DBA Armies

This list covers Byzantine armies from the disaster of Manzikert until the capture of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade. Alexios I’s first campaigns after his accession in 1081 were against Norman invaders from Sicily, in which his ingenuity and cunning finally won out. He then had to deal with attacks by Pechenegs in 1087 and 1090 and by Cumans in 1094. An appeal to the Pope in 1095 for volunteers to serve as mercenaries against the Seljuq was an embarrassing success that culminated in the arrival of several crusader armies from 1096. The crusader victory at Dorylaeum in 1097 enabled the recovery of much of Anatolia. His strategy and that of his two successors (John II & Manuel I) then became to launch a strong expedition to recover lost territory, culminating in a siege, then go immediately on to the defensive and seek a diplomatic settlement. They avoided decisive open battles. The loss of the Anatolian recruitment areas forced the army to depend heavily on foreigners. The Varangian guards were now mainly Anglo-Saxons émigrés from England after the Norman conquest who fought on foot with long axes. Latinikon were Frankish mercenary knights now organized into obedient regular units. Kavallarioi were the native Byzantine armoured cavalry who had previously been lancers with a proportion of archers. The troops Anna Komnena calls “peltastai” are regulars recruited in Europe, who rode horses, shot with the bow (usually while mounted) and from their name should have small round shields. Since no one else uses the name, they were probably detached kavallarioi archers acting as cursores. Manuel 1 (1143-1180) made kite shields mandatory for the kavallarioi and trained them all to charge in Frankish style. The option to class the general as Kn prior to this reflects occasional rash behaviour, as when one charged into a tree and broke his neck. Skythikon were irregular horse archers recruited first from Pechenegs, then from Cumans. Vardariotai were a new guards unit first attested in 1160 and possibly originally recruited from Magyar settlers in the Vardar valley. References: Armies and Enemies of the Crusades 1. Heath, The Alexiad of Anna Kommnena (Penguin Classics), The Byzantine Wars J. Haldon, Warfare, State and Society in the Byzantine World 565-1204 |. Haldon, Byzantium and the Crusades J. Harris, Count Bohemond A. Duggan (novel).