Ooc: Ah yes, the long awaited chapter 1...
Chapter 1: Consequnces of The Battle of Manzikert and (Mostly) how the Turkish Sultan got his head impaled on a pike.
In the year 1071, Byzantine forces were crushed at the battle of Manzikert, mainly because Romanus Diogenes was a filthy arrogant dog who threw all the experience and acumen of the Byzantine Empire out the window and blindly charged into the hands of the Seljuks. 16 years later, some years after Emperor Alexius ascended to the throne, the Empire readied itself for war again with the intention of retaking Rum from the Turkish dogs, After gathering up the empire's forces, an army 40,000 men (About 1,400 in my campaign), the Emperor rode out at the head of his troops, intending to impale the Turkish sultan's head out on a pike. Emperor Alexius quickly marched through Trebizond and within 2 weeks (ooc: 2 years in the campaign), Iconium Castle fell with minimal losses, mainly because of a dearth of defending armies. The sultan, who was in Syria fighting off the Fatimid dynasty at the time, rushed back to Rum, losing Syria to the Egyptians.
By the time the Sultan marched back to Rum, the Byzantines had reinforced their troops and dug in for the defense. The Turkish sultan sent out two scouts to report the Byzantine troop composition, but the Emperor's troops captured the scouts and conversely tortured them for information of the Turkish troops. When the scouts failed to report back, Suleyman foolishly decided to attack the Byzantine camp.
The land was very hilly and thickly forested, not good for any cavalry. The Sultan's cavalry, primarily Turcoman horse archers were forced to dismount and fight on foot. The other troops, mostly Saracen spearmen and Arabian archers could not fight cohesively in the thick woods. Alexius's troops, primarily infantry, russian axemen (both Varangians and Novogrod woodsmen)and psiloi were at the top of a hill, with a hastily built barricade of logs blocking serving as a defensive barrier between the Byzantines and the Turks.
By all accounts the Sultan's advisers recommended that he retreat, but Suleyman was an arrogant man, even more so than Romanus Diogenes and he ordered that all his troops march up the hill, assuming he outnumbered the Byzantines. (OOC; He didn't outnumber me, in fact, I outnumbered him).
The Sultan's spearmen marched up the hill first, the Psiloi rushed outfrom behind the barricade and pelted the spearmen with rocks from their slings and hurling dozens of javelins, inflicting heavy casualties in the spearmen, but the sultan urged his men to press on. At this point, Trapunzenite (Trebizond) archers behind the barricade began to open fire, hundreds of arrows rained down upon Suleyman's troops, causing the Saracens to break and run and causing panic among the sultan's archers which fled with the spearmen, leaving only the Sultan and his personal guards, which pressed on, braving the arrows and the javelins. Suddenly, there was a lull in stream of projectiles. Feeling confident, the Sultan and his bodyguards galloped straight up to the barricade and began (foolishly) hacking at it with axes, when a lone psiloi hurled his last javelin. Luckily, that javelin struck the sultan in the eye, and his ragged bodyguards finally routed off. Later Emperor Alexis would stick the sultan's head on a pike and mount it outside the walls of Constantinople, a gory reminder of the fate of those who defy the Romanoi. (ooc; is "Romanoi" correct? If not, excuse the spelling.)
Originally Posted by Louis VI the Fat
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks