Philaretus Brachamios

Philaretos Brachamios ( medium Greek Φιλάρετος Βραχάμιος , Armenian Փիլարտոս Վարաժնունի Pilartos Varajnuni , Arabic Filardūs ar-Rumi ;? † 1092) was a Byzantine domestikos and Strategos (General), governor of the province Koloneia in the military district of the Armeniaken and imperial kouropalates and Protosebastos .

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The most important source of Philaret's life is the chronicler Matthias von Edessa , a monk without any higher education, who describes the years 952–1136 in his chronicle. He describes him as "... the blasphemous and depraved leader Philaretos, a true descendant of the devil" (II, 60), a "poisonous beast" (II, 62), who makes drinking bowls from the skulls of his dead enemies (II , 61). Further mentions can be found in the Alexiad of Anna Komnena (II, 9). She describes him as brave and wise. The news of the dazzling and death of Emperor Romanos IV , to whom he was very fond, however, drove him to rebellion (Alexiade II, 10). Further information can be found in Michael the Syrian and Bar Hebrew .

Several seals of Philaretos are known from the art trade. He led the holy Theodor in armor with spear and shield in front view, a seal image, the inscription read: St. Theodore, martyr, protect Philaretos Brachamios Protosebastos and domestikos of the East ( . Ὁ ἅγιος Θεόδωρος / Δομέστικον Εῴας ἀθλητὰ σκέποις / πρῶτον σεβαστῶν Φιλάρετον Βραχάμην ).

Chronological overview

Governing Emperor	Seljuks	Anatolia and Mesopotamia	date
	Alp Arslan		1063-1072
Romanos IV.			1068-1071
		Battle of Mantzikert	1071
Michael VII			1071-1078
	Malik Shah I.		1072-1092
Nikephorus III.			1078-1081
		Conquest of Urfa	1078
		Assumption of power in Antioch	1080
Alexios I.			1081-1118
		Fall of Samosata	1085
		Fall of Antioch	1086
		Fall of Urfa	1087

Life

Philaretos came from the Orthodox Armenian family of Varadschnuni who has been resident in Antioch, but probably originally from Tsaghkadzor ( Ծաղկաձոր came). Like many of his compatriots at the time, Philaretos joined the army, where he quickly made a career. The ranks Taxiarches (commander of an infantry regiment), Protospatharios and Topoteretes (deputy commander) of the Tagmata of Cappadocia, Magister and Dux are evidenced by seals. He was finally appointed stratopedarch of the subject Anatolikon and Kuropalates . Under Emperor Romanus IV Diogenes (1068-1071) he was appointed Autokrâtor and governor of Maraş.

In the 1060s the slow advance of various Turkish ethnic groups westward became more emphatic. The border could be kept largely, but already in 1059, for example, Sebaste was plundered by Turkish troops, according to Matthias von Edessa with the approval of the emperor. This claim is considered untenable (Cheynet 1996, 70), but it shows that the confidence of the eastern provincials in the government in Constantinople was badly shaken. The dissolution of the thematic constitution and the annexation of Armenia had severely weakened the Byzantine army and could no longer control the very agile Turkish groups. When Philaretos was appointed strategos of Koloneia in the Armeniacon is unclear.

The Norman mercenary Robert Crepin had rebelled against the emperor in 1069. Philaretus was probably part of the army that Diogenes took to Anatolia to put down the rebellion. After Crepin surrendered, the emperor turned against the Seljuks and defeated some pillaging groups. He left Philaretus to defend the Euphrates and marched on Ahlat near Erzurum , which was held by the troops of Alp Arslan . However, Philaret could not prevent the Seljuks from crossing the Euphrates and suffered a severe defeat at Melitene. The Seljuks sacked Konya and could only be ambushed on their way back. At this time, also appointed by Romanus IV, the Armenian Katchatour succeeded Bekhd, Dux of Antioch. He seems to have gathered numerous Armenian soldiers around him.

After the devastating defeat of Romanos IV at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 in the southeast of the Byzantine Empire, caused at least in part by betrayal from their own ranks, the capital's high nobility began a struggle for power. Andronikos Dukas , who had deserted in Manzikert as the commander of the rearguard, turned openly against the emperor, was able to defeat his exhausted troops on the march back and took Romanos himself prisoner. He had him tortured and blinded with hot irons and banished him to the island of Prote , where he died in the summer of 1072 as a result of the blindness. His wife Eudoxia , the widow of Constantine X , had already been forced by the conspirators to enter a monastery at gunpoint.

The civil war and the attempt of Emperor Michael VII to wrest Sicily from the Normans bared the eastern provinces of much-needed troops. The Seljuk ruler Alp Arslan initially did not take advantage of the overwhelming victory. During the civil war of 1071/72, however, individual troops of warriors on the prowl ( Ghāzī ) and Turkmen nomads began to penetrate the now poorly secured border into Central Anatolia in order to plunder, but also to set up their own territories ( Beylik ).

Michael VII did not recognize the peace made by Romanos IV and stopped the agreed tribute payments of 360,000 solidi annually. After the death of Alp Arslan on November 24th 1072, his son and successor Malik Shah I began to intensify attacks on Anatolia.

The administrative and military structure in Koloneia and probably also in the Euphrates region, i.e. the Osrhoene , Melitene , Kommagene , and the Kyrrhestike had initially remained largely intact (Gerard 1996, 80). However, Philaretus soon realized that the weakened central government could not or would not give him any support. It was left to him and his loyal officers to oppose the advancing Seljuks and rebellious local princes who tried to take advantage of the lawless conditions for their own benefit.

A number of other local commanders followed his example, including Isaak Komnenus in Antioch, Nikephoros Palaiologos in Mesopotamia, Gregor Pakourianos in Theodosiopolis , Abul Gharib (Apelgaripès) in Cilicia , Basileos Apokapès in Edessa and also Gabras , who later even succeeded in Trapezunt and recapture the theme of Chaldia .

Dominion of Philaretos Brachamios

Philaretus first made Mshar , south of Melitene , his base. Many local commanders tried in the meantime to gain direct power over their immediate area of ​​influence and resisted any attempt to restore larger territorial units. He was to find out when he tried to take control of the Sassun area . He invited T'ornik, Muschegh's son, to negotiations, but the latter refused, claiming that he did not know him - after all, the imperial governor of Maraş. Even the Magister Gregorius Arsakides (Pahlavouni), who served in the army of Philaretos, did not manage to bring his son-in-law to reason. T'ornik, who had meanwhile acquired the titles Anthypatos and Strategos of Sassun after a seal found at Bèken , gathered an army that supposedly comprised 50,000 foot soldiers and 6,000 horsemen. With 1,000 horsemen he made an advance to Ashmuschat in the eastern part of Armenia, and succeeded in surprising a contingent of Philaret's Frankish mercenaries, who had already been stationed in the Armeniakon before Manzikert , in the Handzit 'district in the plain of Aleluay . They were able to trap the Franks in a surprise attack and even capture their leader, who is known only by the Armenian name "Rmbaghat". The translation of the name is uncertain, both Rimbaud / Raimbaud (Dulaurier) and Roussel (Bartikian) were considered. However, it seems unlikely that Philaretus should have taken a man into his service, who after all had betrayed his revered emperor in open battle. T'ornik plundered the area and withdrew to Sassun, while Philaretos gathered troops in Kharberd . Before he could intervene, however, T'ornik had been killed while trying to forge an alliance with the Turkish emir Amr Bakr ' . The sequence of events is not entirely clear. Matthias von Edessa claims that Amr Bakr 'lured T'ornik into his fortress to murder him. What is certain is that T'ornik slit his host's stomach with a dagger during a feast and escaped, but was killed with a thrust by a soldier of the Emir of Maiyafariquin while fleeing to Sassun .

After that, Philaretos seems to have expanded Maraş in the Kommagene to the center of his dominion. Hoffmann (1974, 6) assumes that at that time he commanded an armed force of around 30,000 men, but this includes the garrisons of the cities and fortresses.

In 1076 Philaretos put Sargis , the nephew of the Catholicos Peter (1019-1058), after Vardan ArewelʿI. "A holy and humble man" as Bishop of Chônion (Honi) at the upper Pyramus , tried to restore the ecclesiastical organization. He was consecrated by the abbots of Haghbat Monastery . After his death in 1077 Theodor Alakhosik (T'oros Alaxosik) became a Catholic.

In 1079 a famine hit the area between Edessa, Maras and Tarsus; in the south even Antioch was affected. Refugees starved to death in the streets, and according to Matthias von Edessa the vultures were so full that they spurned further food and the stench of unburied corpses filled the land. At this time, numerous refugees from Armenia seem to have settled in Maraş and Doliche (Tluk) in the Kommagene, but also in Edessa and the Osrhoene (Dédéyan 1996, 82).

The Caesar Johannes Dukas was appointed Katepan of Edessa by Michael VII . The emperor was apparently looking for allies among the Monophysite Armenians against Philaretus, whom he found among others in Gagik von Ani , who at that time resided in Caesarea and to whom, despite his atrocities, he gave the title Protoproedros , which is handed down on a lead seal. Also the Bahlavouni family, who since the time of Constantine IX. Monomachus was in imperial service, he could pull on his side. The Magister Gregor Bahlavouni ( Arsakides ) now held the titles èpi tou koitônos and Count of Vaspurakan and Tarôn .

Gagik von Ani, the Bible-firm but choleric ex-king of Armenia was finally captured by the Mandales brothers, sons of Pantaleon, loyal Byzantine officers at Kybistra Castle . He was strangled, allegedly on the advice of Philaretus. But Gagik's order to have high-born Greek women rape by his troops, wherever he set up camp for the night (II, 43) and the death of the metropolitan of Caesarea , whom he had locked up in a sack with his favorite dog, until the latter “under Gnashing of teeth and ... pitiful groans ”did not contribute much to its popularity among the Romans, who therefore did not necessarily need such an invitation.

After that, western Cilicia seems to have been under the rule of Ruben of Vahka . The family, from which the kings of Lesser Armenia later descended, has been documented since Basil II , when a member of the Bulgarians relocated the route through Thermopylae to Greece (Skylitzes). After Matthias von Edessa, Ruben was a member of Gagik's bodyguard, but it is more likely that he was a loyal Byzantine officer. After 1080, like Ardzrouni Apnelgaripès (Apllarib), strategist of Tarsus since 1072, he seems to have coordinated his approach with Philaretus.

Leon Diabatenos (Tavadanos) Dux, who had fallen away from Michael VII and ruled independently, was in Edessa since 1077 . It was clear, however, that the rich trading city would not be able to withstand the Seljuk attacks in the long run.

On behalf of Philaretos 1078 Basileus (Vasil) Apokapès, the son of grabbed Michael Apokapes and a Georgian mother, former Vestarch of kouropalates David with a cavalry unit Edessa on. However, even after six months of constant attacks, he did not succeed in taking the well-fortified city. But the population finally rebelled against the Dux Leon, who fled to the citadel , where he was slain at the altar of Our Lady ( Theotokos ). Then the citizens of Basil, whose father Abu-Kab came from the city, opened the gates. He ruled the city until 1083, an oasis of calm in the hard-pressed western part of Mesopotamia. When he died he was generally mourned as pious and benevolent, “a father of the orphans and the poor” and buried in the church of St. George. 1080 loyal Byzantine soldiers also had the Armenian usurper Vasak Pachlawani (Bahlavouni), a son of the magister Gregorios and brother of the Catholicos Vahram , who had usurped the rule in Antioch , can eliminate. Although this had carried the title of Dux, perhaps with the approval of Isaac Komnenus, he had never been officially appointed, which was solely in the imperial competence. Antioch was on the theme of Charsianon , outside of Philaretus' original domain. Nevertheless, at the request of the assembled officers and local dignitaries, Philaretus took over the defense of the city. Presumably he had recognized that little support was to be expected from the weak ruler Michael VII Dukas (1071-1078), whom Philaretus had never recognized, and also his successor, and that it would be left to the local rulers to create viable territorial units and to oppose the increasing centrifugal tendencies.

In recognition of the facts created, the new emperor Nikephorus III appointed him . Botaneiates not only on the Dux of Antioch, but also on the Domestikos of the Scholes of the Orient and, after a seal find, finally also on the Kuropalates or Protopalates (Cheynet 1996, 76) and Protosebastos. Also Basil Apokapes , the Botaneiates by Michael Attaleiates of battles on the Danube front knew personally, is now finally officially recognized and awarded the title Proedros , Theodore, son of Hetum is, Earl of Melitene.

But Botaneiates also went to the monastery as early as 1081.

It was left to Philaretus and his men to restore order in an area bounded by the Amanos in the west and over the Euphrates in the east . This area included:

• Antioch ( Antakya )
• Germanikea (Maraş)
• Albistan ( Elbistan )
• Melitene ( Malatya )
• Ablastha
• Martyropolis (Silvan)
• Kesoun (K'esun, Crasson, Kecun) and Sassun
• Gargar
• Edessa ( Urfa )
• Karberd
• Ra'ban
• Samosata (samsat)
• Kyrrhus
• Hierapolis Bambyke , the former capital of the Kommagene

and in Cilicia, probably in alliance with Ruben of Vahka :

• tarsus
• Mamistra
• Anazarba

After Basil's death, the council of Edessa appointed the Armenian Sempat, a hero of the Persian wars, to be Dux without, however, obtaining the consent of Philaret. Ischkhan, an Edessener presumably of Persian descent, remained loyal to Philaretus. He and his brother Theoderich, together with other members of outstanding Edessen families, united against the Armenians and were able to hand over the city to Philaretus after six months of the uprising. Philaretos then seems to have significantly curtailed Armenian influence in Edessa, allegedly Arjuk, a leader of the Armenian party, was executed, Sempat and his followers in the council were brought in chains to Malatya and there blinded . It's hard to get a clear picture. Matthias von Edessa is clearly partisan, and Bar Hebräus confusingly reports that Philaretos recaptured the city from the Turks. It is therefore possible that the tradition has larger gaps here and Sempat possibly an alliance with the Danischmaniden was received to promote the interests of the wealthy merchants for unhindered movement of goods.

In 1084 Malik Shah I , the Seljuk Sultan of Baghdad, with the help of the Emir Suleiman ibn Kutalmiş , the founder of the Sultanate of Rum , conquered Antioch with 300 men in a surprise attack. The residents fled to the citadel. Since Philaretos was staying with his army in Edessa at that time, he could not come to their aid, and the citizens ("soft and inexperienced in battle like women", as Matthias von Edessa remarks) finally surrendered to the Seljuks after a long siege. Anna Komnena claims that Philaretus converted to Islam and that after attempts to dissuade him from this step were unsuccessful, his son traveled to Suleyman in Nicaea and handed the city over to him. However, the whole section makes little sense. Süleyman ended by suicide the following year after losing a battle against Tutusch, Malik Shah's brother . Antioch fell to Abu Sa'id Taj ad-Dawla Tutush , the Seljuk Sultan of Aleppo .

In 1084 an emir named (Armenian) Polchatachi / Poltachi conquered the Jahan district . Archbishop Theodoros of Chonion thus came under Seljuk rule, and Philaretus was forced to appoint a new bishop who was independent of the Turks. A synod in Maraş elected Paul (Pʿolos), the abbot of the monastery of the Holy Cross in Varag, as Catholicos. There were now four archbishops in the original Archbishopric of St. Gregorius :

• Archbishop Vahram, who had retired with his entourage as a hermit in the Egyptian desert
• Archbishop Theodorus in Chonion, now under the rule of the Seljuks
• Archbishop Barsegh in Ani , the old capital of the Armenian Kingdom, succeeded his uncle Gregory II. Vkayaser .
• Archbishop Paul in Maraş

each of which independently ordained priests and appointed bishops. Paul was deposed in 1090 by the Armenian patriarch Barsegh (Barsēl) with the help of Malik Shah and died in Edessa in 1093.

In 1086 Philaretus entered into negotiations with Malik Shah I, threatened on all sides by the advance of the Seljuks . He left the Greek Parakoimomenos (actually "bodyguard", high officer title) Palatianos in Edessa as his deputy. However, the officer Parsama murdered him while praying in the chapel of St. Theodore and posed himself as ruler of Edessa, which of course weakened Philaret's negotiating position with Malik Shah extremely. In addition, the Sultan himself was in negotiations with the Romanians at that time, but these failed due to the betrayal of his Iberian envoy. Matthias and Vardan claim that in his desperation Philaretos had become “weak in the faith” and converted to Islam - if so, it did not prevent Malik Shah from gradually appropriating large parts of the territory of Philaretos. In the same year he solemnly entered Antioch and, like the Assyrian kings before him, on horseback and in full armor took a bath in the Mediterranean Sea at the mouth of the Orontes .

Edessa was besieged by the Emir Buzan on behalf of Malik Shah and soon suffered from famine. Barsama had apparently not had sufficient supplies and had no allies to help him. When the situation became hopeless, the citizens of the city turned against him. He eventually threw himself from the ramparts, and Edessa surrendered in 1087 to Buzan.

Philaretus was thrown back to his core area around Maraş through the betrayal of his Christian subjects and the advance of the Seljuks. Emperor Alexios I , who had gradually started to rebuild the military and administrative apparatus after the Manzikert catastrophe, appointed him Protosebastus , but was unable to provide him with military support, even when he was engaged in battles against the Normans.

It is unclear when Philaretus died, after 1086 his name is no longer mentioned in the sources. Dédéyan (1996) assumes the year 1090, Cheynet (1996) the year 1092.

successor

Two sons of Philaret were able to maintain the rule in Germanikeia. His officers Gabriel (Khoril) in Melitene (Malatya) and Toros (Theodor) in Edessa, who both also followed the Orthodox faith, were able to partially succeed him. Emperor Alexios I confirmed her in office and appointed Toros Kuropalates , Gabriel Protokuropalates . Soon after the death of Philareto, Gabriel had to submit to Malik Shah. On a seal he is now called Emir, Dux and Protokuropalat (Cheynet 1996, 77).

literature

• Thomas SR Boase: The History of the Kingdom. In: Thomas SR Boase (Ed.): The Cilician Kingdom of Armenia. Scottish Academic Press, Edinburgh et al. 1978, 1-33.
• Jean-Claude Cheynet: Les Arméniens de L'Empire en Orient de Constantin X à Alexis Comnene (1059-1081). In: L'Arménie et Byzance. Histoire et Culture (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Série Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 12). Université de Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-300-2 , pp. 67-78.
• Jean-Claude Cheynet: Pouvoir et contestations à Byzance (963-1210) (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Series Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 9). Reimpression. Publications de la Sorbonne Center de Recherches d'Histoire et de Civilization Byzantines, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-168-5 , p. 82 no.103.
• Gérard Dédéyan: Les princes arménies de l'Euphratese et l'empire byzantin (fin XIe-milleu XIIe s.). In: L'Arménie et Byzance. Histoire et Culture (= Publications de la Sorbonne. Série Byzantina Sorbonensia. Vol. 12). Université de Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris 1996, ISBN 2-85944-300-2 , pp. 79-88.
• Ara Edmond Dostourian: Armenia and the crusades. Tenth to twelfth centuries. The Chronicle of Matthew of Edessa. University Press of America, Lanham MD et al. 1993, ISBN 0-8191-8953-7 .
• Anna Komnene: Alexias. Translated, introduced and annotated by Diether Roderich Reinsch . DuMont, Cologne 1996, ISBN 3-7701-3492-3 .
• Joseph Laurent: Byzance et Antioche sous le curopalate Philarète. In: Revue des études arméniennes. Vol. 9, 1929, ISSN  0080-2549 , pp. 61-72, digitized version (PDF; 901.05 KB) .
• Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. Beck, Munich 1978, ISBN 3-406-02527-7 .
• Alexios G. Savvides, Benjamin Hendrickx (Eds.): Encyclopaedic Prosopographical Lexicon of Byzantine History and Civilization . Vol. 2: Baanes-Eznik of Kolb . Brepols Publishers, Turnhout 2008, ISBN 978-2-503-52377-4 , p. 154.
• Judah B. Segal: Edessa. The blessed city. Clarendon Press, Oxford 1970, pp. 192-257.
• Jonathan Shepard: The Uses of the Franks in Eleventh-Century Byzantium. In: Marjorie Chibnall (Ed.): Anglo-Norman Studies XV. Proceedings of the XV Battle Conference and of the XI Colloquio Medievale of the Officina di Studi Medievali. Boydell, Woodbridge 1993, ISBN 0-85115-336-4 , pp. 275-305.
• Werner Seibt: Philaretos Brachamios - general, rebel, vassal? In: Ευάγγελος Χρυσός, Ελισάβετ Α. Ζαχαριάδου (Ed.): Καπετάνιος και λόγιος. Μελέτες στη μνήμη του Δημήτρη Ι. Πολέμη. = Captain and Scholar. Papers in Memory of Demetrios I. Polemis. Καΐρειος Βιβλιοθήκη, Άνδρος 2009, ISBN 978-960-7709-32-5 , 281-295.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Scott Redford: The archeology of the frontier in the medieval Near East. Axcavations at Gritille, Turkey (= Archaeological Institute of America Monographs. NS No. 3). University Museum Publications - University of Pennsylvania for Archaeological Institute of America, Philadelphia PA 1998, ISBN 0-924171-65-0 .
2. ↑ Spink & Son, Christie, Manson & Woods: The Zacos Collection of Byzantine Seals, part II, et al. Auction Results. Sale 1199, London May 25, 1999, lot 122 , and following.
3. ↑ http://linnet.cch.kcl.ac.uk:8080/seals/seals_boulloterion.jsp?bKey=536  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Jean-Claude Cheynet, Cécile Morrisson , Werner Seibt: Les Sceaux byzantins de la collection Henri Seyrig. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-7177-1849-4 .  
4. ↑ Martijn Th. Houtsma , Thomas W. Arnold, René Basset, Richard Hartmann (Eds.): EJ Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam. 1913-1936. Photomechanical reprint. Brill, Leiden et al. 1987, ISBN 90-04-08265-4 , names Shīrbaz as its seat.