would've been a decent, if not fantastic emperor in any other circumstance besides this. The empire needed Alexios, but it would have to do with Isaakios. Some say Isaakios wept for the first time in his life in front of a cross when he heard his brother was dead. Not out of love, but out of fear.
He was only afraid for a few days before he was taken to meet his God by Arslan, the son of Suleyman. His son, Ioannes the second Komneos, took the throne at the ripe age of twelve years old. The boy could have made for a fine emperor just like his father, if the situation was any different.
It is said that when the gates of Constantinople finally fell, it was Muhammad himself who had descended from the heaven with the other prophets, striking the gate down with simply their fists, allowing the victorious Turks inside the city. The sultan rode across the streets with his private guard, watching as his men ran trough the many streets of the City of the world's desire. Suleyman's promise had been fulfilled; Jerusalem's blood debt had been repaid tenfold in the streets of Constantinople. There was only one true Rome.
But Suleyman never saw his promise come true. Just as the gates of Constantinople fell, so fell the axes of the Varangian guard in one last desperate attempt to defend the city. The fierce norse warriors fell upon the Turks, and while the attack was easily defeated, Suleyman had fallen, a Varangian axe sunk deep into his forehead.
He never saw his sons, Kilij Arslan Suleyman's coronation as the Sultan of Rum, the one true roman, and the christening of Constantinople as Istanbul. The streets ran with blood as the Sultan of the romans rode trough the streets of his city, trough the streets of Istanbul. The Byzantine crown jewels were taken and smelted into a new crown for the Sultan to wear. There was only one true Rum.
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Class 01 is finished. Feel free to present questions that shall be gone trough in detail in an intermission before class 02.