January-March 1150
Having spent much time embroiled in planning for his eastern campaign Alexios finally began preparations to depart the capital. On the first Sunday of the year he and some selected officials went to Blachernae to witness the miracle of Theotokos as a blessing for the campaign. Soon after the assembled contingents crossed over to Chrysopolis from which the final calls for mobilisation were made.
In preparation for the campaign Alexios had created a new regiment of 500 mounted infantrymen for the Basilika Allagia referred to as the Manicheans in reminiscence of a similar regiment from decades ago. It was composed of Paulicans from around Philippopolis, a most warlike and defiant people who'd only agreed to serve in exchange for the conferral of some tolerance upon their sect. Alongside this force were other palace regiments like the Varangoi, Vardariotai and Vestiaritai which were to head up the baggage train escort. Once the supplies needed for the campaign were extracted from warehouses and placed upon the logistics fleet or army baggage train the army departed for Chrysopolis and made for Nicomedia. There, as planned, the army settled and awaited more men and supplies from Malagina while Alexios received news of a Kastrophylax having taken initiative in consolidating men further long the route at well-placed posts to rapidly begin marching in formation with the army without the expected delay of a stop-and-start march throughout the day.
Having collected the necessities due to him he moved on to Lopadion. Here he met an unexpected challenge in the form of the Archbishop of Lopadion, the aged man had shown the basic hospitality befitting an emperor. But, soon afterwards, he engaged in a private reprimand of the emperor and his treatment of the Church and more specifically his restraints on the economic freedom of monasteries and bishops, here he claimed Alexios had 'threatened to deprive the pious houses of the bare necessities required to function, much less conduct charity'. Alexios was hardly a pushover though and began his own critique of the wealth accumulation that made such charity a necessity. The argument was only broken up by his Logothete tou Genikou who rather audaciously told both men that they were wrong, the archbishop in his assessment of imperial heavy-handedness and the emperor in his fears of excessive wealth accumulation. This was followed by a lecture to both men which ended with Alexios agreeing to confer on institutions a basic posotes of funds exempt from taxes in accordance with their incomes as had happened before and the archbishop accepting the need to curtail the rate of expansion of Church wealth in order to allow the georgike and paroikoi to take their prosperity into their own hands and not just under the protection of a great landowner.
Soon after this incident Alexios collected his men and departed the military hub and made for Achyraous where he splintered his army into three. Opting to set a good example for his army and share in the hardships of his men he led the column going deepest inland through the Anatolic theme and Anatolian lakes. It also had the benefit of the shortest travel distance which would allow him to wheel back at and aid the other columns if such a course of action was required.
As predicted though such a trip was not to be a pleasant one. His scouts had successfully identified many ambushing Turks in the valleys and plateau seeping onto the roads and had directed local troops and Akritai to expel them. Regardless their efforts weren't perfect and just two days from Sozopolis his part of the marching column was ambushed by Turkmen. In the chaos he and some of his retinue were separated from his forces and had it not been for Manuel's tenacity in charging their ambushers head on and smashing a route back to safety the campaign may as well have ended before it even began.
Once they re-joined the army Alexios, having initially lost his nerve, began to reorganise his men in good order into hollow rectangles, pushing the Turks against the valley edges and surrounding their baggage to protect it from the marauders. After conducting a fighting advance for some 5 exhausting hours they were reinforced by some cavalry led by a Tagmatophylax who had caught up with some stragglers and created a strong enough illusion of a flood of reinforcements that the Turks made off with what they could. Having survived the harrowing ordeal there was no sleep for the soldiers as Alexios ordered a force march to the safety of Sozopolis. Soon after his men renewed their march east, straddling the ambiguous Turco-Roman border along the exterior of the theme of Seleukia. Here yet another issue arose, at the imperial table a debate had broken out about the martial qualities of those present and past emperors and warriors. What had started out as a simple enough argument had spiralled quickly between Isaac and Manuel, the former critiquing the latter's recklessness and occasional proclivity to act before he thought, Manuel had taken it in stride and accepted the criticism as any good soldier ought to. But, their cousin Andronikos, being particularly close with Manuel did not, he instead accused Isaac of being a coward which simply brought the elderly John Axouch into the debate in Isaac's defence.
Alexios for his part had ignored the debate, refusing to indulge the argument by pointing out misdemeanours or lavishing any of his kin with excessive praise. Instead he sat in discussion with his son-in-law, the Kaisar Alexios Axouch, teaching him the logistical intricacies of their campaign. It was only when Isaac's temper flared did Alexios spare a glance telling the men to calm down before returning to his conversation. The next thing he knew Isaac was striking Andronikos with his sword, to his defence came Manuel and another cousin, John Doukas. At this point Alexios snapped and ordered Manuel to come to his side, told Doukas to remove Isaac from the tent and told Andronikos to return to his own and retire for the night. Isaac had tried to protest but Alexios's booming voice and sudden outburst left him shocked enough for Doukas to take his arm and escort him out.
Having disposed of the offenders he turned towards tending to his little brother who had a minor cut on his hand. Though it seemed Manuel was more focused on defending the others from his brother's wrath which was met with assurances that he harboured no interest in harming them. It was only in the subsequent morning, when he was separately ambushed by both anxious men during his daily routine, that he sorted them out. He harangued both men calling their behaviour disgusting and ill-befitting for cousins much less soldiers and were it not for their actions and dignity reflecting on his own he'd be having them lashed and humiliated as punishment. Instead they were order to reconcile their differences and if that still wasn't enough to stay their animosity then they ought to stay away from each other entirely.
Once he set them straight he assigned Doukas to keep an eye on Andronikos but otherwise resumed the march, briefly stopping to dispense justice to a few highlander communities that requested his arbitration. It was at Seleukia that he rendezvoused with the two other columns and ejected onto the Cilician plains. There he met with the Danishmendid and Latin contingents in the fields outside Adana. In the city proper he was greeted by the Turkish commander, Prince Raymond of Antioch and the respective commanders of the Assassins and Edessans. To celebrate his march having been a success and in order to improve morale amongst his men he ordered a fair to be held in Adana and her neighbouring towns for all men to relish in comforts of Cilician hospitality.
During this fair he met with the representatives and his own commanders to discuss the campaign strategy. What Raymond had thought would be a debate was instead dominated by the incontrovertible majority that was Alexios and his commanders who dictated stratagems at their own leisure, only broken up by some advice from the other representatives which adjusted plan without any opportunity to present alternative campaigns altogether. This had mostly been due to Alexios's disinterest in expanding on the already extensive planning that had been made and also his desire to focus on pacifying the local Armenians of Cilicia. For the next two weeks he instead toured the region and sought to curb the abuses of overzealous Roman officials and secure the inviolable rights and privileges accorded to the Armenians by right of subjection to the Basileia.
It was upon the completion of this task that the coalition host began to march on Antioch where the Prince hosted them at his own expense. As a sign of his personal conviction and faith in the alliance he even agreed to temporarily surrender Antioch's citadel to Alexios so he could store his war chest there. In exchange for this Alexios reciprocated the gesture with several gifts including a standard bearing the image of Theotokos and a bronze gilt shield bearing the engraving of the Archangel Michael. Finally, Alexios ordered that all Christian commanders; he, his officers and Serbians, the Edessans and Antiochenes, would all swear oaths to God to maintain their fellowship of princes until Antioch's rightful dominions were restored to her. A similar oath was extracted from the Assassins who, along with the Turks, were promised monetary compensation for their aid.
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April-May 1150
By the start of April the advance against Nur ad-Din had begun with the allied army receiving notice of Aleppo's army. A colossal host of 25,000 men assembled by the Emir via extreme expense, conscription, use of his political connections and the zealotry of many soldiers in the Levant and north Mesopotamia. Knowing that any manoeuvring past the Orontes without handling the enemy would be nothing short of disastrous Alexios opted to send his nephew, the Protosebastos John Doukas Komnenos, with a force of 200 cavalry to move clandestinely along the river to scout for the enemy encampment. In the meantime the congregation at Antioch received news of 5,000 men from Tripoli and Jerusalem poising themselves as planned around Acre ready to deter Damascene entry into the war. Once John returned having confirmed the position of the Aleppine forces and the presence of a pleasant field of battle along their marching path which would be suitable for an evenly matched engagement the main army departed to meet their match.
It was mere days after they began when disaster struck with the Danishmendid and Assassin contingents, numbering 2,500, decamping one night and fleeing with all their possessions in such secrecy that it seemed as though their presence had been a figment of the Christian imagination. With 23,200 men the threat of Nur ad-Din became all the more real given the reduced disparity in numbers. In spite of the betrayal Alexios assured his men that as God's faithful subjects the light of Heaven was still cast on them as was his supreme confidence in their ability. He extolled to them the preparations that'd been made for this, the very clothing they wore, the arms they bared, the training they'd been subjected to had all culminated on this occasion and that they ought to remain steadfast in their mutual faith and faith in him and as reward he would impart onto them the victory their hearts yearned for.
By the 7th of April the two armies had finally met and on this day, two days before battle commenced Alexios received a letter. In it Nur ad-Din invited the emperor to treat with him and tried to convince him of the futility of his enterprise and that, regardless of what trophies he laid upon the earth here, some Muslim ruler would eventually rise to the occasion and undo his work, that Antioch would eventually fall into the recesses of history and it was futile to buy time for a dying Principality. In a rather self-aggrandising retort Alexios stated 'I am Rhomania, and all of its inhabitants are thus an extension of myself, as you have committed injustices to myself I shall now impart unto you those same injustices so that you may reconsider waging war against my subjects'. Of course this was accompanied by a counter-offer demanding the restoration of Antioch's lands and a prisoner exchange in return for the end of the war. When he received the rejection he made ready for battle.
His troops were armed for the eastern heat, many in uniforms reminiscent of those worn by the men of Nikephoros Phokas along with these was a front line of Menaulatoi supported by toxotai and some men equipped with heavy crossbows. Behind the first line were several rows of the aforementioned skirmishing troops and other skoutatoi. The centre left of the army was composed of Antiochene footmen and the centre right composed of an equivalent formation of Edessans with the remainder of the Latin ranks held as reserves to plug any gaps in the line. In the centre back were Alexios's own guard regiments: 500 Varangoi, 500 Manicheans, 200 Vestiaritai, and 200 Vardariotai. His flanks were composed of kataphraktoi and koursores joined by some Latin lancers and knights while his prokoursatores and hippotoxotai held a short distance ahead of the line with some skirmishers ready to deliver an initial attack.
Nur ad-Din drew up his own forces in a corresponding infantry line with skirmishers at the front for an initial volley along with some horse archers, flanks composed of crack Bedouin cavalry and a reserve composed of his personal bodyguard and his brother's auxiliaries. At the blaring of each side's battle drums and horns the two formations engaged.
The Roman and Aleppine vanguards engaged with a volley of missiles with Nur ad-Din's choice to place more of his archers up front winning him the engagement as they outranged the more balanced force of lancers, horse archers and skirmishers arranged by Alexios. Soon after both lines engaged in an oblique advance, peppering each other with arrow fire and their respective flanks locking in vicious melee. When the Bedouin cavalry showed signs of breakthrough on the right flank Alexios put his dragoon Manicheans to use, these men, led by one Theodotus, rushed to the flank's aid, dismounted and entered the fray buying just enough time for a reserve of light infantry to join them and begin cutting down the enemy which promptly wheeled away and returned for yet another charge. Nur ad-Din conducted himself admirably, rushing along the line from edge to edge instilling confidence in his troops and at time engaging directly alongside them when it seemed they were losing ground.
On the other side Alexios opted for a similar approach, lauding his troops and emptying into their minds the impending grandeur that would come with their victory both in the eyes of their countrymen and in the eyes of God. Finally, after 7 exhausting, heat-oppressed hours with a brief intermission in between the Roman trump card was played. Notably it began when one man, a militiaman conscript in the rear, turned back to gaze upon the Aleppine camp, to his horror he saw unidentified figures on horseback and foot moving to and fro inundated with goods. After beckoning one of the higher officers nearby and pointing to the ensuing calamity the shocked man rushed to warn his Emir of what was unfolding. But it was too late. Many of those in the rear line, now having turned to bear witness, began breaking away, seeking to protect what few belongings they'd brought. Seeing their comrades break away the enervated front lines began to break. Refusing to let the battle be overturned so severely because of some upstart bandits Nur ad-Din issued the order for a controlled retreat and had his officers threaten any more men seeking to break away from the line. All while sending some light cavalry to chase off the looters.
Unbeknownst to them, these were the Danishmendid and Assassin contingents. Having been well aware of the former's possible hesitance to engage their fellow Muslims and being very unfamiliar with the latter group Alexios had offered them the chance to avoid battle and instead make away with sufficient loot and impose a more shock-and-awe effect on the Aleppines. Now, when advancing on the camp to chase away these perceived bandits the forces of Aleppo were surprised to find well-armed, albeit disorganised hordes of their Assassin enemies and Turkish horsemen. For Alexios had intentionally conceived of a devious plot by which his Muslim contingents would seem to have deserted him and, in keeping his most intimate plans close to his bosom had spurred forth a disaster for his enemies.
Within an hour the casualties had mounted to more than a thousand on the enemy side and hundreds more as the line broke. To Nur ad-Din's credit he had certainly prepared to retreat in good order as once his officers instilled some heart in the despairing infantry the Roman ability to doggedly pursue was negated. Worse still was some of the Bedouin cavalry conducting a brilliant feigned retreat which surrounded and massacred hundreds of Latin and Roman cavalrymen and would've massacred yet more had it not been for the rapid intervention of Alexios's uncle Isaac who brought his oikoi and some of the reserves to break an exit corridor for the remaining men. However, the battle had by this point clearly turned in the Roman favour, by sunset Aleppine supplies had been completely ransacked, the morale of much of their infantry was non-existent, the cavalry that posed the greatest threat to the Christians was exhausted and short on mounts.
Admittedly the Christians were also short on mounts especially after that lethal cavalry manoeuvre and while pursuit was still possible it'd be limited to hit and run raids. By the evening of the next day, having conducted several minor skirmishes, the Christians had emerged victorious and in spite of their exhaustion enjoyed a seemingly limitless resolve and conviction, many soldiers even boldly petitioning the emperor to take Aleppo itself. While he was under no illusion that this was absurd Alexios did entertain the idea of attacking the Emirate to force a peace. So, with the knowledge that he'd spend most of his time pre-occupied with re-occupying Antiochene lands he ordered Sebastoi Constantine Opos and Andronikos Euphorbenos to take with themselves 250 cavalry each and attack the environs of Aleppo. Eager to show their capability both men departed in haste and swiftly seized several fortified villages with ease. From there, having assessed the absence of enemy forces to be providing sufficient time, they arrived at the doorstep of Aleppo, instead of facing the uphill climb that would be a siege they instead whetted their swords and bade each man to present himself with the utmost courage and ingenuity for the impending battle. After successfully defeating a sally by the city garrison they embarked upon a series of night attacks to try and whittle down the defences. The militia of the city, no less well endowed in creativity, repelled each attempt with commendable proficiency. By the sunrise of the last day, with their time running out until reinforcements arrived and the vitriolic clamouring of the garrison the attack was abandoned.
Their lack of fortune was something shared by Nur ad-Din, for when he had attempted to organise a second battle with the Christians it ended as swiftly as it began with toxotai raining flaming arrows from the heights around the battlefield. With his pack animals startled and in chaos he was forced to retreat yet again lest he have lost his remaining baggage train. Notwithstanding the loss at Aleppo and Nur ad-Din's evasion of a decisive loss the cost of defending against the Christians was proving too harsh. His conscripts were battered and only his most zealous warriors brought consensus in continuing war. With the need to defend his economic base being his priority he was forced to concede to negotiations in late May.
As per the Treaty of Antioch Nur ad-Din would 'endeavour to restore all rightful properties and dominions of Antioch to her Prince Raymond and Princess Constance' and commit to the release of 6,000 Christian prisoners including Franks from Louis VII's little crusade. In exchange Alexios, recognised as chief arbitrator for the Christians would seek to emancipate 4,000 Muslim prisoners and slaves from the Outremer and guarantee an 8 year truce with Antioch, Edessa and Tripoli on Aleppo's behalf.
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June 1150
Having emerged in triumph, though lacking in some major victory to adorn his ego with, Alexios retired to Antioch where he promptly succumbed to growing illness and was rendered bedridden. Nevertheless he held great festivities in thanksgiving to God which expressed itself most formidably in his efforts to have the Domus Aurea of Antioch restored and enclosed in a new set of protective walls. Such an effort was by no means cheap or fast but he insisted on its completion, even calling for more funds from the capital to do so. Regrettably he could not partake in these festivities and instead spent most of his time in the company of his physicians and the watchful eye of his Pinkernes.
It was an underwhelming end to the campaign, but according to his brothers, kinsmen and even his soldiers it was one that merited a classical triumph. So much so that under auspicious tidings his men raised him up on a shield and gave thanks to their Basileus and demanded he confer the honour of one to them. Once he'd relented they finally released him to his bed so that he could rest and entertain some guests before they departed.
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