Roussel Phrangopolos

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Roussel Phrangopolos or Ursel von Bailleul (de Ballione) († 1078 ) was a Norman mercenary ( misthophoros ) in the Byzantine army who tried between 1070 and 1075 to establish his own territory in Anatolia. His exact origin is unclear, Anna Komnena calls him a Celt (1, i), i.e. Gallic Franks.

Life

When exactly he arrived at the Byzantine court is unclear. He had been in the service of Roger of Calabria and was then a member of the hetaireia of Magister Robert Crispin . Around 1070 he was assigned a fortified estate in the Armeniakon (Attaleiates, Historia 199), perhaps an imperial stud (Shepard 1993, 288), as he had to look after the horses of his followers over the winter. In 1071, as the leader of the Frankish heavy cavalry, he was part of the army that Romanus IV Diogenes had gathered for the reconquest of Armenia . When it was unexpectedly attacked by the Turks under Alp Arslan on August 19, the Normans did not take part in the battle of Manzikert that followed . Andronikos Dukas also withdrew with the reserve troops and left the emperor to his fate, who fell into Turkish captivity.

Afterwards Roussel tried to establish a domain of his own in Asia Minor, especially in Lycaonia and Galatia ; among his followers were other Normans as well as other foreigners. As the following events showed, he must have had followers among the provincial population. Roussel's seal bore the inscription "Roussel Phrangopolos" (son of the Franks) and his title as imperial vestēs , a title previously worn by another Norman, Hervé Phrangopoulos . On the lapel, Mary was depicted as Mother of God, a purely Byzantine motif at the time. Bartikian considered briefly fighting the Pahlawani under Philaretos Brachamios , but this is based on a controversial reading of the Armenian name Rmbaghat and seems unlikely.

From 1073 the Turkish invasion of Asia Minor intensified. Michael VII , who had been released in exchange for a ransom and the evacuation of Armenia, was forced to return to the services of the traitorous Norman. Under the command of Isaak Komnenos they marched against the Turks, in the troop was also Alexios Komnenos , the brother of Isaac. However, Roussell attacked the Byzantines together with the Turks, Isaac was captured by the Turks.

Michael sent another army against him under the command of his uncle Johannes Dukas . However, he was beaten near Amorion not far from Sivrihisar and Dukas was taken prisoner by the Norman. Roussel proclaimed his prisoner emperor and marched on the capital. In 1074 he stood with his troops, including 3,000 francs, shortly before Constantinople and burned the suburb of Chrysopolis ( Üsküdar ) down (Attaleiates, Historia 188). Michael then promised Suleiman , an emir of Malik Shah I , the Anatolian provinces conquered by Roussel in exchange for the overthrow of the rebel. Because of the Seljuk attacks, the Franconian had to withdraw to the east again. Suleiman beat him in Cappadocia on Mount Sophon . Roussel withdrew with the rest of his army to the Armeniakon, in the area around Amasya . The historian Michael Attaleiates , a partisan of Nikephoros Botaneiates , who wrote around 1080, is of the opinion that the emperor should have left him there, since he successfully fought the Turks. In any case , he was offered the title of Kuropalate , which he refused. Instead, he allied himself with the Seljuk Tutush , another Emir of Malik Shah, who plundered the remaining Byzantine provinces from his base in eastern Anatolia.

Alexios Komnenos, who now served as the general of his brother Isaak Komnenos, was able to convince the Seljuks in 1076 with considerable donations of money to betray Roussel after he had given hostages as a guarantee for punctual payment. Tutusch actually captured Roussel and sent him to Amasya. However, the promised money from Constantinople arrived very gradually, and Alexios was unable to honor his obligations. Tutusch pressed for his money or the return of the prisoner. Alexios appealed to the citizens of Amasya to advance the money, reminding them of the looting of the Roussel in Anatolia and the "cruel persecution of numerous citizens". However, the residents hissed him out in public. Some encouraged the mob to attack the captured Norman, while others (the "scum", in Anna's aristocratic judgment) were in favor of freeing him. Alexios had to realize that he was in an embarrassing position. When he had struggled to restore calm, he gave a gripping speech in which he accused Roussel's advocates of pocketing the emperor's money and merely supporting Roussel to secure their own property. In barely veiled words, the emperor's brother threatened the citizens with "massacre, blinding and mutilation" (I, ii). Then the crowd reluctantly broke up. Alexios feared an attempt to free Roussel that night. So he gave orders to blind Roussel publicly with a hot iron . However, the glare was only fake. How he got the prisoner to play along, to “howl and scream” is unclear, presumably with the threat of real dazzling. In any case, afterwards the citizens and the foreigners living in Amasya raised the sum of money owed to the Seljuks, "busily as bees" (I, iii). Alexios locked the Norman in a cage, still with a bandage over his eyes, while he subjugated the rest of the rebellious provinces. After a short rest in his family seat in Kastamouni , he brought him to the imperial court. His own nephew Dokeianus accused him of cruelty when he saw the blind Franconian. Only then did Alexios give up the deception and everyone praised his generosity.

In Constantinople, Roussel was allegedly tortured and thrown into dungeon, but was soon released to fight the rebellious generals Nikephoros Bryennios and Nikephoros Botaneiates under the command of Alexios . That Bryennios was allied with Suleyman, who had handed him over to the Romans, certainly made this even more attractive. Overall, it seems that Roussel also had a considerable power base at the imperial court. Allegedly he was poisoned in 1078 by Nikephoritzes , whom he had arrested in Herakleia while fleeing from Botaneiates .

judgment

Anna Komnena describes him, with a certain admiration, as extremely ambitious (1, i). Attaleiates repeatedly praises his martial virtues. The reputation of the Franks as treacherous and treacherous is likely to go back to him and Hervé, as later to Bohemond of Antioch .

Literary implementation

The life of Roussel was the subject of a novel by Alfred Duggan under the title The Lady for ransom in 1954 .

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literature

  • 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 , pp. 78-79 No. 97.
  • Jürgen Hoffmann: Rudiments of territorial states in the Byzantine Empire. (1071-1204). Studies on independence strivings and their relationship to the emperor and empire (= Miscellanea Byzantina Monacensia. H. 17, ISSN  0076-9347 ). University of Munich - Institute for Byzantine Studies and Modern Greek Philology, Munich 1974 (Munich, University, dissertation, 1973).
  • Konstantinos M. Mekios: The Frankish warrior Ursel de Bailleul. Kallergis and Cie, Athens 1939.
  • Steven Runciman : History of the Crusades. Beck, Munich 2008, ISBN 978-3-406-39960-2 .
  • 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.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ Skylitzes Cont. 186.6
personal data
SURNAME Roussel Phrangopolos
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ursel of Bailleul; Ursel de Ballione
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Norman mercenary in the Byzantine army
DATE OF BIRTH 11th century
DATE OF DEATH 1078