Battle of Azaz (1030)

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Battle of Aʿzāz 1030
The Arabs put the Byzantines to flight (Madrid illuminated manuscript of the Skylitzes)
The Arabs put the Byzantines to flight ( Madrid illuminated manuscript of the Skylitzes )
date Early August 1030
place At Aʿzāz in northern Syria.
output Victory of the Mirdasids.
Parties to the conflict

Byzantine Empire

Emirate of Aleppo

Commander

Romanos III.

Shibl al-Daula Nasr

Troop strength
about 20,000 700 to 2000

The Battle of Aʿzāz in 1030 was a battle near the Syrian city of Aʿzāz between the Byzantines under their Emperor Romanos III. (r. 1028-1034) and the Mirdasids of Aleppo . The Mirdasids won the battle and the Byzantine army fled to Antioch on the Orontes , but Byzantium, thanks to its generals, was able to turn the situation in its favor and make Aleppo tributary in 1031.

background

The emirate of Aleppo had been a vassal of the Byzantines since the days of Nicephorus II (r. 963–969), but even before the death of Basil II (r. 976–1025) the Mirdasids, the Fatimids from Egypt, began as new ones To recognize gentlemen. Since the Mirdasids ruled Aleppo, Byzantium's influence over northern Syria declined noticeably. After the death of the Mirdasid Salih ibn Mirdas in the battle of al-Uqhuwanah in Palestine in 1029, his sons Shibl ad-Daula Nasr and Mu'izz ad-Daula Thimal followed him. The katepan of Antioch, named Michael Spondyles, took advantage of the inexperience of the sons to make himself the protector of the Mirdasids. Michael Spondyles took the building of Muslim fortifications on the coast and the clashes between Christians and Muslims in Maarat an-Numan as an opportunity to send a force against the Mirdasids without the knowledge of the emperor. But his men were defeated by the Mirdasids in July 1029 at Qaybar.

Romanos' III. Motivation for the battle is passed down differently. Muslim chroniclers such as Yahya of Antioch and Ibn al-Adim saw vengeance for the defeat of Michael Spondyles as the reason, while Byzantine historians such as Johannes Skylitzes and Michael Psellos cited the emperor's search for fame as the reason. Romanos III. wanted to emulate older great rulers like Basil II, Trajan and Augustus or even Alexander the Great . The historian Suhayl Zakkar sees both reasons rather skeptically and says that Romanos' intention was to free Aleppo from Fatimid influence. The former ruler Aleppo Mansur ibn Lu'lu 'accompanied the emperor. In addition, Romanos sent Nasr and Thimal a letter warning them of enemies who would take advantage of their weakness and snatch Aleppo from them. Therefore Romanos asked the two to hand over the city for a fee.

Before the battle

In March 1030, Romanus III left. with his army Constantinople towards Antioch. According to Michael Psellos, the emperor was so confident of victory that he had a crown made especially for his triumph and made a pompous entry into Antioch on July 20th. Nasr sent an embassy under his cousin Muqallid ibn Kamil and offered Byzantium vassalage and the resumption of tribute payments. According to Michael Psellos, the embassy said that they did not want war and had not given any reason for it. But in the face of the Byzantine show of force, Aleppo would prepare for war. Romanos' generals suggested that he accept the offer in order to avoid the potentially disastrous effects of a campaign in the Syrian desert in the summer, since the Byzantine army was not equipped for such a climate. But the emperor ignored the generals and was encouraged to carry on by other Arab rivals of the Mirdasids.

So Romanos had the ambassador Muqallid arrested and on July 27th moved towards Aʿzāz. According to Michael Psellos, the emperor thought that the size of the army alone would decide the battle, so he almost relied on it. The army camped on a plain outside the city of Azaz and dug a ditch around it. The Mirdasids, on the other hand, evacuated their families from Aleppo and gathered allied tribal warriors and, by calling for jihad, more Muslim fighters from the area. Most of the army stayed with Thimal to protect Aleppo, while Nasr moved with his tribesmen and fighters of the Numairians against Romanos.

The data on the troop strength of Nasr vary in the Arab sources from 100 to 2000 horsemen and 1000 infantrymen. The author Zakkar sums up that almost all sources give a troop made up entirely of horsemen. The Byzantines led about 20,000 men into battle, many of whom were foreign mercenaries. The Arab chroniclers, on the other hand, greatly exaggerated the number of Byzantines and reported 600,000 men.

The battle

The Byzantines had set up a fortified camp and sent the Excubitores under their commandant, the Patricius Leo Choirosphaktes, to scout the area. Choirosphaktes was ambushed and captured while his men fled. The Arabs began harassing the Byzantines in the camp, preventing the Byzantines from getting food. The soldiers soon became thirsty and hungry as a result.

An attack under Patricius Konstantin Dalassenos was repulsed by the Mirdasids. The morale and health of the Byzantines sank and so the emperor decided to retreat to Antioch on August 10th. The Arabs pursued and attacked, so that the exhausted Byzantines fled in panic and the emperor escaped capture only through the steadfastness of his guard of the Hetaireia. Despite this inferiority, according to Yahya of Antioch, the Byzantines suffered few losses.

The Arabs were given rich booty, including the imperial tent with its treasures, which required seventy camels to transport. The emperor could only save an icon of the Theotokos .

Effects

The emperor's defeat was partially offset by the victory of Georgios Maniakes - governor of Antep . The now self-confident Arabs demanded the surrender of the city, but were put to flight by maniakes. The Byzantines then began several actions against other Arab princes who wanted to break away from Byzantium after the defeat. Romanos III. returned to the capital and left the two generals Nicetas of Mistheia and Symeon in Antioch, who then fought several successful battles against the Mirdasids and took Aʿzāz in December 1030. Over the next two years they conquered several Arab fortresses and restored the strength of Byzantium in northern Syria. The climax was the conquest of Edessa in 1031. Nasr sent his son 'Amr to Constantinople in 1031 and requested an agreement.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Johannes Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum , Romanos III. Argyros, chapter 4.
  2. ^ William B. Stevenson: The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume V: Contest of Empire and Papacy , pp. 255-256
  3. ↑ a b c d e Thierry Bianquis: Mirdās, p. 117
  4. ↑ Suhayl Zakkar: The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004-1094, p. 109
  5. ↑ a b c d e Johannes Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum , Romanos III. Argyros, chapter 5.
  6. ↑ Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter: The Chronographia of Michael Psellus, pp. 42-43
  7. ↑ a b Suhayl Zakkar: The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004-1094, p. 111
  8. ↑ Suhayl Zakkar: The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004-1094, pp 111-112
  9. ^ A b Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter: The Chronographia of Michael Psellus, p. 42
  10. ↑ a b Suhayl Zakkar: The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004-1094, p. 112
  11. ↑ a b c d Suhayl Zakkar: The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004-1094, p. 113
  12. ^ A b Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter: The Chronographia of Michael Psellus, p. 43
  13. ↑ a b c d e Jonathan Shepard: Azaz, Battle near
  14. ↑ a b Suhayl Zakkar: The Emirate of Aleppo: 1004-1094, p. 114
  15. ↑ Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter: The Chronographia of Michael Psellus, p 44
  16. ↑ Johannes Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum , Romanos III. Argyros, chapter 6.
  17. ↑ Johannes Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum , Romanos III. Argyros, chapter 13.
  18. ↑ Johannes Skylitzes, Synopsis historiarum , Romanos III. Argyros, chapter 9.
  19. ^ William B. Stevenson: The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume V: Contest of Empire and Papacy , pp. 256-257

literature

  • Thierry Bianquis: Mirdās . In: The Encyclopaedia of Islam , New Edition, Volume VII: Mif-Naz . BRILL, Leiden and New York 1993, ISBN 90-04-09419-9 , pp. 115-123 .
  • Edgar Robert Ashton Sewter (Ed.): The Chronographia of Michael Psellus . Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut 1953 ( fordham.edu ).
  • Jonathan Shepard: The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, Volume 1 . Ed .: Clifford Rogers. Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom 2010, ISBN 978-0-19-533403-6 , Azaz, Battle near, pp. 102 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  • William B. Stevenson: The Cambridge Medieval History, Volume V: Contest of Empire and Papacy . Ed .: John Bagnell Bury. The Macmillan Company, New York, New York 1926, Chapter VI. Islam in Syria and Egypt (750–1100), p. 242-264 ( archive.org ).
  • Suhayl Zakkar: The Emirates of Aleppo: 1004-1094 . Dar al-Amanah, Aleppo 1971 ( limited preview in Google Book search).